MLB Draft Notebook

Reactions from the first day and weekend of Division-1 baseball can stick in the minds of scouts throughout the entirety of the spring. One singular game of 55 can be a mental staple despite the reality that it has no more important than the next game.

In this edition of The Sporting Tribune's bi-weekly draft notebook, we take a look at the most notable performances from the opening weekend of Divison-1 baseball and through the remainder of February, and what we saw over the weekend. Things that may stick with us through the entirety of the spring.

Kyle McDaniel, 2B, Utah Tech

One of the better hitters in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), McDaniel proved his hitting prowess with one of the better early season performances against UC Riverside. Over four games against the Highlanders, he reached base safely in 15-of-21 plate appearances with zero strikeouts (8-for-14, six walks, one hit-by-pitch, double).

With an unorthodox setup and slap-and-dash swing from the left side and limited defensive versatility at second base, McDaniel may not jump to the top of boards through the spring, but his track record of hitting will propel him into early second day talk with a projected draft stock of rounds 4-7.

Jackson Flora, RHP, UC-Santa Barbara

Seen as one of the top pitchers in the 2026 draft class, Flora had one of the loudest performances across all of D1 on Friday when he ended the first inning with a 100-mph fastball with 21 inches of induced vertical break -- an uncommon shape for a fastball with that type of velocity.

Flora struck out five Southern Miss hitters over six scoreless innings with no walks, three hits allowed and three batters hit. While the triple-digit moment was the standout moment, Flora held upper 90's velocity throughout the outing. Paired with his strike-throwing and pair of off-speed offering (sweeper, changeup) that both flash plus, he looks poised to be one of the top arms off the board come July -- if not the top arm in the class.

Mason Edwards, LHP, USC

USC left-handed pitcher Mason Edwards made a strong statement as the Trojans’ Friday night starter. He struck out nine of the 15 batters he faced across five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks on an efficient 78 pitches.

Edwards’ fastball sat 92–93 mph and topped out at 94, a slight dip from earlier reports, but he showed excellent command of the pitch throughout the outing. His slurve was particularly effective, generating the majority of his strikeouts and keeping hitters off balance.

With South Carolina left-hander Jake McCoy sidelined due to a preseason arm injury, Edwards has positioned himself as a potential frontrunner to be the top college left-hander in the 2026 draft class, especially if his velocity ticks back up over his next few starts.

Adrian Lopez, 3B/INF, USC

USC infielder Adrian Lopez had a strong Opening Day performance, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. He displayed solid plate discipline, consistently avoiding chase pitches and showing mature swing decisions throughout his at-bats.

Lopez made the start at third base after playing first base for the Trojans last season. Defensively, he demonstrated a quick first step and good reactions on most balls hit his way, though his arm strength appeared average.

Over the weekend, Lopez finished 2-for-9 with two doubles, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch, and one fielding error.

Cody New, LHP, Cal Baptist

Standing out as one of the best starting pitchers in the Western Athletic Conference, the senior's season debut was cut short after 2.2 inning when he exited the game due to some discomfort, which head coach Gary Adcock said was nothing serious, but also not worth pushing through so early in the season. 

New struck out three Cal State Fullerton batters while allowing three hits and two walks.  New's four-seem sits around 93-94 MPH and he struggles to locate it at the top of the zone. His real standout pitches are his curveball and slider. 

New's slider sits around 80 MPH and also has wicked movement that makes it unreachable for most right handed batters, while his curve ranges between 77-81 MPH, with great lateral movement and drop to elicit swings-and-misses and generate the majority of his strikeouts. 

Mikiah Negrete, LHP, Cal State Fullerton

The Titan's senior ace started the season strong against Cal Baptist by striking out four while allowing three hits in 5.0 innings of work. 

Negrete's fastball hovers in the low 90's but he shows impressive command with both his curveball, which sits around 83 MPH and features effective vertical drop, and his changeup that sits right at 80 MPH. The changeup looks to be Negrete's bread and butter pitch, using it well to break up sequences in an admittedly limited pitch arsenal and disrupt opposing batter's timing. 

Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA

One of the most highly anticipated debuts of the season on Friday night was UCLA junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky against UCLA San Diego. 

