Cleveland Guardians select Texas A&M OF Jace LaViolette in 2025 MLB Draft

OF Jace LaViolette is one of the best all-time baseball players to come through College Station. Now, with that, LaViolette is off the board early on in the 2025 MLB Draft.

The Cleveland Guardians have selected LaViolette tonight in the MLB Draft. They did so with the No. 27 overall pick.

LaViolette spent three seasons playing in the outfield for Texas A&M. He, in 118 starts for the Aggies, batted at .285 from the plate while slugging at .651 with an on-base percentage of .432. He would finish with 194 hits, including a program record of 68 home runs, with 202 RBI. LaViolette also had 402 POs with a fielding percentage of .995 having played all around the outfield while at A&M.

LaViolette would have a career-best season as a sophomore being a selection as All-SEC First Team and for several publications editions as a First Team All-American. That was with a .305 batting average (.726 SLG%, .449 OB%) and hitting 29 home runs plus 158 POs at a 1.00 fielding rate en route to the Aggies having one of their all-time best seasons at 53-15 and playing in the championship at the 2024 Men’s College World Series.

However, LaViolette, much like the program, disappointed this spring. That’s mainly with essentially all his batting numbers going down as he posted a batting average of .258 (.576 SLG%, .427 OB%) with 18 homers and 61 RBI. He also broke his hand toward the end of the season during the SEC Tournament.

LaViolette came into the season as one of the top overall prospects in this draft. After that slide in production, though, he projected more as just a first-rounder rather than being among the first in the class, including in mocks and projections at ESPN, MLB Pipeline, and being rated at No. 20 for MiLB.com

“Possessing as much raw power as anyone in the draft, LaViolette is built to crush balls with a quick left-handed stroke, the strength and leverage in his impressive 6-foot-6 frame and a focus on launching pitches to his pull side. He also makes quality swing decisions but the lone flaw in his offensive game does scare some teams. He frequently swings and misses within the strike zone, even on fastballs, leading to a .258 average with a 25 percent strikeout rate as a junior,” they wrote at MiLB.com of LaViolette. “He played the outfield corners as a freshman before moving to center field last spring, with most evaluators projecting him to spend the bulk of his big league career in right. His power and solid arm strength fit the right-field profile to a tee.”