Underrated MLB draft prospects in 2025 who shouldn’t be overlooked
The Southwest Times Record’s Jackson Fuller breaks down dark-horse 2025 MLB Draft prospects, including LSU’s Anthony Eyanson and South Carolina’s Ethan Petry.
South Carolina baseball’s star hitter Ethan Petry was selected No. 49 overall by the Washington Nationals in the second round of the 2025 MLB Draft on July 13.
Petry, 21, is 6-foot-4 and played all three seasons at South Carolina.
The first baseman/outfielder set a freshman record with 23 home runs in 2023; as a sophomore, he added 21 more. This past season, Petry had 10 home runs before suffering a shoulder injury that kept him out of the SEC tournament and the final month of the season.
Petry is the first draft pick to have played under Paul Mainieri, who just completed his first season as South Carolina’s coach.
The Gamecocks had six players drafted in 2024 under former coach Mark Kingston.
South Carolina baseball’s Ethan Petry
In 2025, he played and started in 44 games for South Carolina but it was a record low for the program as a whole. The Gamecocks finished 28-29 and Petry hit .321 with 30 runs scored, 10 doubles, a triple, and 34 RBI to go with his 10 homers. He slugged .590 and had a .437 on-base percentage. To begin the season, he had a nine game hit streak and 16 game reached base streak.
Petry is leaving college baseball with exactly 200 career hits, 54 home runs, and 162 RBI. Across three seasons, he had a .336 batting average and .661 slugging percentage.
Last summer, between his sophomore and junior year, Petry played in the Cape Cod Baseball League where he set numerous season highs. He led CCBL in home runs with 11 in just 31 games, slugging (.760), on-base percentage (.480), and OPS (1.240). He picked up MVP honors from the league at the end of the season.
He was named a D1Baseball.com Third Team All-American (2023), All-NCAA Raleigh Regional in 2024, Preseason All-SEC First Team in both (2024, ’25), Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List (2024, ’25), Baseball America Preseason Third Team All-American (2024), D1 Baseball Preseason Second Team All-American (2025) and was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times in 2023.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin