by For the first time since taking Tanner Houck 24th overall in 2017, the Red Sox have selected a pitcher in the first round of an MLB Draft.
Boston chose right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon with the 15th overall pick in the 2025 Draft.
The 20-year-old Witherspoon stands as an intriguing addition to Boston’s prospect pipeline after a standout season at the University of Oklahoma.
Here are four things to know about the promising righty:
With the 15th pick in the 2025
#MLBDraft
, we have selected RHP Kyson Witherspoon from the University of Oklahoma.
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He was considered one of the top arms in college baseball
Former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd had high praise for Witherspoon shortly after Boston selected him on Sunday.
“This guy has more upside of anyone that’s been taken from a pitching standpoint. I think this young man is just stretching the surface of how good he can be.”
Former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd on MLB Network on Kyson Witherspoon:
“This guy has more upside of anyone that’s been taken from a pitching standpoint. I think this young man is just stretching the surface of how good he can be.”
The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Witherspoon.
Kyson Witherspoon’s arsenal 😮💨
His fastball grades out with plus velocity and exceptional ride, making him look like an MLB-ready arm 👀
More likely first-rounders with intriguing data:
https://t.co/YXTtrHQzRI
pic.twitter.com/YFJLftogpy
He posted a 10-4 record with a 2.65 ERA, 124 strikeouts, and 23 walks across 16 starts (95 innings) this past season with the Sooners. Those 124 strikeouts ranked sixth in Division I this past year.
Beyond the stats, Witherspoon’s varied arsenal of pitches and swing-and-miss stuff had him projected as the No. 10 prospect in this draft class, per MLB Pipeline.
“Witherspoon has swing-and-miss stuff, starting with a mid-90s fastball that peaks at 99 mph and stands out more for its power than its modest life,
MLB Pipeline’s scouting report on Witherspoon read.
“His mid-80s slider can touch 91 mph while featuring both horizontal action and depth, and he’ll turn it into an upper-80s cutter that he uses just as often.
“He’s showing more consistency with his low-80s downer curveball, giving him another plus offering, while his upper-80s changeup is a work in progress that gets too firm but will show interesting fade at times.”
He has a twin brother who is also a 2025 Draft pick
Witherspoon wasn’t be the only one in his family who heard their name called during the 2025 MLB Draft.
Witherspoon has a twin brother, Malachi, who has been with him every step of the way during their baseball career. He was drafted by the Tigers on Sunday with the 62nd pick in the draft.
Kyson (No. 15, BOS) and Malachi (No. 62, DET) Witherspoon have both been drafted today!
They’ll look to be the first set of twins in the Majors after being taken the same year since fellow Sooners Ryan and Damon Minor (1996).
More on the brothers:
https://t.co/pWneH9GbVb
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“We always have a partner for everything we do,” Kyson said of his brother, via
Cooper Andrews of the Chatham Anglers.
“So we were the biggest competitors, always trying to get each other better.”
The Witherspoon twins have been stapled at the hip on the baseball diamond, playing for the same teams in youth league, high school, summer ball, junior college, the Cape Cod Baseball League, and the D-I ranks.
Both Witherspoon brothers committed to Oklahoma in July 2023.
Initially drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 12th round in 2022, Malachi Witherspoon opted to continue playing with his brother in the collegiate ranks. Kyson was not selected by any team during the 2022 Draft.
Malachi Witherspoon finished the 2025 season with a 5.09 ERA through 74.1 innings pitched with Oklahoma – with his 91 strikeouts ranking second on the roster behind his brother.
“Hopefully he gets his name called here pretty soon,”
Kyson said of his brother Sunday, per MassLive’s Chris Smith,
. “I’m waiting for that. But just him, that really drove me a bunch. I don’t like being second. He doesn’t like being second in anything we do. So just that fire underneath us just helps, it fuels us really.”
He credits his mother for getting him to this point in baseball
In a feature story by
USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale
, Witherspoon was emotional when discussing his mother, Meg, and the role she played in getting both him and his brother on the cusp of a pro baseball career.
“We want to take care of our mom,” Kyson said of he and his brother’s priority after the draft. “She’s done everything in the world for us. We wouldn’t be here without her. Whatever she needs, whatever she wants, we’re going to help her. I mean, it’s all hers. The only reason we’ve been able to go through this is because of her.
The Whiterspoon twins — along with older sister Kylei and younger brother Kyler — were all raised by Meg as a single mother, who raised her family by working three or four jobs at a time and logging over 75 hours of work per week in Florida.
“I get a tear in my eye thinking about how respectful they are,” Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson told Nightengale. “You can’t say enough about that motherly love, and it was hard love too. Those kids are her life. She broke her back for those kids. She was there, man. She was the backbone of that deal. It’s such a crazy, beautiful story. It’s something movies are made of, man.’’
He wasn’t highly recruited out of high school as a shortstop
One of the reasons why it was Malachi who received a call during the 2022 MLB Draft and not Kyson was due to the lack of buzz surrounding Kyson’s potential as a pitcher.
Kyson wasn’t considered a blue-chip prospect during his high-school days at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Fla — with
Perfect Game
even rating him as a shortstop in their recruiting rankings as the No. 428 shortstop in the nation.
While Kyson eventually made the switch from the infield to the pitcher’s mound, his reps at shortstop also helped him develop the arm action needed to deliver a blistering fastball with little exertion.
“I think just the arm path thing, it was never something I really intentionally tried to do,” Witherspoon told Smith. “Coming from a shortstop background throughout high school, I think just the shorter arm path was pretty comfortable for me already.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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