Jack O’Connor has a choice to make – return to UVA Baseball to see if he can improve his draft stock, or what is more likely, O’Connor was an eighth-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, at a modest bonus slot of $211,700, but that’s $211,700 more than nothing, for a guy with a history of arm issues.
The Los Angeles Dodgers took O’Connor with the final pick in the eighth round on Monday, seeing the potential of the kid who was 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA and 1.32 WHIP as a freshman in 2023, and not so much the guy who was limited to 28.1 innings over the past two seasons because of injuries.
The most recent injury put him on the sidelines in April, and led to surgery on his elbow on May 29, which, you can assume he won’t be starting his minor-league career this summer, with an eye toward spring training in 2026, almost certainly.
ICYMI
The surprise of the day: Henry Ford, ranked by Baseball America as the #69 prospect in the 2025 draft class, didn’t have his name called.
Ford (.362 BA, .995 OPS, 11 HR, 46 RBI in 2025) was expected to go as high as the back half of the second round.
Now the 6’5” slugger takes his talents to Tennessee.
Ford was a draft-eligible sophomore, so he’d still have leverage to play in the 2026 draft.
Have to wonder what led to that freefall, though.
It reminds me of what we saw last year with Harrison Didawick, who had been projected to go in the second or third round as a draft-eligible sophomore, fell all the way out of the draft.
Didawick (.225 BA, .711 OPS, 6 HR, 28 RBI in 2025) went undrafted again this go-round.
His status going forward is uncertain.
I’d come back to school and get my degree, personally.
Evan Blanco (3-5, 6.23 ERA, 1.72 WHIP in 2025) a projected eighth-round pick who went undrafted in the 2025 cycle, will be joining Ford down at Tennessee.
Chris Arroyo (.291 BA, .880 OPS, 11 HR, 42 RBI in 2025) was taken in the fifth round by the Miami Marlins, with a bonus slot at $523,900.
Jay Woolfolk (4-3, 4.73 ERA, 1.35 WHIP in 2025), a senior, went in the 12th round to the Atlanta Braves.
Woolfolk, remember, gave up a chance to compete for the QB1 spot with the UVA Football program two summers ago to go at baseball full time.
That move doesn’t appear to have paid off.
Guys taken after the 10th round get what they get in terms of signing bonuses, and Woolfolk, as a senior, can expect something along the lines of, maybe a coupon for half off on a tire rotation at a participating Walmart.
Lefty reliever Matt Lanzendorfer, a fifth-year grad student, is in a similar position.
Lanzendorfer (4-2, 2.90 ERA, 1.13 WHIP in 2025) went in the 15th round to the Dodgers.
Two other guys with a year of eligibility remaining have real choices to make.
The two: Luke Hanson (.248 BA, .706 OPS, 3 HR, 21 RBI in 2025), who went in the 15th round to the Texas Rangers, and Ryan Osinski (2-2, 5.57 ERA, 1.86 WHIP in 2025), who went in the 17th round to the New York Yankees.
Both are a year away from getting a UVA degree; neither would get much in terms of a signing bonus, and they’d be starting at the lowest rung on the ladder, with at most two years to get something to happen.
Minor-league salaries start out at $20,000 for guys in rookie ball, all the way to $36,000 for guys in Triple-A.
You can see where I’d be leaning, but flip side, if you believe in yourself, this might be your only chance.
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
