The 2025 MLB Draft class remains a complete enigma. In fact, I believe several of the top 10–15 picks from the 2024 class would have had legitimate cases to go No. 1 overall this year. The uncertainty at the top puts MLB organizations in a tricky spot as they prepare their draft boards. One player who will undoubtedly be in the mix for the first overall pick is Texas A&M outfielder Jace LaViolette. A three-year starter and a cornerstone of the Aggies’ success, LaViolette has been in the conversation for the top spot since his freshman year. With a strong finish to his collegiate career, he has a real shot to cement himself as the top selection in 2025.
Jace Laviolette Prospect Breakdown
Record Setting Power
LaViolette’s calling card is his power. Now Texas A&M’s all-time home run leader, he burst onto the scene with 21 homers in 64 games as a freshman. He took things to another level as a sophomore, launching 29 home runs while benefitting from hitting alongside White Sox top prospect Braden Montgomery. This season has been more of the same, he’s already tallied 10 home runs through his first 32 games and appears to be heating up after blasting three in a four-game stretch. With a strong finish, LaViolette has a legitimate shot at breaking the 30-home run mark, putting him in Jac Caglianone territory when it comes to raw power production.
Given all that, you might expect LaViolette to be a classic power hitter with elite exit velocities, but that’s not entirely the case. While he certainly looks the part at 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, with a compact left-handed swing built to elevate and pull the baseball, he doesn’t consistently hit the cover off the ball. This season, he’s averaging a 93 mph exit velocity, solid, but not elite compared to the top power bats in the 2024 class. It’s also a slight dip from his 95.6 mph average last season, which still falls short of what you’d typically expect from one of the game’s premier sluggers.
What sets LaViolette apart, however, is his ability to do what truly matters for a power hitter: pull the ball in the air. He averages a 23.8-degree launch angle, with 39.7% of his batted balls falling within the ideal 10–30 degree range. Combine that with a 43% pull rate, and it’s easy to see why the home run totals keep climbing. At the end of the day, consistent elevation and direction matter more than just raw exit velocity, 110 mph groundballs are outs, but 93 mph pulled fly balls leave the yard. LaViolette excels at the latter.
Control of the Strike Zone
When discussing my favorite 2024 prospects, I outline A’s Top prospect Nick Kurtz as a modern day elite power hitter. The reason for that was his ability to “passive” approach and overall control of the strike zone. Kurtz never swung at pitches outside of the zone. When pitchers made mistakes over the plate, he was ready to pull the trigger. LaViolette features a similar skillset to Kurtz.
In his college career, LaViolette has walked 144 times in 164 games for a .436 OBP. This past weekend, he became the Aggies all time walks leader, similar to Kurtz who set Wake Forest record last season. LaViolette’s ability to draw walks is due to his impressive 16.2% chase rate. His approach is extremely patient waiting for the pitcher to make a mistake, and when they do he pulls the trigger. But he has no problem taking his walks, and will not deviate from that approach.
Swing decisions are one of the most important traits for success in a professional hitter. The ability to succeed as a “bad ball hitter” is very rare. Every level a hitter advances in pro ball, pitchers become more precise and their stuff becomes more crisp. The ability to hit a slider out of the zone might work against SEC competition, but that pitch will be too good at the next level. It is why I consider it the most important trait of a modern day elite MLB power hitter.
Hit Tool Concerns
Where LaViolette differs from Kurtz in having all of the traits to be a modern day elite power hitter is with his hit tool. While batting average is not the end all be all, Laviolette has only hit above .300 once in his college career, with a .305 average in 2024. As devalued as batting average has become in professional baseball, there is a direct correlation between batting average in college, and professional success. LaViolette hovering around .300 is just one of the data points that stood out to me as wondering why a player of his caliber is not more dominant.
A major concern with LaViolette’s hit tool is the swing-and-miss. While he’s proven himself against SEC competition, professional pitching presents a different challenge, especially in terms of consistency and depth. The top-end arms may be similar, but the quality of stuff across the board at the pro level is on another tier. LaViolette has struck out 188 times in 164 college games, a rate that raises some red flags. For comparison, Kurtz struck out just 130 times over the same number of games. Kurtz also posted three consecutive seasons batting over .300, with his lowest mark being .306 last year. That kind of consistent contact and production highlights the gap between the two hitters, and underscores why evaluators have more questions about LaViolette’s hit tool moving forward.
The main cause of LaViolette’s inconsistency is tied into his contact rates. This season he has a 74% contact rate. That is actually a slight improvement from his 2024 rate of 72%. While power hitters have more freedom to swing and miss, the bench mark I want to see for a top hitter is 80%. The fact that LaViolette has such a low chase rate creates even more worry. He features a 20.9 In Zone whiff%, which means good stuff in the strike zone is giving him some problems. Solving an in-zone whiff problem is not exactly a quick fix, and will have to be done on the fly in pro ball.
Conclusion
LaViolette has been one of the most productive players in college baseball over the past three seasons. It was clear as early as his freshman year that he’d be in the mix for an early selection in the 2025 draft. With so many questions surrounding the rest of the class, LaViolette still has a legitimate case to go No. 1 overall. That said, reaching his full potential will require further development, a reality that’s not uncommon, even for top picks. Fortunately, he has an impressive foundation to build on. It will be fascinating to see how MLB organizations weigh his immense upside against the lingering concerns in his profile.
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@kurt_player02 on Instagram & Threads
@kuwasemiller.bksy.social on BlueSky)
