The 2025 Major League Baseball Draft saw several Diamond Heels get selected. It continues a run of excellence for the UNC baseball program, which has had at least one player selected in every draft since 1978.
The first Diamond Heel off the board was catcher Luke Stevenson, who went to the Seattle Mariners with the No. 35 overall pick in the draft as part of the Competitive Balance Round A. Stevenson is the 26th UNC player to be selected in the draft’s first round and the second to do so in as many years, after Vance Honeycutt was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the 2024 draft.
Shortly after Stevenson’s selection, speedy UNC outfielder Kane Kepley heard his name called by the Chicago Cubs with the No. 56 overall pick in the draft. Kepley made his one year at UNC count, leading the team in triples (seven), on-base percentage (.451) and stolen bases (45 in 49 attempts). He also led the team and ranked 15th in Division 1 by getting hit with a pitch 27 times. Impressively, Kepley was the only UNC starter to not commit a single defensive error all season long.
On the draft’s second day, starting pitcher Aidan Haugh was the first Diamond Heel off the board. The Tampa Bay Rays selected Haugh in the draft’s sixth round with the No. 177 overall pick. Haugh was also selected in the 2024 draft, going in the 16th round to the Minnesota Twins. After electing to come back to school, Haugh made the decision pay off, posing a 3.72 earned run average (ninth-best in the ACC) in 75 innings pitched.
Next off the board was UNC ace Jake Knapp, who put together one of the most dominant seasons ever by a Carolina pitcher. The Chicago Cubs rewarded Knapp by picking him No. 241 overall in the eighth round. Knapp’s unlikely journey to professional baseball began after he was cut by UNC-Wilmington in his freshman year, before spending two seasons pitching in junior college. Knapp transferred to Chapel Hill and had a modestly successful 2023 season, but suffered a massive setback when he tore the UCL in his throwing elbow before the 2024 campaign. Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the entire year and put Knapp’s career in question, but the right-hander responded with a superb 2025 season. He finished the season with a 14-0 record in 15 starts, a 2.02 ERA and just 16 walks in 102.1 innings. Knapp was named ACC Pitcher of the Year, National Pitcher of the Year and a unanimous All-American.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Joe Bray
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