ATLANTA — Coastal Carolina University catcher Caden Bodine was selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the No. 30 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.
Bodine, one of the elite catches in college baseball, won the Johnny Bench and Buster Posey Awards, was an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at catcher and was a four-time All-American, earning spots on teams from the College Baseball Foundation (First), D1Baseball (First), Perfect Game (second) and NCBWA (third).
His selection marks 29 straight seasons with a Chanticleer being selected in the MLB draft, dating back to 1997. Bodine is only the second first-round choice in school history, joining Eric Brown in 2022 to the Milwaukee Brewers (No. 27 overall).
Coastal Carolina had a nation-leading and school record 56 wins, a Sun Belt Conference Championship, Sun Belt Tournament Championship, Conway Regional Championship, Auburn Super Regional Championship and a 3-0 run in Omaha to the Men’s College World Series Championship Final. Over the last quarter of the season, Coastal posted a 26-game winning streak, the fourth-longest winning streak in DI in the last five years. Bodine turned in an outstanding all-around campaign in 2025. The First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection started 67 games for the Chanticleers — 66 behind the dish, one at DH — guiding a pitching staff that ranked No. 2 nationally in both ERA and WHIP. Offensively, he hit .318 with a team-best .454 on-base percentage, drawing 47 walks and being hit by 17 pitches. He added 24 extra-base hits, drove in 42 runs and slugged .461, serving as a consistent presence atop the lineup.Behind the plate, Bodine was a defensive anchor. He threw out 19 would-be base stealers on 44 attempts — tied CCU’s career record with 46 runners caught stealing — and finished with a .998 fielding percentage. His leadership helped elevate Coastal to the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championship, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player and also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. He followed that up with All-Tournament honors in the NCAA Conway Regional as the Chants advanced to the Super Regionals and Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2016.
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