2025 MLB Draft Profile: Brendan Summerhill
NAME: Brendan Summerhill
SCHOOL: Arizona
POSITION: OF
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’3”, 195 lbs
B/T: L/R
D.O.B.: 11/13/2003
PREVIOUSLY DRAFTED: No
Draft Scouting Report
Coming out of Chicago’s Whitney M. Young High School in 2022, Brendan Summerhill proved himself as one of Illinois’ top prep players and followed through on his commitment to the University of Arizona. While at Young, Summerhill converted to the outfield from behind the plate, and hit a combined .441 with 14 home runs over three seasons. Summerhill continued his offensive prowess at Arizona, breaking out in his sophomore campaign.
Whitney Young is a public high school on Chicago’s west side and there are numerous famous alumni to account for. The most famous is very likely former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama but Kay Adams; the prominent media personality covering the NFL is pretty famous as well. The coolest one according to our managing editor here at FutureSox though is John Tobias; the co-creator of the video game series Mortal Kombat.
In his freshman year in 2023, Summerhill hit .259 in 22 games (18 starts) to go along with a .419 on-base percentage. He spent most of his time in right field before splitting time between right and center in 2024. He earned Pac-12 All Conference honors in 2024 with a .324 batting average, eight home runs, and was one of the team leaders in runs, extra-base hits, RBI, slugging percentage and walks.
He followed up that campaign with an up and down 2025, while being selected as a First Team Preseason All-American by Baseball America and was named to the Golden Spikes Award Pre and Mid season Watch Lists. His performance was a major contribution in Arizona advancing to the 2025 College World Series. The outfielder slashed .343/.459/.556 on the season with an 18% walk rate.
Summerhill’s power was down this year, only hitting four home runs due to missing a month because of a right hand fracture. sustained by punching a water cooler. He has spent time in both center and right field for Arizona and his left-handed hitting profile would seem to fit in with the outfielders currently in the White Sox minor league system.
New director of hitting Ryan Fuller has already shown an ability to change a hitter’s mechanics and power stroke, which could help the 21-year-old hit more home runs and tweak his current hit-over-power approach. He displays good awareness and feel for the strike zone, showcasing an impressive ability to make contact and find the outfield gaps.
Summerhill is looking to become only the second Chicago Public School product since 1989 to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft, joining Corey Ray, who was taken 5th overall out of Louisville by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016. He also played in the Northwoods League in 2023 and for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League last summer.
Why Would The White Sox Draft Brendan Summerhill?
The White Sox in recent years have shown a desire to acquire left-handed hitting outfielders to their minor league system, with Braden Montgomery (switch-hitter) and George Wolkow being two such examples. As mentioned, the organization’s director of hitting Ryan Fuller would likely be able to keep Summerhill’s already impressive hit tool and add more power onto his frame, making him an even better player than he has shown.
Drafting Summerhill 10th overall may make sense from a financial standpoint as well. The White Sox pick value at 10th overall is just over $6.2 million, with $12.1 million available for their draft pool as a whole. Given that Summerhill predominately isn’t being mocked as high as pick 10, he could potentially be taken at an under-slot value, thus allowing Chris Getz and the rest of Chicago’s front office to select high-end talent with their remaining picks.
The White Sox will have a multitude of options to pick from early in the draft, with Summerhill potentially playing his way into the mix. They’ve been linked mostly to prep bats and a college arm could fall down the board but the Chicago area kid could be in play if the team decides to look at the group of college options that could move fairly quickly. The organization would need to be confident that Summerhill could start his career as a center fielder.
Mock Draft Outcomes
In Mock Draft 1.0 here at FutureSox, James Fox projected Brendan Summerhill to the Chicago Cubs with the 16th overall pick. Keith Law of The Athletic didn’t include the Arizona outfielder in his first mock draft but he does rank the former Chicago prep as his 16th overall player in the class. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN mocked Summerhill to the Athletics with the 11th overall pick as well.
At Baseball America, Carlos Collazo projected Summerhill to the Athletics too and he noted that some evaluators think that the outfielder is the “best pure hitter in the college ranks” with a “well-rounded profile”. Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline mocked the 6-3, 195 pounder to the Minnesota Twins in back-to-back weeks as well. Mayo noted that Summerhill could go higher and Callis made reference to it as well.
