The 20-round 2026 MLB Draft spans Saturday and Sunday. UCLA baseball boasts 23 players who could be selected in the First-Year Player Draft, meeting the draft’s eligibility requirement of being at least 21 or spending at least three seasons at a four-year university. Players who’ve just graduated high school or are coming out of junior college are also eligible.
Ahead of what might be UCLA’s most highly anticipated draft since 2011 – when Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer went first and third overall, respectively – Daily Bruin Sports senior staff Kai Dizon profiles the 23 players who could hear MLB commissioner Rob Manfred call their name.
This is the first of a three-part series.
The Nine Longshots
Did not play: Junior catcher Blake Balsz, senior right-hander Finn McIlroy, graduate student outfielder Michael Cunningham and graduate right-hander Chris Aldrich all missed the 2026 season due to injury. Coach John Savage expressed hope at various points that Balsz and McIlroy could become available, but their 2026 stat sheets remained blank.
Old dogs looking to learn new tricks: Senior right-hander Jack O’Connor and redshirt junior southpaw Chris Grothues were both backend bullpen arms in 2025, tossing 27 and 32.2 frames, respectively, but failed to retain their roles in 2026 – their innings pitched dwindling to 15.1 and 13.2, respectively.
O’Connor announced his transfer to Notre Dame on June 23 and Grothues to Long Beach State on June 12.
Haven’t seen enough: In his 240 plate appearances since 2024, senior outfielder Jarrod Hocking has a .189/.254/.272 slash line.
Junior Jake Swenson transferred from Division III Linfield ahead of 2026 but pitched only 12.1 innings in his first Division I season. An offseason injury forced the right-hander to play catch-up this season, Savage said.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Aidan Espinoza proved to be a valuable left-handed bat off the bench, posting a .894 OPS in 2026, but had just 47 trips to the plate in his second season after receiving 25 the year prior.
The question marks, wild cards and coin flips
Redshirt junior outfielder Payton Brennan
2026: .290/.392/.493 with nine homers, 51 RBIs and six stolen bases in 58 games
Career: .289/.375/.466 with 16 homers, 102 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 144 games
I thought Brennan would get drafted in 2025 after going 15-for-33 in UCLA’s first Men’s College World Series run since 2013.
But there he was on opening day 2026 in right field.
I thought surely Brennan had his sights set on the draft following the 2026 campaign – and that his entrance into the transfer portal was just a bluff, similar to former Bruin Cody Schrier’s move in 2024.
But on July 6, he announced his commitment to Texas.
[Related: Payton Brennan transfers to Texas after career year with UCLA baseball]
The Longhorns don’t strike me as an organization that’s handing out fliers to players it doesn’t think will make it to campus.
Frankly, I think Brennan sees a season with the Longhorns as getting to play at a higher level while still chasing a national title.
Prediction: Honors commitment to Texas
Junior right-hander Landon Stump
2026: 4.12 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 1.0 HR/9 over 54.2 innings pitched across 13 starts and five relief appearances
Career: 5.23 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 over 179 innings pitched across 42 starts and 10 relief appearances
Stump entered the transfer portal June 20 but has yet to announce a landing spot.
[Related: 3-year starting pitcher Landon Stump leaves UCLA baseball for transfer portal]
He ended 2026 on a good note – allowing no runs across his final five relief appearances.
But I just can’t imagine Stump would rather go into professional baseball as a pitcher who lost a starting job as a junior than see if a change of scenery can help him find a better payday and outlook with an MLB organization a year from now.
Prediction: Plays his senior season at a mid-major on the West Coast.
Senior right-hander Michael Barnett
2026: 4.18 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 7.4 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 1.4 HR/9 over 71 innings across 16 starts
Career: 4.45 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 7.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 1.0 HR/9 over 281.1 innings across 53 starts and 18 relief appearances
Barnett has been UCLA’s stable pony over the past four seasons. The 2023 Bruins needed to round out the weekend rotation? Barnett answered the call.
The 2024 Bruins needed an innings eater? Barnett would throw 100-plus pitches in a blowout loss.
The 2025 Bruins needed a game one starter come the NCAA tournament? Barnett started game one of regionals, super regionals and the MCWS – and UCLA wins all three contests.
It’s not Barnett’s fault that he was essentially a tandem starter for most of 2026, rarely facing the order a third time.
With UCLA a loss away from elimination in the Los Angeles Regional, Barnett completed six innings for the first time all season.
Barnett will eat innings, pitch to contact and remain available.
His play style is effective.
It just isn’t flashy.
Prediction: Signs with an MLB organization as an undrafted free agent.
Redshirt senior southpaw Ian May
2026: 2.08 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 10.8 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 over 39 innings across 26 relief appearances
Career: 4.15 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 over 199.2 innings across 32 starts and 53 relief appearances
Perhaps it seems illogical that my stock of Stump lowered after he was moved to the bullpen in the middle of 2026, but my stock of May increased from a year ago when he spent the whole season as a reliever.
Over the course of his collegiate career, May has shown an ability to start, pitch in middle relief and take the mound as a late-innings arm.
His strikeout rate nearly doubled from 15.5% in 2025 to 29.4% in 2026. His walk rate dropped from 8.9% to 6.3% in the same span.
Plus, it’s just harder to come across experienced southpaws than right-handers.
Prediction: Selected in rounds 16-20.
Junior utility Phoenix Call
2026: .217/.387/.321 with one homer, 13 RBIs and three stolen bases in 40 games
Career: .241/.368/.328 with four homers, 46 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 133 games
Call, who was selected in the 15th round out of high school in 2023, has shown flashes of being good at just about everything, but has yet to prove he can be consistently good at anything.
He profiles as a contact-first hitter, but struck out 21.6% of the time – and he hasn’t provided the slug to make up for the swing and miss.
But he reached via a hit by pitch a dozen times in 2026 – including to walk off the Big Ten tournament title game – and laid down 11 sacrifice bunts. Arguably the highlight of his Bruin career came in the team’s second-to-last game, when his walk-off single kept UCLA’s season alive.
Savage and Call’s teammates will rave about the utility’s ability to play both the middle infield and center field, but he’s yet to consistently look comfortable anywhere on the diamond. In 2026, he split time at second base with freshman Aiden Aguayo and only played center field in junior Will Gasparino’s absence – before appearing in right field the last two games of the season.
Call didn’t get much playing time his freshman year – even when many Bruin freshmen did – and injuries delayed the start of his 2026 campaign.
Perhaps 2027 can be when UCLA’s backflipping super-utility can put it all together.
Prediction: Returns to UCLA for his senior season
