The Yankees’ fourth player in their 2025 MLB Draft class has been announced, and relatedly, we suspect that the Core Four™ would approve. The fifth-round pick is Core Jackson, a shortstop from the University of Utah. (Technically, he’s James William Core Jackson, but you know what? You’ll get noticed more if you go by Core.)
Jackson just completed his senior season for the Utes and was named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, which is given annually to the best college shortstop. Baseball America predicts that he should be able to stick at the six, too, unlike many draft prospects who are merely announced as shortstops.
Although not ranked by any major outlets, Jackson has had a fascinating path to get to this point in his baseball career all the way from Ontario. Born in Sarnia very close to the Michigan border near Detroit, Jackson grew up in Wyoming (not the state) and graduated nearby in Petrolia at the Lambton Central Collegiate & Vocational Institute. From there, he made his way to Utah by way of South Mountain Community College in Phoenix and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Jackson has raked since his first day in Salt Lake City. He hit .363/.463/.516 with 22 extra-base hits in 52 games last year, and Baseball America speculated that he probably could have entered the draft right then. He chose to return to school though, and he boosted the power with a .364/.445/.641 line, this time notching 19 doubles and 12 homers (plus a 93.5 mph average exit velocity) while stealing 20 bases. Jackson made the PAC-12 All-Conference Team as a junior and the All-Big 12 First Team as a senior.
As a likely senior sign, expect the Yankees to go under slot here and allocate the bonus elsewhere in the draft class. Welcome to the Bronx, Core!
As a programming note, from the sixth round onward, we’ll be grouping draft pick articles into the same post and updating as the picks are made. So once the Yankees’ sixth-round selection is in, it will be in an article that kicks off the Rounds 6-10 picks. Once those gradually come in and fill up, we’ll move on to another article that covers Rounds 11-15, and then a last one to hit the final five picks, Rounds 16-20.
