Welcome to our MLB Draft Big Board 2.0. We’re a week away from flipping the calendar to April, conference play is underway in college baseball, and high school programs across the country are deep into their spring schedules. In other words, we’re getting real information now, and this board reflects it.
The top hasn’t moved. Roch Cholowsky is your No. 1, and it isn’t close. But buckle up behind him, because this update has some serious movement.
Ace Reese has shot up 19 spots and is making a legitimate case to be a top-five pick. Vahn Lackey has been one of the best stories in college baseball this spring and has climbed 13 spots to crack the top ten. And Eric Booth (who was No. 39 on our February board) has made the most stunning leap of anyone in this class and is now inside the top ten.
There’s a lot of time to go, but things are starting to take shape. Let’s get into it.
2026 MLB Draft – Top 50 (Version 2.0)
1— Same Roch CholowskySS UCLA· College 2— Same Grady EmersonSS Fort Worth Christian HS (TX)· HS → Commit: Texas 3▲ +1 Jackson FloraRHP↑ Riser UC Santa Barbara· College 4— Same Justin LebronSS Alabama· College 5▲ +19 Ace Reese3B↑ Big Riser Mississippi State· College 6▲ +13 Vahn LackeyC↑ Big Riser Wake Forest· College 7▲ +13 Sawyer StrosniderOF↑ Riser TCU· College 8▲ +5 Chris HacopianSS↑ Riser Texas A&M· College 9— Same Gio RojasLHP Stoneman Douglas HS (FL)· HS → Commit: Miami 10▲ +25 Eric BoothOF↑ Big Riser Oak Grove HS (MS)· HS → Commit: Vanderbilt 11▼ −6 Cameron FlukeyRHP↓ Faller Coastal Carolina· College 12▼ −3 Jacob LombardSS↓ Faller Gulliver Prep HS (FL)· HS → Commit: Miami 13▼ −4 AJ GraciaCF↓ Faller Virginia· College 14▼ −8 Drew BurressCF↓ Faller Georgia Tech· College 15▼ −8 Derek CurielCF↓ Faller LSU· College 16— Approx. Tyler SpanglerSS De La Salle HS (CA)· HS → Commit: Stanford 17▲ +12 Tyler BellSS↑ Riser Kentucky· College 18— Same Carson BolemonLHP Southside Christian HS (SC)· HS → Commit: Wake Forest 19▼ −3 Liam PetersonLHP↓ Faller Florida· College 20▼ −3 Eric BekerSS↓ Faller Virginia· College 21— Approx. Caden SorrellCF Texas A&M· College 22▲ +8 Ryder HelfrickC↑ Riser Arkansas· College 23— Approx. Will BrickC Christian Brothers HS (TN)· HS → Commit: Mississippi State 24— Approx. Aiden RobbinsOF Texas· College 25▲ +2 James ClarkSS↑ Riser St. John Bosco HS (CA)· HS → Commit: Duke 26▲ +17 Tegan KuhnsRHP↑ Big Riser Tennessee· College 27▼ −15 Blake BowenCF↓ Faller JSerra Catholic HS (CA)· HS → Commit: Oregon State 28— Approx. Joseph ContrerasRHP Blessed Trinity HS (GA)· HS → Commit: Vanderbilt 29— Approx. Logan SchmidtLHP Ganesha HS (CA)· HS → Commit: LSU 30— Approx. Trevor CondonCF Etowah HS (GA)· HS → Commit: Tennessee 31— Approx. Jensen HirschkornRHP Kingsburg HS (CA)· HS → Commit: LSU 32— Approx. Coleman BorthwickRHP South Walton HS (FL)· HS → Commit: Auburn 33▲ +15 Landon ThomeSS↑ Riser Nazareth Academy (IL)· HS → Commit: Florida State 34▲ +3 Kaden WaechterRHP/3B↑ Riser Jesuit HS (FL)· HS → Commit: Florida State 35▼ −7 Chris Rembert2B↓ Faller Auburn· College 36★ NEW Aiden RuizSS★ New Entry The Stony Brook HS (NY)· HS → Commit: Vanderbilt 37— Approx. Jared GrindlingerLHP/OF Huntington Beach HS (CA)· HS · No commit 38— Same Jake BrownOF LSU· College 39▼ −25 Rocco ManiscalcoSS↓ Faller Oxford HS (AL)· HS → Commit: Mississippi State 40— Approx. Zion RoseCF Louisville· College 41— Approx. Joey VolchkoRHP Georgia· College 42★ NEW Mason EdwardsLHP★ New Entry USC· College 43▼ −18 Gabe GaeckleRHP↓ Faller Arkansas· College 44★ NEW Sean DuncanLHP★ New Entry Terry Fox Secondary HS (B.C.)· HS · Canada → Commit: Vanderbilt 45— Approx. Brady HarrisCF Trinity Christian HS (FL)· HS → Commit: Florida 46★ NEW Noah WilsonOF★ New Entry McCallie HS (TN)· HS → Commit: Vanderbilt 47★ NEW Savion SimsRHP★ New Entry Prestonwood Christian Academy (TX)· HS → Commit: Oklahoma 48▼ −7 Cole KoeningerSS/RHP↓ Faller Keller HS (TX)· HS → Commit: Tennessee 49— Same Chase BrunsonCF LSU· College 50★ NEW Ruger RiojasRHP★ New Entry Texas· CollegeNotes on the Updated Top 50
The Top of the Board
Roch Cholowsky is the story at the top of this class, and he has been for a while now. The UCLA shortstop is hitting .352 with 10 home runs and a 1.222 OPS through the first 24 games of the season, picking up right where a dominant sophomore campaign left off.
