Blue Jays Select JoJo Parker Eighth Overall In 2025 MLB Draft

[Owen Hill]

With their first pick, and the eighth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, The Blue Jays have selected JoJo Parker, an 18-year-old shortstop. He is 6’2, 195-pounds and from Purvis Highschool in Mississippi. He was ranked ninth overall on the Jays Centre’s Mock Board. 

The eighth overall pick comes with a slot value of $6,813,600.

The biggest appeal to Parker’s profile is his ability to swing the bat, with an impressive hit-tool and already solid power, even as a prep player.

At just 18 years old, Parker is built solid at 6’2, and nearly 200-pounds. His left handed swing starts with a narrow base, and the movements are smooth and quiet as he progresses through load, stride and contact. His ability to get bat on the ball is polished, and at times flashes some power.

The rest of Parker’s tools are considered average, so his ability to hit will make or break his professional career, as it does with most position player prospects. Even still, there is hope that Parker will be able to stick at shortstop in the near-term, even if he ends up at second or third base by the time he ends up in the big leagues.

There’s a lot of upside to JoJo Parker’s offensive profile, and if he develops into a legitimate power threat that some think he will, he could end up being the best hitter taken in the draft.

JoJo’s twin brother Jacob Parker is ranked 88th on our Mock Board, which is right in the range of the Jays’ third round pick at 81st overall, so there is a (extremely unlikely) chance that the Blue Jays look to keep the brothers together in pro-ball.

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[Spanky__99]

I'm on team Pendleton, take the Parker  bros...

 

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116. Jacob Parker

OF

Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 210 | B-T: L-R

School: Purvis (Miss.) HS Drafted/Committed: Mississippi State
Age At Draft: 18.9

BA Grade: 50/Extreme

Parker is a physical lefthanded hitter with a big league frame at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds and the raw power to match it. He puts on some of the most impressive batting practice displays in the class, and has already managed exit velocities north of 110 mph with a wood bat. Parker has plus raw power and he gets to it relatively easily with a swing that doesn’t have a huge amount of effort. While his power is obvious, there are more questions about the sort of pure hitter he’s going to be. He has done a reasonable job of making contact, but he can get out of sync and off-balance in games, and his bat path can get lengthy. During the spring, he was a tremendous performer with Purvis High in Mississippi and out-hit his twin brother, Joseph, who is expected to be a first-round pick. Parker has turned in plus run times for scouts this spring, and could have a chance to play center, though most scouts view him as a high-probability corner outfielder whose above-average arm fits the prototypical right field profile. Parker is committed to Mississippi State, but could be selected in the first four rounds of the draft.

Scouting Grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run:55 | Field: 50 | Arm: 55.