Two incoming freshmen and two former State players are also selected
Six members of NC State’s 2025 baseball team heard their names called in the 2025 MLB Draft:
- LHP Dominic Fritton – 4th round, 117th overall – Tampa Bay Rays
- RHP Shane Van Dam – 9th round, 278th overall – Kansas City Royals
- SS Justin DeCriscio – 10th round, 310th overall – San Diego Padres
- 3B/OF Josh Hogue – 15th round, 438th overall – Miami Marlins
- RHP Andrew Shaffner – 15th round, 444th overall – Cincinnati Reds
- RHP Derrick Smith – 17th round, 497th overall – Colorado Rockies
Clearly showing that – yet again – I know very little about this stuff, Fritton was – as many expected – the first player drafted from the 2025 Pack9. Landing with a Rays organization that is fantastic at player evaluation and pitcher development is practically an ideal landing spot for Fritton. With a slot value a little over $648k and a year of negotiating leverage in his pocket, Fritton will be turning pro.
Despite only tossing 8.0 innings for State this year, Van Dam’s potential was clearly evident, although he lasted much later in the draft than I expected. The righty will hopefully form a battery in Kansas City one day with former Wolfpack catcher Luca Tresh. Van Dam’s pick has a slot value of just under $199k.
DeCriscio will take the exact opposite of the flight that took him to Raleigh when he transferred to NC State from San Deigo last summer. That’s a pretty neat storyline. He’s out of collegiate eligibility, so he shouldn’t be expected to sign for near his $187k slot value – as a 10th round senior, he’s likely going to come in significantly under that to save draft pool dollars. It’s a good landing spot, and maybe this time the organization won’t make their newly drafted NC State shortstop a player-to-be-named-later…
The fact that Hogue was selected in the 15th round isn’t surprising, but the fact he was announced as third baseman was. It’s the lack of an obvious defensive home that tanked the lefty hitters draft stock in the first place; the bat will play. If he ends up being a serviceable glove at the hot corner it’s going to make all of us look back with a heavy side eye at him in the Doak outfield.
Shaffner lasted much longer than expected – or at least than I expected – but was still drafted. He has a solid base of tools with which to work, and after being lightly used over his first two years at State, there’s still some projection left here. Shaffner’s athletic and really didn’t start focusing on pitching until he got to State. This could be a sneaky good pickup by the Reds.
The Rockies are a tough landing spot for any pitcher, but clearly it’s an org that thinks they can correct whatever’s causing the ineffectiveness with Smith right now. The Minnesota native is in the transfer portal, but has yet to declare a commitment to another school. This would indicate that he’ll go pro, although he could be waiting out the transfer market to see which transfers committed to bigger schools go pro and then slide into those slots. It’ll depend on what the Rockies offer him.
Note: Being drafted after the 10th round means that there’s no slot value assigned to the pick. Any pick after the 10th round can sign for up to $150k without counting against the team’s overall draft pool. Any amount that a player signs above that $150k limit does count against the team’s draft pool, while anything under the $150k does not provide any “savings” against the pool. For reference, 24 of the 30 picks in round 15 of last year’s draft signed for between $100k and $150k (two did not sign, three signed for $25k or less – all three were college seniors – and one college junior signed for $463k… let’s hope Hogue, Shaffner, and Smith have that guy’s agent!).
Two former Pack9 players were also selected:
- 2B Isaiah Barkett (Stetson) – 10th round, 296th overall – San Francisco Giants
- C Cannon Peebles (Tennessee) – 17th round, 522nd overall – Cleveland Guardians
Of more important news, NC State also had two incoming freshmen drafted:
- SS Aidan West – 4th round, 135th overall – Los Angeles Dodgers
- RHP C.J. Gray – 5th round, 140th overall – Los Angeles Angles
These were the two players most likely to be drafted high, and there was a little hope that they would both remain on campus (they’re already in Raleigh for summer sessions) after the first three rounds came and went Sunday without them being selected. That came crashing down real quick as they were selected just five picks apart on Monday. Hey, at least they can catch the same flight out to LA together!
With both players being selected in the top 140 picks, you can all but bet that they’ll be turning pro unless something crazy happens. For reference, only three players selected in the first eight rounds of the 2024 MLB Draft didn’t sign. It’s great for them, but tough for State. Such is the life of a college baseball program, though.
This makes the recent addition of transfer INF Wyatt Peifer make a lot more sense. It also makes the recent addition of RHP Aidan Kitchings to the incoming freshman class make a lot more sense.
The good news is that a trio of incoming players went undrafted in JR OF Devin Mitchell, FR C Vincent DeCarlo, and FR 3B Quinn Bentley. All three were potential losses in the draft, so getting them to campus is a big win. So, too, is JR RHP Heath Andrews and SR OF Brayden Fraasman going undrafted. Of course, there’s always the chance that Mitchell, Andrews, and/or Fraasman sign undrafted free agent deals. As a note, any deal over $150k would count against a given team’s bonus pool.
As it looks now, NC State’s 2026 roster looks like:
Catcher
- JR Drew Lanphere
- rFR Preston Bonn
- FR Vincent DeCarlo
Infield
- SR SS/3B Wyatt Peifer (transfer from JMU)
- JR 1B Chris McHugh
- JR 2B/SS Luke Nixon
- SO 1B/3B Brandon Novy
- SO 2B/SS/3B Mikey Ryan (transfer from LSU)
- FR 3B Quinn Bentley
Outfield
- SR RF Brayden Fraasman
- JR LF/RF Devin Mitchell (JUCO transfer)
- SO CF Ty Head
- FR Everett Johnson
Pitching
- JR LHP Ryan Marohn
- JR RHP Heath Andrews
- JR RHP Anderson Nance
- JR RHP Jacob Dudan
- JR LHP Cooper Consiglio
- rJR RHP Julien Peissel
- rJR RHP Landon Carr
- SO LHP Tristan Potts
- SO RHP Collins Black (transfer from Duke)
- SO RHP Ryder Garino (transfer from South Carolina)
- rFR RHP Truitt Manuel
- rFR RHP Kaden Morris
- FR RHP Michael Ragusa
- FR RHP Sam Harris
- FR LHP Luke Hemric
- FR RHP Aidan Kitchings
With five open spots of a possible(ish) 34-man roster, look for State to add a few more players via the transfer portal. The glaring need right now is in the outfield and in the relief corps.