Rice pitcher Davion has been selected in the fifth round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Davion Hickson was an outstanding pitcher across two seasons with Rice baseball, finding success as a closer and then a Friday night starter. Those effort did not go unnoticed as Hickson was selected in the fifth round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros on Monday. He became the highest Owl drafted since Trei Cruz went in the third round to the Detroit Tigers in 2020 and a sixth top-five round selection for the program in the past six years.
Hickson was the most reliable arm the Owls fielded over the last two seasons, leading Rice in innings (73.0), strikeouts (90), ERA (3.82) and opponent batting average (.220) as a starter this past spring. He’s is the sixth Rice player drafted by the Dodgers and the first since Jeremy Rathjen (11th round) and Matthew Reckling (14th) were selected by Los Angeles in 2012.
Update: Reliever Garrett Stratton joined Hickson among MLB Draft selections, going to the Mets in the 20th Round
Rice Baseball MLB Draft selections (since 2015)
| Player | Draft Year | Team | Round |
| Davion Hickson | 2025 | Dogers | 5 |
| Garrett Stratton | 2025 | Mets | 20 |
| Parker Smith | 2024 | Astros | 4 |
| Justin Long | 2023 | Braves | 7 |
| Hayden Durke | 2023 | Diamondbacks | 13 |
| Matthew Linskey | 2023 | Diamondbacks | 16 |
| Roel Garcia | 2022 | Rays | 14 |
| Trei Cruz | 2020 | Tigers | 3 |
| Matt Canterino | 2019 | Twins | 2 |
| Evan Kravetz | 2019 | Reds | 5 |
| Garrett Gayle | 2019 | Astros | 12 |
| Roel Garcia | 2019 | Blue Jays | 27 |
| Trei Cruz | 2019 | Nationals | 37 |
| Addison Moss | 2019 | Rays | 37 |
| Ford Proctor | 2018 | Rays | 3 |
| Ricky Salinas | 2018 | Reds | 25 |
| Cody Staab | 2018 | Marines | 30 |
| Glenn Otto | 2017 | Yankees | 5 |
| Dane Myers | 2017 | Tigers | 6 |
| Tristan Gray | 2017 | Pirates | 13 |
| Jon Duplantier | 2016 | Diamondbacks | 3 |
| Blake Fox | 2016 | Brewers | 10 |
| Jordan Stephens | 2015 | White Sox | 5 |
| Leon Byrd | 2015 | Rangers | 10 |
| Kevin McCanna | 2015 | Astros | 13 |
| Austin Orewiler | 2015 | Reds | 14 |
| Matt Ditman | 2015 | Roayls | 16 |
| John Clay Reeves | 2015 | Nationals | 20 |
| John Williamson | 2015 | Cubs | 23 |
