At the moment is the primary day of the 2026 school baseball season, and to have a good time, I’m slicing the ribbon on our 2026 draft rankings and scouting studies. They’re now dwell on The Board, so head over there for all of those gamers’ instrument grades and blurbs. On this piece, I’ll contact on a number of particular person gamers who I feel are amongst this yr’s greatest and most fascinating prospects for readers to look at and monitor over the following 5 months as we method July’s draft in Philadelphia (I can’t wait). I’ll additionally talk about the category as a complete from a expertise standpoint, in addition to which groups are in place to have an enormous draft.
First, some fast housekeeping on the rankings. I’ve acquired 51 gamers on The Board proper now. I’ve hard-ranked the gamers with a 40+ FV and above, whereas the 40-FV gamers are clustered by demographic under them. Draft-eligible sophomores are denoted with an asterisks. At this stage within the draft course of, gamers are extra in neighborhoods or clusters. It’s too early to have many dozens of gamers ordinally ranked in a manner that received’t change drastically between now and draft day, particularly as soon as we get past the gamers who match throughout the first two rounds. Extra gamers might be added to The Board because the spring progresses.
That is additionally your reminder that we now have school leaderboards on the location, in addition to school participant pages, all of which I might be carrying out this spring as the category produces one other season of information.
General Class High quality and Names to Know
It is a good draft class, one that’s particularly deep with school gamers. There isn’t a slam-dunk expertise who’d go first in mainly any draft, no Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole, or Adley Rutschman, however UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, whose scouting report reads like a bulkier Dansby Swanson’s, wouldn’t be misplaced most years, and there’s a wholesome handful of gamers who may probably be part of him within the 55-FV stratosphere between now and choice day.
This class is meaty with school gamers whose grades would ordinarily put them in the course of the primary spherical. Gamers who, on expertise, may usually be drafted within the decide 10-15 vary, give or take, will nonetheless be round at decide 25. The 2023 highschool class was fairly good, and now a number of of the unsigned gamers from that class make up this yr’s first and second spherical group. Because of their embrace of contemporary coaching and pitch design, there are a selection of faculty applications which have a monitor document of serving to their arms enhance fairly rapidly. If there’s a participant demo we are able to most moderately hope will enhance as a complete this spring, it’s the arms. Hopefully it’s sufficient to counterbalance the accidents that a few of the gamers who we already know are good will inevitably undergo.
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For what looks as if the fourth yr in a row, there’s numerous good highschool pitching on this class. A great yr tends to have eight to 10 highschool pitchers who I’d really feel snug giving not less than $1.5 to $2 million to within the draft; this yr’s class might need as many as 12 or 15 of these guys. And these aren’t maxed-out, high-effort prepsters who simply throw laborious; these are huge prospects whose listed heights vary from 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-7 (once more, there are a dozen of simply this sort of man on this yr’s class, not all of whom are but on The Board) and certain appear to be they might work 160-plus innings of their bodily prime. There’s solely a lot bonus cash to go round, nonetheless, and even in a traditional yr, there are good pitchers who don’t signal and find yourself going to highschool. Liam Peterson (who has prime 10 stuff however a scary supply — extra on the Florida Gator under) and Joey Volchko (who transferred from Stanford to Georgia for this yr) each match that invoice again once they have been 2023 excessive schoolers, and the depth on this yr’s highschool group signifies that the 2029 school class is more likely to have a number of extra prime shelf pitchers than regular.
The highschool hitting crop isn’t as star-studded, and there are only a few of them who’re poised to go within the early or center a part of the primary spherical. Texas excessive schooler shortstop Grady Emerson (a great defender and call hitter with modest bodily projection) is an efficient wager to go inside the highest 5, and NorCal shortstop Tyler Spangler is gifted sufficient to go excessive, although maybe not excessive sufficient for him to signal. Candy-swinging switch-hitting shortstop Rocco Maniscalco, who re-classified from the 2027 class, will solely be 17.2 on draft day and has the look of a possible breakout man who may be part of Emerson. Maniscalco’s showcase efficiency throughout the final two summers is barely truthful (72% contact charge and an OPS simply shy of .700, per Synergy Sports activities), however his body, lefty swing, and defensive actions are all very thrilling scouting elements.
Who May Have A Enormous Draft?
These groups have an abnormally excessive variety of picks early within the draft. Trades have netted the Cardinals six (!) of the primary 86 picks, and the Pirates (partially due to an unsigned decide from final yr) have 5 of the primary 80 picks and 6 of the primary 108. Listed here are the golf equipment with a number of early picks, with that final Rockies decide representing the primary decide within the fifth spherical:
- Atlanta Braves (9, 26, 48, 84, 112)
- Houston Astros (17, 28, 57, 93, 121, 134)
- St. Louis Cardinals (13, 32, 50, 68, 72, 86, 114)
- Tampa Bay Rays (2, 33, 49, 85, 113)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (5, 34, 44, 51, 80, 108)
- Colorado Rockies (10, 37, 38, 76, 104, 138)
The Pirates and Rays are primed to each add gamers who’re High 100 prospects from the soar and have a deep class. The Cardinals already has one of many deeper programs in baseball and might need 70 rankable gamers by the top of the yr in the event that they proceed to shed huge leaguers all through the season.
Let’s Speak About A Few Extra People Gamers
I’m going to be decrease than the consensus on Gulliver Prep shortstop Jacob Lombard, the brother of Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. Jacob is a bodily, power-hitting infielder who places on fairly a present throughout BP, however he has struggled to hit in video games. His contact charge, per Synergy Sports activities, has been 61% throughout tracked showcase occasions the final two years, which isn’t solely under the massive league common however is down in Gabriel Arias territory, on the very backside of the massive league scale. Participant contact charges are likely to both stay the identical (the great final result) or dip (the generally scary one) as hitters climb the minor league ladder. I left my first Jacob Lombard BP and infield expertise pondering he was clearly one of many toolsier gamers on this class, however a sub-70% contact charge is an alarming place to begin.
The aforementioned Peterson, who I had a $3 million grade on when he was in highschool, has been sitting within the 94-98 mph vary throughout tune-up outings the final couple of weeks. He might need the most effective fastball/breaking ball combo within the draft, however his supply is violent.
One participant scouts are excited to see this spring (and plenty of have already got) is Georgia highschool righty Joseph Contreras, the son of former huge leaguer Jose Contreras, whose velocity has been rising for the final couple of years. He was parked within the 94-97 mph vary earlier this week and has his father’s forkball, which has devastating sink. Groups are centered on deciphering whether or not or not they assume Contreras’ supply is sustainable for a starter, and if not, how they could increase it.
And eventually, a reputation to stash away that you just’re unlikely to listen to a lot through the subsequent couple of months is Carson Wiggins, an Arkansas righty and the brother of Cubs prospect Jaxon Wiggins. Carson touched 102 final yr, however then blew out and had elbow surgical procedure in Might. A typical return timeline places him in play for pre-draft bullpens and hopefully an air-it-out session on the Draft Mix.