Former Fletcher High School pitcher Kyson Witherspoon was the first selection among Jacksonville-area players in the 2025 MLB Draft.
It's destination Boston for Kyson Witherspoon.
The University of Oklahoma pitcher and former Fletcher High School standout went off the board at No. 15 to the Boston Red Sox, leading off the selections in an expected bumper crop of Jacksonville-area prospects in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Witherspoon rocketed up the draft board projections with his junior season with the Sooners, earning All-SEC honors and finishing 10-4 with a 2.65 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP and 124 strikeouts. Several analysts projected him in the top 10 during the days before the draft, but he ended up sliding among an early run on shortstops — nine of the first 14 players drafted play that position.
Still, Witherspoon is in line for a massive payday: The No. 15 selection carries an expected slot value of $5.11 million.
He becomes the highest-drafted player who played at a Northeast Florida high school since former Trinity Christian third baseman Austin Martin went No. 5 overall to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2020 out of Vanderbilt.
Witherspoon, whose twin brother, Malachi, is also in the running for an early selection, surpasses Kris Keller as the highest-drafted player ever from Fletcher. The Detroit Tigers selected Keller, a pitcher, in the fourth round of the 1996 draft.
This is a developing story.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: MLB Draft 2025: Kyson Witherspoon leads Jacksonville selections
Category: Baseball
