The Athletics may have struck gold in the 2025 MLB Draft, landing what many consider a potential top-five talent with the No. 11 overall pick in Jamie Arnold, a polished left-handed pitcher out of Florida State.
Despite being rated as MLB Pipeline’s No. 4 overall prospect, Arnold slipped to the A’s, likely due to the 2025 class lacking a clear consensus at the top. But for the A’s, it may have worked out perfectly.
“We feel pretty fortunate that he got down to us,” A’s scouting director Eric Kubota said. “He’s a guy we’ve had evaluated up at the top of the Draft for a couple of years now. He’s performed at a very high level. His analytics really intrigue us. Coming into it, if you had told us that he was going to get to No. 11, I think we would’ve been pretty surprised, so we were very happy.”
Scouting report
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Arnold posted a 2.98 ERA for the second consecutive season this spring and struck out 119 batters over 84 2/3 innings. He recorded a 1.06 WHIP this year and posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 5-to-1 over the past two seasons. That two-year run made Arnold a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist in 2024 and ’25.
With a fastball that runs up to 97 mph paired with a sweeping mid-80s slider that induced a 41% whiff rate last year, and his rangy, unorthodox delivery with a whippy low-three-quarters arm slot that attacks hitters from a near-sidearm angle, Arnold has drawn comparisons to 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale.
“We throw sort of similar,” Arnold said of Sale. “When I get to watch him pitch, it’s kind of neat because I get to learn things from him. I’ve been watching a lot of Bryan Woo recently, just because of the way he uses his heater. It’s pretty similar in the release, even though he’s a righty. But getting to watch Bryan Woo has been pretty beneficial to me.”
Pro Trajectory
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High floor: With advanced command, repeatable mechanics, and a mature approach, he’s not likely to flame out early.
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Starter profile: These numbers don’t scream “bullpen arm” they scream potential No. 2 or No. 3 starter on a contending team.
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Fast-tracked path: Given his polish, he could see Double-A by 2026 and possibly MLB action by late 2027.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
