The shortstop is an SEC Player of the Year candidate.
With the MLB draft just ten weeks and change away, it’s time to start evaluating some prospects that the Royals could target in the first round. For a more holistic look at this summer’s draft, check out my primer from a couple of weeks ago. Today, we will begin our more in-depth coverage of specific prospects with a look at a premium up-the-middle athlete at an elite SEC program: Arkansas’s Wehiwa Aloy.
Aloy was born and raised Wailuku, Hawai’i. He played baseball at Henry Perrine Baldwin High School in Wailuku, where he led the team to a league title in his senior season and was voted Maui Interscholastic League Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. For one reason or another, he didn’t get much attention during the 2022 draft cycle, going unranked on both MLB Pipeline’s top 250 draft prospects and Baseball America’s top 500. After graduating high school, he would head to the mainland to play college ball at Sacramento State.
Sac State wasn’t expected to be a great team in 2023, but Aloy generated some buzz — heading into the spring, he was slated to start at shortstop for the Hornets and D1Baseball picked him as the WAC Freshman of the Year favorite. He delivered on that and then some. Aloy opened the season with a 13-game hit streak and reached base in each of his first 19 games of the year. He had multiple weekends in conference play with six-plus hits and finished the year on an 11-game hitting streak. He finished the season batting .376/.427/.662 (152 wRC+) in 261 plate appearances with 15 doubles, five triples, and 14 home runs. As predicted in the preseason, Aloy did indeed win WAC Freshman of the Year and also earned Freshman All-American honors. His efforts did not translate to team success, however, as Sac State finished the year 30-26 and missed the WAC tournament.
Following the 2023 season, Aloy entered the transfer portal and elected to take his talents to Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was very impressive in the fall and was expected to play an important role for the Razorbacks in 2024. Unlike in his freshman season, however, Aloy stumbled out of the gate. He struck out 11 times over the first two weekends, which included a brutal 0-for-7 in a game against Oklahoma State, with just one extra-base hit. He would go on to show flashes throughout the spring but never really settled in as the offensive force he was expected to be. Arkansas reached the NCAA tournament as a regional host and Aloy hit well in the first couple games, going 4-10 with a homer and a double, but he went 0-for-4 with a couple punchouts in a loss that eliminated the Razorbacks. He finished the year hitting .270/.355/.485 (100 wRC+) in 274 plate appearances with 14 homers, earning Second Team All-SEC honors.
After the Hogs saw their season end, Aloy headed northeast to play summer ball at the Cape Cod League, the nation’s premier wood bat collegiate summer league. In what is generally a challenging environment for hitters, Aloy shined. Despite getting just 88 plate appearances (half as many as the league’s leader) he finished tied for third on the circuit with eight homers and slashed .309/.352/.642.
Coming off a strong summer, and with a year of SEC baseball under his belt, Aloy was poised for a big spring in 2025. He put the sport on notice early with a 6-for-11 weekend that included two homers at Globe Life Field in the second weekend of the season. He ended non-conference play with a streak of five multi-hit games, a feat that he has since accomplished two more times in conference play. Aloy has been on a heater in April, recording ten multi-hit games and swatting seven homers, including a stretch of four consecutive games with a homer. At the time of writing, he is batting .370/.453/.724 (165 wRC+) in 223 plate appearances. His 17 home runs are tied for sixth nationally. This isn’t just him fattening up on non-conference opponents either as he has hit .337/.415/.685 in SEC play, with the second-most homers in the league at nine.
There’s still plenty of movement in draft prospect rankings at this point of the season, and Aloy’s draft grade has some range to it:
MLB Pipeline: 24
Baseball America ($): 25
Keith Law ($): 19
Kiley McDaniel ($): 10
Aloy has a strong frame that stands at 6’2”, 200 lbs. He stands upright with a wide base in the box, closing off his stance slightly with his left heel off the ground. His hands are up by his head with the bat nearly parallel to the ground, scarcely moving as he awaits the pitch. He loads with a toe tap and moderate stride while dropping his hands somewhat deep, giving his swing some length. He had a bit of a hitch in his load in film I saw from the Cape last summer, but he seems to have toned that down this spring. Aloy does not get cheated in the box, taking a vicious cut with obvious plus bat speed. It’s a bottom-handed swing that is geared to lift the ball.
The carrying tool here offensively is power — Aloy has above-average pop for an up-the-middle player, with home run power to all fields but particularly to the pull side. The hit tool is a bit more of a question. His strikeout rate isn’t quite in red flag territory, hovering a shade over 20% in SEC play over the last two seasons, but it’s high enough to throw his contact skills into question. His plate coverage is solid, but his uphill swing can leave him vulnerable to high fastballs. Given his strength and bat speed, Aloy could probably afford to shorten up his swing a bit to make more contact. The approach also needs work as he tends to chase breaking balls below the zone. Chase is a bigger problem for Aloy than in-zone whiffs, representing his biggest flaw at the plate.
Defensively, Aloy should be able to stick on the dirt, though scouts are divided on if that will be at shortstop. His hands and actions appear pro-quality and he has at least an average arm. Range is the biggest question as Aloy is an average runner at best and may not be able to cover enough ground at the next level. Given his skills and overall athleticism, I’m bullish on his ability to stay at the position, but he should be plenty capable at second or third base as well if shortstop doesn’t work out.
If Aloy continues hitting the way that he has this spring, he likely won’t be available by the time Kansas City drafts at #23. Shortstops with plus power and performance in the SEC go in the top ten. The fact that I’m writing him up here speaks to the questions surrounding the college bats in this draft. Those questions in Aloy’s case are mainly plate discipline and his ability to play shortstop. The upside here is immense, but plenty of talented players have had their pro careers undone by a poor approach.