Arizona's Aaron Walton Signs With New Team

Arizona baseball under Chip Hale had been bounced in regional play all three seasons and really had been close to making a super regional during that time. And despite ending the regular season by losing five out of its last eight games, the Wildcats were able to get hot and make a run to the College World Series with the season coming to a close after going 0-2 against Coastal Carolina and Louisville.

During the run, Arizona’s offense was able to keep the team in games helping them advance to the next round. The Wildcats averaged 6.5 runs throughout 11 postseason games and scored 10-plus runs four times and twice in the Eugene Regional.

The starting rotation will have talent coming back in Smith Bailey and Owen Kramkowski set to take on bigger roles after ending the season on a high note with the two combining for 11 innings of work in the CWS while striking out 11 batters while giving up just five runs.

The postseason success for Arizona was followed with the program seeing nine players selected in the 2025 MLB Drafted, which was highlighted by stars Brendan Summerhill, Aaron Walton and Mason White all going in the first fourth rounds.

Wildcats’ Walton was selected in the second round with the No. 66 overall pick by the Cleveland Guardians.

What is interesting is that before the draft, D1 Baseball’s David Seifert was breaking down Walton’s game and had him as a second round pick.

“The guy I would probably pick in the second [round] who hasn’t received as much attention as he deserves is Aaron Walton from Arizona, Seifert said. “I just think the world of this guy. He has tools. He’s a Mike Trout looking dude that plays center field like Trout. He can throw, he can run, he’s got power. He takes bat to ball. I mean, I don’t know what else we’re looking for.”

It turns out that Cleveland agrees with Seifert’s viewpoint and was the team that fell in love with the highly talented prospect taking him three rounds ahead of his pre-draft projection.

Recently, Walton signed his rookie deal with the Guardians with a signing bonus of $1.1 million, which is under the slot value of $1.32 million for the pick selection.

Before Arizona, Walton played two years at Samford where he had a batting average .290 while smacking 15 home runs and driving in 47 RBI in 203 at-bats.

In one season with the WIldcats, Walton played in 65 games totaling 253 at-bats where he had 81 hits for a batting average of .320 to go along with his 14 home runs and 49 RBI.