Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The 2025 MLB Draft is underway, and the Dodgers had back-to-back picks between their first rounder and a competitive balance pick they traded for, selecting 40th and 41st overall. With those picks, the Dodgers drafted Arkansas teammates in left-hander Zach Root and outfielder Charles Davalan.
——
Root was the first name called by the Dodgers on draft night at 40th overall. He’s a 21-year-old left-handed starting pitcher who put up a 30% strikeout rate for Arkansas this spring. Root’s curveball stands out among his arsenal, as it generated a 41% whiff rate this spring.
ZACH ROOT IS A BAAAAD MAN!
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 2, 2025
That's a career-high 11 strikeouts pic.twitter.com/QFTMgAasaE
Root’s arsenal is mostly sinker/curveball/changeup/cutter. He was in-zone with his sinker at a quality 64% rate. His movement plot is nice and spread out given 17 inches of run on his sinker, 12 inches of sweep on his curve and a solid cutter in the middle to add deception.
The immediate outlook on Root looks like a mid-rotation starter’s arsenal and ability to throw strikes. He’s pretty secondary heavy, which helps that probability to remain in the rotation. His sinker sits 91-94 while touching 97 and generating ground balls with heavy action, at least with the college ball. Root’s profile doesn’t scream huge ceiling, but instead a high floor as a likely eventual big league starting pitcher.
Rankings:
FanGraphs: 78
MLB Pipeline: 42
Perfect Game: 48
——
The Dodgers made it back-to-back Razorbacks by taking Davalan 41st overall. The 21-year-old, was born in Canada, posted a .994 OPS in college ball this spring. Davalan is a quick runner with good bat-to-ball skills as he struck out only 8.5% of the time alongside his .346 average.
CHARLES. DAVALAN. DOWNTOWN. 🔥🔥
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) June 8, 2025
Hogs strike first at Baum pic.twitter.com/4Jucd9XTit
Davalan was announced as an outfielder, but he has experience at all of left field, center field and second base. He batted leadoff for Arkansas this spring and showcased his mature approach at the plate, something the Dodgers always look for.
Standing 5-foot-9, Davalan moves quickly but still has decent strength. He hit 14 home runs this spring and could hit around 15 homers per-season if he leans into power as an aspect of his game. For now, he often lives gap-to-gap, which, paired with his plate discipline, got him on base at a .433 clip.
Rankings:
FanGraphs: 70
MLB Pipeline: 54
Perfect Game: 53
——
These two picks both being college players signals the Dodgers may have been looking to stay at or under slot with these picks. Toolsy prep shortstop Quentin Young, who had been extensively connected to the Dodgers, was still on the board, but ended up gong to the Twins at 54th overall.
The Dodgers will have two more selections today, with picks upcoming at 65th and 104th overall.
