With their third-round selection in the 2025 MLB Draft, the 102nd overall pick, the Mets selected Anthony Jimenez, a shortstop from the University of Central Florida.
Davie, Florida native Antonio Jimenez attended Archbishop McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches, Florida, developing into a four-year letter-winner who became team captain. Over the course of his four-year varsity career with the Mavericks, the star shortstop hit a cumulative .338/.457/.466 in 91 total games with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 5 home runs, a perfect 38 stolen bases in 38 attempts, and 56 walks to 55 strikeouts. After graduating, Jimenez went undrafted in the 2023 MLB Draft and honored his commitment to the University of Miami.
In his freshman season, Jimenez appeared in 45 games for the Hurricanes and hit .182/.300/.313 in 99 at-bats, with 7 doubles, 0 triples, 2 home runs, 3 stolen bases in as many attempts, and 17 walks to 36 strikeouts. After the 2024 season ended, he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, hoping to play at a program that would be able to give him more playing time to develop as a hitter, and transferred to the University of Central Florida for the 2025 season. He played for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Collegiate Baseball League that summer and hit .203/.322/.383 in 39 games for them before donning the black and gold of the Knights.
A draft-eligible sophomore, Jimenez appeared in 55 games for Central Florida and hit .329/.407/.575 with 14 doubles, 2 triples, 11 home runs, 11 stolen bases in 14 attempts, and 25 walks to 46 strikeouts. He started and played at 55 games at shortstop, finished among the team leaders in most offensive categories, and was named to the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List, an award given to the top shortstop in college baseball that was ultimately given to UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky.
At the plate, Jimenez stands square at the plate with his hands about shoulder level. He swings with a moderate leg kick, load, and weight transfer. When he can extend his arms fully, Jimenez shows above-average pull-side power, making his heat map hottest middle/down-and-in. When he hits the ball solidly, he has shown 90th percentile exit velocities of 108 MPH. Jimenez is aggressive, coming to the plate looking to do damage, but poor swing decisions coupled with the below-average wrist control from his long swing have led to a lot of strikeouts in his short collegiate career, especially on pitches down-and-away.
In general, Jimenez makes good in-zone contact and needs more coaching on being less aggressive and taking more pitches, especially secondary pitches. The right-hander generally has no problems handling fastballs, but chases and whiffs against breaking balls and off-speed pitches at concerning-high rates. While he improved on his almost 30% strikeout rate posted in 2024 with a 19% strikeout rate in 2025, there is still work to do.
Defensively, Jimenez has the tools to stick at shortstop in the long term. His actions are smooth and silky, and he has soft hands and a slick glove. His movement is quick-twitch explosive, with above-average range to both sides. His arm is plus, arguably plus-plus, with 100 MPH throws across the diamond having been measured while playing in high school.