Viewed as a potential No.1 pick for this year's draft, and with player comps such as Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Correa, Cholowsky did not disappoint.

At the plate, Cholowsky went 1-4 with his lone hit coming in the 8th inning, blasting a double towards left field, which was just a foot shy of being a home run. The only other time he reached base was in the third inning when he reached on a fielder's choice. Despite having one hit, he showed tremendous patience at the plate, working the count all the way to the top, and had a walk in the fourth inning.

Across the diamond, he showed tremendous speed and athleticism while playing defense. One of his most impressive plays at shortstop came on a blooper that was hit towards left-center field. Cholowsky sprinted back and robbed UC San Diego of a single.

Logan Reddemann, RHP, UCLA

Junior UCLA right-handed pitcher Logan Reddemann showed why he deserved to be UCLA's Friday night pitcher by showing fight and keeping the Bruins in the ballgame.

After struggling early on with command issues and giving up 3 runs by the third inning, Reddemann had a bounce-back 4th and 5th inning for UCLA by retiring six straight batters and striking out 3 of them. Reddemann finished the game, throwing 89 pitches, striking out 6 batters, while giving up 3 runs, 5 hits, and 2 walks.

His fastball was impressive during the night, tracking at 95-97 MPH, through five innings, while his breaking ball was around 84 MPH, and offspeed was at 78-79 MPH.

Roman Martin, 3B, UCLA

Junior UCLA third baseman Roman Martin possibly showed the best patience at the plate during the night, earning himself 2 walks, including one in the third inning with the bases loaded.

A prime opportunity to swing the bat, Martin sat at the plate with a 3-1 count and was looking to do damage against UCSD. Triton pitcher Steele Murdock was on the mound against Martin and threw a fastball that went outside the strike zone, giving the Bruins their first run of the game.

Martin, once considered a top prospect in high school, showed why he could be drafted in the 2nd-3rd round of this year's draft, finishing the game going 1-3, with 2 RBIs and a single in the second inning.

Mulivai Levu, 1B, UCLA

Considered one of the top hitting prospects out of this year's draft, Junior UCLA firstbaseman Mulivai Levu had 1 RBI and scored two runs despite not notching a hit.

Levu's single RBI was in the fourth inning, when he reached base on a fielder's choice. Despite not having a single hit in the game, he showed great patience at the plate, working the count and finishing with two walks.

Dean West, LF, UCLA

West projects as a potential late-round selection (Rounds 11–20) due to his steady production at a major program. 

Slotted as UCLA’s leadoff hitter on Friday, 20, he went 2-for-5 with a double, one walk, and one strikeout. 

West shows a disciplined approach, consistently working deep counts and getting on base. His role as a table-setter enhances the production of the power hitters behind him.

Will Gasparino, CF, UCLA

A transfer from the Texas Longhorns baseball and the son of Billy Gasparino of the Los Angeles Dodgers front office, Gasparino brings intriguing upside heading toward the 2026 draft. 

With a long, projectable 6-foot-6 frame, he still has room to add strength as his body matures. His swing remains somewhat raw, but the power is evident. 

When he makes contact, the ball jumps off the bat. Defensively, Gasparino shows solid range for his size in center field and tracks the ball well off the bat. 

Against TCU on Friday, 20, he went 1-for-3 with two walks and a two-RBI double, continuing to flash the offensive tools that could push him into early-round consideration (Rounds 2–3 with potential first-round momentum).

Steele Murdock, RHP, UCSD

Redshirt Sophomore, RHP, Steele Murdock had a promising start to the game, retiring the first three batters he faced, and getting out of an early jam after giving up a single to Martin and letting him reach second on a wild pitch.

Murdock retaliated in the second by striking out Will Gasparino and not giving up a run to the next four batters he faced.

But in the third, Murdock suffered command issues and walked three batters and gave up one single while Cholowsky reached on a fielder's choice.

Murdock attempted to pitch to Payton Brennan but was removed from the game mid-at-bat after giving up two balls. Murdock finished the game, giving up 3 runs, 4 walks, 2 hits, while striking out 1 batter in 2 1/3 innings.

Murdock's fastball consistently sat at around 92-93 MPH, with his breaking ball hitting 81, and his offspeed was at 76 MPH.

