Former OU baseball ace Kyson Witherspoon was selected No. 15 overall by the Boston Red Sox in Sunday's MLB Draft.
Kyson Witherspoon became the first OU baseball player since 2022 to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft, going No. 15 overall to the Boston Red Sox.
Witherspoon, who finished his Sooners career 13th all-time in school history with 124 strikeouts, became the 12th OU pitcher to be selected in the first round, joining Cade Horton, Cade Cavalli, Jonathan Gray and others.
The right-hander from Jacksonville, Florida, was named a consensus First Team All-American this past season.
In 16 starts in 2025, Witherspoon posted a 10-6 record and a 2.65 ERA, which ranked second in the SEC. He ranked sixth nationally in strikeouts and 11th in wins.
Witherspoon led the SEC with a 5.39 in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
“That was the exciting thing for us,” Sooners coach Skip Johnson told The Oklahoman of Witherspoon, “to watch how much his growth happened in a year and a half or two years that he was here. When he walked in here, we knew how talented he was, but we watched him put everything together.
“To be able to understand what pitch design was, repeat his mechanics, his maintenance schedule of doing it every day, his running, his lifting and how he went about his business.”
Witherspoon catapulted up draft boards during his time with Johnson at OU and after impressing as a USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member. Entering draft night, ESPN ranked Witherspoon as the No. 10 overall prospect and the fifth-best pitcher.
The slot value for Witherspoon at No. 15 overall is $5,114,200.
Boston has won 10 consecutive games and are 53-45. The Red Sox's farm system ranks No. 3 by MLB.com.
Johnson has now produced 41 draft picks as the Sooners’ coach, including 28 pitchers. Fort Cobb-Broxton’s Eli Willits, a 2025 OU signee, was picked No. 1 overall to the Washington Nationals.
Outfielder Alec Blair, another 2025 Sooners signee, is expected to hear his name called in the first few rounds. OU catcher Easton Carmichael, right-handed pitcher Malachi Witherspoon and left-handed pitcher Cade Crossland are also projected to be top-250 prospects in the draft.
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: MLB Draft 2025: Kyson Witherspoon selected 15th overall by Red Sox
Category: General Sports
