Sunday night marked the beginning of the 2025 MLB Draft, and the Yankees welcomed two new picks to their system: Georgia high school shortstop Dax Kilby in the first round and Texas A&M shortstop Kaeden Kent in the third.

Dax Kilby’s bat is a big reason why the Yankees were so excited to grab the high school shortstop in the first round of this week’s MLB draft. “He’s got a contact-oriented swing that also has power,” Yankees director of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer told reporters this week. “It adapts to being able to hit balls in different quadrants.”

We were holding our breath (hoping) it was going to be Dax on our board,” said Damon Oppenheimer, their VP of domestic amateur scouting.