THE MAN FOR THE BIG MOMENT?FloSports#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/yaMo2xW6Kc
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) March 1, 2026Behind him, Grady Emerson remains the consensus top prep player in the class, a rangy, left-handed-hitting shortstop with a pure hit tool that some evaluators believe is the best in this entire class, college or high school. The debate between Emerson and Justin Lebron for the No. 2 position player slot is one of the more interesting ongoing arguments in draft circles right now. Lebron has been outstanding at Alabama — 11 home runs, a 1.110 OPS — and has cut his strikeout rate notably (24.2% to 17.6%).
And then there’s Jackson Flora, who has separated himself as the clear SP1 in a class that needed one. He’s 5-0 with a 0.94 ERA at UC Santa Barbara, has touched 100 mph, and is throwing two distinct sliders along with a quality changeup. Flora has jumped ahead of Lebron on our board at No. 3. It’s been that kind of spring for Flora.
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora (2) pitches during the game against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.The Biggest Risers
The three names you need to know are Ace Reese, Vahn Lackey, and Eric Booth, and each of them tells a different story about how quickly this class can move.
Reese is the most dramatic case. The Mississippi State third baseman was No. 24 on our February board and is now fifth. He’s hitting .344 with 12 doubles and has the best combination of plus power and plate discipline of anyone in this class outside of Cholowsky. Reese has made the third base position genuinely exciting in a draft class that didn’t figure to have much there.
Lackey’s rise is about a catcher finally letting his bat catch up to his glove. He was always viewed as an elite defensive backstop at Wake Forest, but his offensive profile has exploded this spring, the hitting ability, the raw power, the plate discipline. He was No. 19 here in February, but a .425/.545/.851 slash line to go along with nine home runs, eight doubles, and 33 RBI in 24 games has changed the conversation significantly.
© Petre Thomas-Imagn ImagesAnd then there’s Booth, the Oak Grove High School outfielder out of Mississippi, who was quietly 35th on our board two months ago and is now inside the top ten. Some evaluators have started calling him the best high school hitter in the entire class. Exceptional bat speed, plus raw strength, and plus speed. The Vanderbilt commit may never make it to campus.
Beyond those three, Tegan Kuhns has made one of the bigger pitching jumps on the board (from 43rd to 26th) with an improved fastball and a breaking ball that has Tennessee scouts buzzing, and Landon Thome has climbed 15 spots out of Nazareth Academy in Illinois as one of the more talked-about prep shortstops outside of the traditional baseball hotbeds.
Gas from Tegan ⛽He Ks the side in a 1-2-3 first inning!? t.co/0QC4ednCkf #GBO? // #OTH pic.twitter.com/ykDZTrmf8b
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) March 13, 2026The Fallers
No fall on this board is more eyebrow-raising than Rocco Maniscalco’s. The Oxford, Alabama prep shortstop was No. 14 in February and is No. 39 now, a 25-spot drop that is less about what he’s done wrong and more about the fact that he won’t turn 18 until after draft day. He’s the youngest player in this class, and while that extreme projection profile will appeal to certain organizations, the broader evaluator community has pumped the brakes on where he fits in the first round.
Cameron Flukey and Liam Peterson are worth mentioning here, too. Both dropped from their February positions, but in both cases, the story is really about how extraordinary the risers above them have been rather than anything either pitcher has done wrong.
Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn ImagesFlukey is still a 98 mph arm at Coastal Carolina and will eventually make his way back into the Coastal rotation when he returns from his stress fracture in his rib. Peterson is still a 6-5 frontline starter candidate at Florida. When six players in front of you make dramatic leaps, you fall, even if you haven’t changed a bit.
The New Entries
Six players crack this board for the first time, and the most intriguing of the bunch might be the one coming from the furthest away. Sean Duncan is a left-handed prep arm out of Terry Fox Secondary in British Columbia, committed to Vanderbilt, and he’s the kind of name that surprises people when they see it on a first-round board.
Canadian high school arms don’t surface at this level often, but scouts who have seen him up close are believers — legitimate velocity, projection, and a commitment to one of the country’s best programs that tells you the baseball establishment has taken notice.
Aiden Ruiz is another new entry worth watching. A prep shortstop out of The Stony Brook School in New York with a smooth left-handed swing and Vanderbilt commit, representing the kind of Northeast talent that rarely cracks a top-50 board.
Aiden Ruiz (‘26 NY)- extended view of 10-pitch AB from the @VandyBoys signee. @PGAllAmerican doubles after going down 0-2 in count. #PGHS @PG_Scouting @PG_Draft t.co/YbEcuktN6V pic.twitter.com/CCPPmTdxCd
— Perfect Game Georgia (@PG_Georgia) February 25, 2026Savion Sims joins from Prestonwood Christian Academy in Texas as a classic projection right-handed arm with easy velocity and a 6-foot-plus frame, and Ruger Riojas rounds out the class at No. 50 after a strong early start for Texas.
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