In less than a month, dreams will become a reality for many high school and college baseball players as they will hear their names called in the 2025 MLB Draft.
But before then, those players will have a chance to showcase their skills in the annual MLB Draft Combine, which starts on Tuesday. For the third straight year, the combine will be held at Chase Field in Phoenix, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
This year’s combine, which spans from June 17-21, will feature 322 draft-eligible prospects, two of whom are Gamecocks. South Carolina’s Ethan Petry and Nathan Hall will participate in the event.
Before things get underway, here’s what you need to know for this week.
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The players
Petry and Hall were South Carolina’s top two hitters this season, combining for 17 of the team’s 58 home runs.
In his third season with the program, Petry hit .321 with 10 homers and 34 RBI over 44 games. He led the team with a .590 slugging percentage, .437 on-base percentage and 1.027 OPS. His season was cut short by a shoulder injury that caused him to miss the final weeks of the season. He appears as the 52nd-best player in MLB’s top 200 prospect rankings.
Hall, who transferred in from Clemson, lived up to head coach Paul Mainieri’s expectations in his lone season as a Gamecock. The junior outfielder hit .322 with seven homers and 38 RBI in 54 games.
Both players will have one year of eligibility remaining and could opt to return next season. But here’s something worth noting: In 2024, 224 of the 305 players who participated in the Combine were selected in the MLB Draft (73.4 percent), including 75 of the first 100 picks. So it’s unlikely that Petry or Hall will be coming back, as they should be taken in the earlier rounds of the draft next month.
READ HERE: Where South Carolina players appear in MLB Draft prospect rankings
MLB Draft Combine Schedule
The combine will provide an opportunity for players to showcase their skills and climb up the draft board ranks. Players will be able to go through medical testing, on-field training and an interview process with general managers and scouts.
Players will go through their first on-field workouts from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday. There will be a High School Showcase game at 6 p.m., allowing high school draft prospects to play against the top talent from around the country.
MLB Network will have exclusive coverage live from Chase Field, beginning at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The network’s coverage will also be streamed live on MLB.TV, MLB.com and in the MLB App.
More on-field workouts will take place on Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the final day of the combine is strength and conditioning from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Both the High School Showcase game and Wednesday’s on-field workouts will be streamed on MLB’s digital platforms.
The MLB Draft is set for July 13-14 in Atlanta as part of All-Star Week festivities. The draft will be broadcast live on ESPN and MLB Network.
Rounds 1-3 of the draft will be held on July 13 and begin at 6 p.m., while rounds 4 through 20 will take place on July 14. The draft will be held at the Coca-Cola Roxy in The Battery Atlanta.
