Scouting Report

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 45 | Run: 60 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50

Cunningham was among the best -- and arguably the best -- pure hitters among high schoolers in the 2025 class. He hit a Team USA-best .417 at the 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama in the summer of 2024 and was named USA Baseball’s Player of the Year that year. He also picked up Gatorade Player of the Year honors for Texas in his senior spring at San Antonio’s Lady Bird Johnson High School, where he hit .509 in ’25. The D-backs, who have an established high regard for shorter lefty bats with strong hit tools, selected Cunningham with the 18th overall pick and signed him for slot at $4,581,900.

Standing 5-foot-10, Cunningham rarely whiffed on his swings as an amateur and showed the ability to manipulate the barrel to all areas of the strike zone. He impressed Arizona officials enough at the complex after the Draft to the point where they pushed him out to Single-A Visalia for 11 games, and his contact rate was solid for a recent prepster pushed into the deep end. Cunningham doesn’t have a projectable frame, however, and he’ll really need to maintain good bat speed to get to even average power in the bigs.

Cunningham is an energetic player on the basepaths, but one who makes for an interesting evaluation on defense. He lost some of his twitchiness at shortstop before the Draft, and in the California League, he looked rushed on some of his actions and throws, including getting charged with three errors in his debut. Arizona still plans to keep him at shortstop, believing that last year’s experience could be eye-opening because of the speed of the game, but even entering the Draft, some scouts saw Cunningham as a future bat-first second baseman.

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 45 | Run: 60 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50

A slightly bigger and lefty-swinging version of Jett Williams, a Texas prep shortstop who went 14th overall to the Mets in 2022, Cunningham was a better pure hitter at the same stage and perhaps the best in the 2025 prep class. He led Team USA with a .417 average at an 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama last August, won USA Baseball's Player of the Year award in 2024 and Gatorade state Player of the Year accolades this spring. He went to the D-backs with the 18th overall pick and signed for slot value at $4,581,900.

Cunningham has exceptional barrel control and rarely swings and misses. He has a mature approach, covers the entire strike zone and utilizes the whole field. Though he's not physical, his bat speed and ability to repeatedly barrel balls should enable him to get to 15-20 homers per season.

Cunningham has plus speed and plays with a lot of energy on the bases and in the field. He has displayed good actions and solid-to-plus arm strength in the past but has seemed less twitchy at shortstop this spring, and many scouts believe he'll wind up moving to second base. As a 5-foot-10 lefty swinger, he very much falls in line with Arizona’s recent trends of taking undersized athletes who could play up the middle.

Video scouting report »

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 45 | Run: 60 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55

A slightly bigger and lefty-swinging version of Jett Williams, a Texas prep shortstop who went 14th overall to the Mets in 2022, Cunningham is a better pure hitter at the same stage and perhaps the best in the 2025 prep class. He led Team USA with a .417 average at an 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama last August, won USA Baseball's player of the year award in 2024 and Gatorade state player of the year accolades this spring.

Cunningham has exceptional barrel control and rarely swings and misses. He has a mature approach, covers the entire strike zone and utilizes the whole field. Though he's not physical, his bat speed and ability to repeatedly barrel balls should enable him to get to 15-20 homers per season.

Cunningham has plus speed and plays with a lot of energy on the bases and in the field. He has displayed good actions and solid-to-plus arm strength in the past but has seemed less twitchy at shortstop this spring, and many scouts believe he'll wind up moving to second base. He'll be 19 on Draft Day and eligible as a sophomore in 2027 if he attends Texas.

Transactions

Team	Date	Transaction
	03/05/2026	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to Arizona D-backs Prospects.
	08/19/2025	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to Visalia Rawhide from ACL D-backs.
	08/04/2025	ACL D-backs activated SS Kayson Cunningham.
	07/22/2025	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to ACL D-backs.
	07/21/2025	Arizona Diamondbacks signed SS Kayson Cunningham.
	05/26/2025	College Workout activated SS Kayson Cunningham.
	09/10/2024	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to High School Workout.
	08/16/2024	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to High School Workout.
	08/12/2024	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to High School Workout.
	06/30/2024	High School Workout activated SS Kayson Cunningham.
	09/19/2023	States Play - East activated SS Kayson Cunningham.
	09/19/2023	States Play - East activated SS Kayson Cunningham.
	08/16/2023	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to High School Workout.
	07/21/2023	SS Kayson Cunningham assigned to TSA South.