Cardell Thibodeaux’s outstanding play in 2025 was rewarded with a selection in the MLB draft on Monday.
The Southern baseball star was picked by the San Diego Padres with the 490th pick in the 16th round. The last Jaguars player drafted was Javeyan Williams in 2019. He was the 656th pick in the 22nd round.
Before Thibodeaux was selected, he excelled in seven games in the MLB Draft League. The 21-year-old had a .423 batting average, a .545 on-base percentage, a .654 slugging percentage, nine RBIs, three doubles and a home run.
The junior had an illustrious 2025 season. The Lafayette native was the SWAC Player of the Year and was named to the National College Baseball Writers Association Division I All-America third team. He was the only HBCU player to make any of the All-America teams.
Thibodeaux finished his season first in the country in slugging percentage (.828), second in batting average (.435) and second in on-base percentage (.541). In 49 games, he also had 73 runs scored, 71 RBIs and 18 home runs, which were first, fifth and second in the SWAC, respectively.
Thibodeaux entered the transfer portal on July 1 after his one season at Southern. He started his career at UL-Monroe, where he stayed for two seasons.Â
