ESPN Projects Cal's Caleb Lomavita to Go Early in First Round of MLB Draft

Baseball draft starts July 14, and Lomavita and Rodney Green Jr. are the Golden Bears' top two prospects for this year's draft

Catcher Caleb Lomavita / Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times / USA TODAY

Cal catcher Caleb Lomavita finished the season with an offensive flurry, and that may have helped his status in the upcoming Major League Baseball draft.

ESPN posted a mock draft on Wednesday (May 29), predicting the first-round picks for the July 14 baseball draft, and it projected Lomavita to be the 11th player drafted overall and the first catcher taken.

Here is what ESPN said about Lomavita while predicting he will be taken by the Detroit Tigers:

"Lomavita has a lot of late helium into this area and probably goes somewhere between Nos. 8-17. He has plus tools, but his weakness is his chase rate, something that teams have had some success improving in pro ball. Cam Caminiti is a real factor here, as is Trey Yesavage (who recently suffered a partially collapsed lung that teams are still learning about). I also can't rule out Griffin, as Detroit isn't scared to take a prep player early. Detroit figures to have a number of solid options and could go with any of the four major player categories."

Lomavita batted second in the Cal batting order, which is unusual for a catcher, but he is particularly fast for a catcher.

He was in a bit of a slump at the end of the regular season, but he got out of it in the Pac-12 tournament. In those three games he hit .500 (6-for-12) with a home run, and he hit the ball hard in nearly every at-bat. However, he was not able to push Cal into the NCAA tournament as the Bears were left out of the 64-team field in a selection process that annoyed Cal coaches and players.

Lomavita batted .322 with 15 homers and 52 RBIs this season as a junior after hitting .316 with 16 home runs and 43 RBIs as a sophomore.

Another Cal player likely to be taken early in the MLB draft is junior center fielder Rodney Green Jr., although he may not be taken in the first round.

After the 2023 season, when Green hit .293 with 14 homers and 29 stolen bases, he looked like sure-fire first-round pick this year as a junior.  However, his batting average dipped to .267 in 2024 with 14 homers and 15 stolen bases.  He remains an outstanding defensive center fielder.

There are different opinions about Green now, and he might be taken at the end of the first round.  He is more likely to go in the second or third round, however.

Here is what Prospects Live said about Green:

"Green's toolset is one of the more enticing ones in the college landscape. For starters, it's an immense ceiling with quality defense, plus speed, and a ton of power in the bat. The big thing that works against Green right now is the swing-and-miss to his game, which has correlated to a lower contact rate. That said, Green swings very easily and the bat explodes through the zone, giving him above-average power that plays mostly to his pull side. If he is able to improve the plate discipline and cut down the strikeouts, this is a very potent bat. In the field, he's an impressive defender in center field with solid route running and instincts, though the arm is more around average. That said, he'll likely stick at the position as he develops."

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