{"id":64006,"date":"2025-07-14T04:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T04:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/64006\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T04:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T04:52:11","slug":"2025-mlb-draft-dodgers-select-a-pair-of-arkansas-standouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/64006\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 MLB draft: Dodgers select a pair of Arkansas standouts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 first two picks in this year\u2019s MLB draft<\/a> came consecutively at Nos. 40 and 41 overall.<\/p>\n

Turns out, their two selections came from the same school, as well, with the team taking left-handed pitcher Zach Root<\/a> and contact-hitting outfielder Charles Davalan<\/a> out of the University of Arkansas.<\/p>\n

Root, a junior for the Razorbacks this year, went at No. 40. A transfer from East Carolina, he had a 3.62 earned-run average this season with 126 strikeouts in 99\u2153 innings. Scouting reports lauded his versatile pitch mix, which includes a slider, curveball and changeup from a funky low arm-slot delivery.<\/p>\n

Davalan, a sophomore who was draft-eligible, also transferred into Arkansas last year after one season at Florida Gulf Coast. He hit .346 for the Razorbacks with 14 home runs, 60 RBIs and more walks (35) than strikeouts (27).<\/p>\n

Both players were part of an Arkansas team that won 50 games and reached the College World Series.<\/p>\n

Both figure to be key pieces of the Dodgers\u2019 future, as well.<\/p>\n

Though the Dodgers once again were boxed out of a high draft pick \u2014 picking outside the top 30 for the third time in the last four years because of competitive balance tax penalties \u2014 the team did acquire an extra selection in what is known as \u201cCompetitive Balance Round A,\u201d securing the No. 41 overall selection as part of the trade that sent Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That meant, for the first time since 2019, the Dodgers made two top-50 selections.<\/p>\n

And when their selections were on the clock, they identified the pair of Southeastern Conference teammates.<\/p>\n

Root is a Fort Myers, Fla., native who was the No. 31-ranked recruit in the state coming out of high school, according to Perfect Game.<\/p>\n

After starting his college career at East Carolina, where he had a 9-5 record and 4.43 ERA in two seasons, he found immediate success upon joining Arkansas, earning first-team All-SEC honors and second- and third-team All-American nods.<\/p>\n

Though he grew up in Florida, Root said he was a childhood Dodgers fan \u2014 thanks in large part to another certain left-handed pitcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, my dad always made me watch [Clayton] Kershaw and learn to pitch like him,\u201d Root said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve just been watching Dodger baseball ever since I can remember, because of Kershaw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davalan took a decidedly more circuitous route to the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\"Arkansas <\/p>\n

Arkansas batter Charles Davalan runs to first base during a game against Arkansas State on April 8.<\/p>\n

(Michael Woods \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Originally a childhood hockey player from Quebec, Canada, Davalan moved to Florida when he was in high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, enrolling in a specialized high school that allowed him to spend much of his days training as a baseball player.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith COVID, a lot got shut down in Canada,\u201d Davalan said. \u201cSo decided to go live in Florida, where the restrictions [weren\u2019t there] and you could play 12 months of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, the undersized Davalan \u2014 who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds \u2014 got one D-I offer from FGCU, impressed enough there to transfer to Arkansas, and then blossomed into \u201cone of the best hitters in the draft class, I think,\u201d Root said of his teammate. \u201cGetting him at pick 41 is just a big steal for the Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davalan offered similar praise about Root, calling him \u201ckind of an old-school pitcher\u201d who \u201creally filled the zones up good, but can still get his punchouts when he needs to get out of the jam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOld-school\u201d was also an adjective Davalan used to describe himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to win. I like to play hard,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to try to do. And I\u2019m sure that knowing the organization, it\u2019s filled of players like that, so I\u2019m super excited just to get to meet new people.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, be reacquainted with one from his recent past.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of my best friends because of Arkansas,\u201d Root said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really great dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m going to have to live with him in a couple more years,\u201d Davalan joked. \u201cHe\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers\u2019 first two picks in this year\u2019s MLB draft came consecutively at Nos. 40 and 41…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":64007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[45652,1582,276,45651,2442,45653,723,26251,2961,224,5337,41182,471,21578,5996,45654,16575,5950,3007,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-64006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-arkansas-standout","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-davalan","12":"tag-dodgers","13":"tag-first-pick","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-high-school","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-mlb-draft","20":"tag-no","21":"tag-pair","22":"tag-part","23":"tag-razorbacks","24":"tag-root","25":"tag-season","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114849798092036347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}