It is one thing for a coach to build a sterling recruiting class in their first year on the job. It is another thing entirely to keep it intact. With all 20 rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft in the books, Coach Chris Pollard appears to have done both.
The Cavaliers saw seven players from the 2025 squad earn selections between Sunday and Monday, ranging from junior infielder Henry Godbout in the second round to junior pitcher Ryan Osinski in the 17th round. Seven selections is the most in 20 rounds in program history.
Most notably, though, just one of Pollard’s highly-touted recruiting class received a selection — infielder Nick Becker, brother of junior infielder Eric Becker. The younger Becker, one of four Cavalier recruits ranked within the top 200 draft prospects, went in the second round to the Seattle Mariners.
Whether or not Pollard can convince Becker to forgo the Majors and join his older brother on Grounds — a decision Becker will have to make by 5 p.m. July 28 — Pollard has done an exceptional job retaining recruits. Pitchers Jaden Stroman, John Paone and Noah Yoder, all top-200 prospects, all went undrafted and appear ready to join Virginia in 2026. No other recruits heard their names called, either, setting the Cavaliers up nicely for Pollard’s debut campaign.
Godbout, the first Virginia player off the board, was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the second round. The junior was the most certain departure, ranked as the 72nd best prospect by MLB.com, and his draft position ultimately reflected his stellar performance in Charlottesville. He joins a Boston team embarking on a limited rebuild and looking for players who can contribute sooner rather than later — if Godbout can add some loft and power to an already-excellent hit tool, he could find his way to the big leagues quickly.
The only other top-200 prospect selected in the draft was junior utilityman Chris Arroyo, who was picked by the Miami Marlins in the fifth round. Arroyo, who hails from Coral Springs, Fla., will return to the state where he won back-to-back high school state championships. Miami will look to lower his whiff rates, particularly against off-speed pitches, and turn him into an impact power bat.
The 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers picked two Cavalier pitchers, junior Jack O’Connor in the eighth round and graduate Matt Lanzendorfer in the 15th round. O’Connor pitched just 11 innings in 2025, capping off a solid but injury-riddled career in Charlottesville. Lanzendorfer was a key piece of the Virginia bullpen in his lone year with the Cavaliers, recording a 2.90 ERA and anchoring the pitching staff through a long stretch of unsteady performance. Both hurlers will benefit from the Dodgers’ stellar player development record which has consistently churned out high-quality relievers built for playoff contention.
Two other pitchers were also picked in the draft — the Atlanta Braves selected senior Jay Woolfolk in the 12th round, and the New York Yankees picked Osinski in the 17th round. The Braves and Yankees are two teams that, like the Dodgers, have excellent player development records and are perennially competing for playoff spots. The Cavaliers will miss both hurlers — particularly Woolfolk, who turned into the team’s most consistently clutch and highest-energy starter over a full career on Grounds.
Somewhat surprisingly, junior infielder Luke Hanson also heard his name called in the draft. Hanson, a 15th-round selection by the Texas Rangers, took a step back in 2025 after a strong 2024 campaign in his first season as the Cavaliers’ starting third baseman. A talented defender, Hanson only began to find his groove at the plate in the latter half of the season. He joins a strong Rangers organization struggling to find its everyday starter at third base.
Junior outfielder Aidan Teel and sophomore utilityman Henry Ford, both key contributors for the Cavaliers in 2025, went undrafted — putting the two in position to play another year at Mississippi State and Tennessee, where they respectively transferred.
Ford’s youth gave him a high degree of flexibility in negotiations with teams over signing bonuses, likely giving him a say in the matter and dissuading teams from forking over the high over-slot asking price. Teel’s situation is a bit different, as the outfielder now enters his final season of eligibility. Should he maintain his .362 batting average from 2025, Teel will almost certainly sign with an MLB team in 2026.
With the draft now in the rearview mirror, Pollard and company can exhale. The final chorus of former Coach Brian O’Connor’s tenure at Virginia is over, the Pollard era begins — with almost all of his high school 2025 recruits heading to Virginia instead of going pro.
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