Archive for 2026 MLB Draft

I live in Mercer County, New Jersey, which has a lot going for it. If there’s a place on Earth with more great hoagie shops per capita, I’ve yet to encounter it. We’re the world capital of passive-aggressive bridge architecture, and it was here that George Washington gave the United States of America its first great Christmas gift: A big pile of dead Hessian mercenaries.

But a college baseball hotbed it is not. Rider and Penn are nearby, and both schools are frequent pesky no. 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Which is fun, but it’s not too interesting to a national baseball writer who focuses primarily on the major leagues.

Last weekend was different. Several rounds of Big Ten expansion led to an unusual event: UCLA, the no. 1 team in the country, with presumptive no. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky in tow, was obliged to visit Rutgers. I’ve had this series circled on my calendar since last year, and here’s what I learned. Read the rest of this entry »

Today is the first day of the 2026 college baseball season, and to celebrate, I’m cutting the ribbon on our 2026 draft rankings and scouting reports. They’re now live on The Board, so head over there for all of these players’ tool grades and blurbs. In this piece, I’ll touch on several individual players who I think are among this year’s best and most interesting prospects for readers to watch and monitor over the next five months as we approach July’s draft in Philadelphia (I can’t wait). I’ll also discuss the class as a whole from a talent standpoint, as well as which teams are in position to have a huge draft.

First, some quick housekeeping on the rankings. I’ve got 51 players on The Board right now. I’ve hard-ranked the players with a 40+ FV and above, while the 40-FV players are clustered by demographic below them. Draft-eligible sophomores are denoted with an asterisks. At this stage in the draft process, players are more in neighborhoods or clusters. It’s too early to have many dozens of players ordinally ranked in a way that won’t change drastically between now and draft day, especially once we get beyond the players who fit within the first two rounds. More players will be added to The Board as the spring progresses.

This is also your reminder that we now have college leaderboards on the site, as well as college player pages, all of which I will be wearing out this spring as the class produces another season of data. Read the rest of this entry »

This is David’s first piece as a FanGraphs prospect contributor. He is from Northwest Indiana and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Statistics at Indiana University. He previously wrote for Down on the Farm, and has given talks at the SABR Analytics Conference and Saberseminar.

Earlier today, Eric Longenhagen launched his 2025 Draft Board, highlighting the top draft prospects in this year’s class. In this piece, I want to look a bit further into the future and focus on some of the college underclassmen you’ll want to keep an eye on this year. I selected a pitcher and a hitter from each of the Power 4 conferences, along with two non-Power 4 underclassmen and one unique true freshman. Of course, there’s a lot more talent in these conferences than just the guys I have listed here, but this should give you some idea of the players to watch over the next couple of seasons.

ACC

Drew Burress, CF, Georgia Tech
Burress hit .381/.512/.821 with 25 home runs in 58 games as a freshman at Georgia Tech last year. At a stocky 5-foot-9, he doesn’t necessarily look the part, but if you look past his size, there aren’t many holes in his game. He doesn’t whiff much, he doesn’t chase much, and he has plus power that he gets to in games due to a swing path that lets him lift the ball. Burress is loose in the box and has an interesting stance, with his bat pointed towards the ground and his lead elbow pointed high in the air. There’s length to the swing at times, but he’s shown the ability to get the bat on the ball wherever it’s pitched. Defensively, Burress spent all 58 games in center field last season. His feel for the position is still developing, but there’s a solid underlying foundation here because of his above-average speed. Overall, he’s the front runner to be the no. 1 overall pick in 2026 as someone who plays a premium position with a well-rounded offensive profile. Read the rest of this entry »