Trevor Hansen, RHP, UC Irvine

Junior right-handed pitcher Trevor Hansen followed up his six innings of shutout ball with 11 strikeouts on opening night with another strong outing on Friday, February 20, against the Cal Bears. He almost went the distance in 8 1/3 innings of work while striking out nine and allowing three runs on six hits. 

Hansen's fastball sat 89 to 91 miles per hour and touched 92 mph a few times. The velocity also held up for the entirety of his start. 

He did a good job mixing his pitches throughout the game, sporting a fastball, slider, changeup and curveball in his arsenal. As the game reached the later innings, Hansen became more reliant on his secondary pitches.

Of the six hits that Hansen gave up, the only one that came off a fastball was the very last pitch he threw that evening. The hits allowed off of his secondary pitches were mislocated sliders that caught too much of the plate.

Hansen is a "pitcher" and not a "thrower" as some old-school scouts may say. Everything he does on the mound appears to be calculated and every pitch has a purpose to set up the next pitch. He manufactured his strikeouts against Cal by playing his fastball and curveball off each other. By executing fastballs at the top of the zone, his curveballs tunnel with the fastball before dropping below the zone, and sometimes in the dirt to get chases. 

Ricky Ojeda, LHP, UC Irvine

Junior left-handed pitcher Ricky Ojeda struggled in his start against the Cal Bears on Saturday, February 21. The southpaw gave up five runs, four of them earned, in just three innings of work. 

Ojeda is known for his fastball, but his velocity was down a few notches on Saturday, sitting 87-88 miles per hour and only touching 90 a couple of times.

Things went wrong quickly for Ojeda, as he gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game and then a triple just two batters later. A single then scored the runner on third the very next at bat. 

With the diminished fastball velocity in this start, Ojeda's fastball got hit around quite a bit, forcing him to throw more secondary pitches. The problem, though, he struggled to land his secondary pitches for strikes. He primarily used his curveball as a secondary offering, but he also threw a changeup to right-handed hitters a few times. 

Tommy Farmer, OF, UC Irvine

Junior outfielder Tommy Farmer had a quiet weekend at the plate against the Cal Bears, going 1-for-11 over the series. He's now 6-for-26 (.231) on the very young 2026 season. 

What he lacked at the plate he made up for in the field, though. Farmer made two highlight-reel grabs in center field on Saturday by making the catch as he slammed into the wall. 

Standing at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Farmer is a strong kid but is also very athletic, which allows him to graciously patrol the outfield. 

Alonso Reyes, 1B/C, UC Irvine

Redshirt junior first baseman and catcher Alonso Reyes had himself quite the weekend at the plate against the Cal Bears. Reyes logged multi-hit performances in all three games in the series, including a three-hit game on Sunday. 

Reyes hasn't shown much power potential so far, but he has been a pesky hitter who excels in fouling off two-strike offerings to work at bats. Over the weekend, Reyes had five plate appearances that lasted six or more pitches, with three of them resulting in hits and two of them walks. One of those hits was a double the opposite way after an 11-pitch battle. 

By going 7-for-10 at the plate over the weekend, Reyes earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors and raised his batting average to .480. 

Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU

One of the most toolsy players in the draft class, Strosnider projects as a potential top-10 selection and was heavily scouted in this matchup. 

He went 1-for-4 with one walk and two strikeouts on Friday, 20. A quick-twitch athlete at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, Strosnider shows plus speed underway and projects to remain in center field at the professional level.

Chase Brunson, OF, TCU

Brunson profiles as a top-of-the-order hitter and potential early-round selection (Rounds 1–2). 

He accounted for one of TCU’s two runs with a solo home run in the fourth inning off Reddemann on Friday, 20, the only earned run allowed by the UCLA starter. 

Brunson brings solid speed and baserunning instincts along with reliable defense and a strong arm in right field.

Lance Davis, RHP, TCU

Davis has taken an uncommon path toward the Major League Baseball draft, redshirting at Arkansas before transferring to TCU, entering his draft year without prior collegiate innings. 

In his Saturday start, he worked four innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs with five strikeouts and two hit batters, showing a three-pitch mix with a 91–92 mph fastball, an 83 mph changeup, and an 87 mph slider that flashed sharp break but was often left over the plate.