The Yankees took a shortstop with their third-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday evening, and he has a last name that will be plenty familiar to baseball fans.
With the No. 103 pick in the draft, New York picked shortstop Kaeden Kent out of Texas A&M, son of former National League MVP and five-time All-Star infielder Jeff Kent.
During his junior season for the Aggies, Kaeden hit 13 home runs and drove in 49 RBIs. He had a .943 OPS and 111 total bases in 56 games. He played three seasons for Texas A&M, and will now join the Yankees farm system, where he'll hope to quickly rise the ranks.
Kaeden Kent is headed to the Big Apple 👍#GigEm pic.twitter.com/9SXNuAV2SB
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) July 14, 2025
Kaeden is following in some historic footsteps as he embarks on his MLB journey. Jeff, 57, retired from MLB in 2009 after a legendary 17-year career. He had 2,461 hits, 377 home runs and a career .290 batting average across 2,298 games in the big leagues. Throughout his time in the league, he spent time with the Blue Jays––who drafted him in the 20th round in 1989–– Mets, Cleveland, Giants, Astros and Dodgers. He was named MVP in 2000 with the Giants when he hit 33 home runs and 125 RBIs and recorded a 7.2 bWAR.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Yankees Select Son of Former MVP in Third Round of MLB Draft.