The 2026 New Balance Future Stars Series JUCO Main Event Showdown will be held January 26-27 at Globe Life Field. Nine high-octane programs will compete to kick off the 2026 season in style.
Those nine are: Florida SouthWestern State College, San Jacinto College, Wharton County Junior College, Grayson College, Seminole State College, Amarillo College, Florence Darlington Tech, Lake Land College, and Wabash Valley College.
Let’s meet these programs, one by one,
Head Coach: Brandon Rains
Home Ballpark: Hodgetown Stadium
Notable Alums: N/A
2025 Result: 26-30
2025 LEADERS
(MIN. 100 PA / 20 IP)
| STAT | LEADER | VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | Brooks Carter | .423 |
| HR | David de Hovos | 14 |
| RBI | Carter | 65 |
| SB | Gerardo Prado | 24 |
| OPS | Carter | 1.199 |
| ERA | Isaac Garza | 5.61 |
| WHIP | Logan Tibbett | 1.60 |
| K | Tibbett | 75 |
In looking at what might make Amarillo College a force to be reckoned with at the upcoming New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series JUCO Main Event Showdown presented by DraftLine, it was important to connect with the B. Rains of the operation.
Veteran baseball man Brandon Rains is back for a fourth season as the Badgers head coach, having once again quickly and successfully resurrected a dormant program by recruiting a team from scratch to get baseball back on the map at his institution.
After stints at the University of Saint Mary, The University of Texas at Dallas and a wildly successful run at Brookhaven College, Rains was tasked with getting East Central College’s program back and running, and did so under the COVID-19 pandemic, with his recruiting class having won a conference title following his departure to start the process of doing the same thing at Amarillo in 2023.
“Getting the opportunity to come back and raise my family here was the first priority, but any coach in America would love to start a quality program from the get go, so we jumped all over that chance,” Rains told FSS Plus.
“The administration has been great here, and we’re very blessed with some major resources here from a scholarship standpoint and obviously we get to play at Hodgetown, which is a tremendous blessing, and we’re in a town of 225-250,000 people, so there’s plenty of stuff to do. Great living for the kids, a lot of things that are going to help them on their way…we’re kind of sitting on a gold mine.”
Rains admits that the first couple years were a bit slow in trying to get the quality of player he wanted into a brand-new program, but with some moderate success of 28, 29 and 26-win seasons over his first three years there, he believes he now has the program at a level where they can compete with some of the juggernauts they’ll be facing in Arlington; they’ve got Seminole State, San Jac and Grayson on the docket on Monday and Tuesday at Globe Life Field.
“We’ve always had some pretty good players, it’s just a question of depth and staying healthy,” Rains said. “Hopefully this year, we’ve got all those boxes checked. We’ve got a really talented team, obviously the best team that we will have had in the four years of being blessed to be here…we’re ready, we can’t wait. We’re having a lot of fun in the offseason in the gym, but in the back of everybody’s mind, they’re sitting here and thinking that they can’t wait. We’re very excited.”
The unprecedented Showdown, the first-ever event that will feature regular-season JUCO games being played in a big-league park, presents a tremendous opportunity not only for Rains to showcase the work that he’s put in to get his program to a point to where they’d even be considered for something like this in such a short amount of time, but also for his players to be seen by the bevy of MLB scouts and executives expected to attend given the timing of the event within the overall baseball schedule.
“It’s unbelievable,” Rains said. “Props to New Balance, props to Jeremy Booth and coach (Kory) Koehler) and everybody for getting this stuff going. This is something that has just popped up over the past few years, but before that, it’s been unheard of for any kind of amateur to get to play on a stage like Globe Life…it’s an unbelievable blessing, a life experience to say the least for these guys.
“Not only to play good competition and getting seen and the notoriety, but how many people in America get to set foot on a major-league mound or in a major-league batter’s box? It’s very rare. Like I told our players, ‘All of you guys have probably played on a Division 1 baseball field, all of you are going to play at Hodgetown, which is a $45 million Double-A stadium, and all those are nice, but it’s a heck of a lot different when you add that third deck to the baseball field.
“For a junior college athlete to be able to go out there and compete, I’m so excited for these guys, and I’m personally excited for myself. I can’t wait to get out there.”
Just who will we be seeing on the field? While JUCO rosters can be a tricky thing to nail down this time of year, Rains was able to provide some insight into some names we should be keeping a close eye on when the first pitch gets thrown in Arlington.
“I think I’m excited about 35 different guys,” he said. “We’ve been very blessed in recruiting and hit on a lot of really talented players. I think the strength of our club, and our players would agree with that, is going to start on the mound. Duncan Bowles, who signed with Western Kentucky, CJ Thornton, who is a Wichita State commit, Trent Bower, who was lights out before injury last year. He’s going to be a high-level sign, and he threw really well for us. Alex Cruz has had two years worth of Tommy John, and he’s going to be back healthy.
“Then, you look at the transfers that we were able to land this summer, and Aiden White, who has already signed with DBU, and Carson Priebe, who signed with Abilene Christian, and Eli Heyen, who threw like 60 innings with 70 strikeouts last year at another junior college…you look at those guys on the mound, and then you’ve got five or six freshmen that are going to be working with those guys as well. So, we think the strength of our club is going be on the mound.
“From an offensive standpoint, it starts with Brooks Carter, who set the batting average record with us last year and had ten home runs; left-handed hitting catcher who just really, really rake it. Dylan Steele also another catcher who’s really talented, and Jackson Lindsey, who was having an All-Conference type-of year before he got smoked with about a 92 miles per hour fastball in his face and had to miss the year. He’s healthy and ready to go to lock it down in center field.
“Luis Gonzalez is kind of our team leader, team captain. He’s catcher/first base, left-handed hitter and he can really, really rake it too. Freshmen; Jatniel McCloud (starter on Puerto Rico’s 18-and-under World Cup team in 2024), he’s been lights out in our outfield and one of our top hitters as well.”
About New Balance Future Stars Series
The New Balance Future Stars Series presented by Program 15 is a global platform for amateur baseball development and scouting, powered by a commitment to impact, integrity, and player-focused innovation. Its alumni can be found throughout professional baseball, and its events and partnerships have reshaped how talent is identified, nurtured, and celebrated.
Connect with New Balance Future Stars Series by visiting our website, www.futurestarsseries.com, by visiting our YouTube page, and by checking out the social media channels below.
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Since 2003, he has covered multiple World Series and has worked high-profile events ranging from the MLB All-Star Game to the World Baseball Classic. In addition to his role working for the Future Stars Series that he's held since 2017, Ashmore currently serves as the beat writer of the Double-A New York Yankees affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, as well as national hockey writer and New York Jets game day beat reporter for The Trentonian.
A regular contributor to Baseball America, Ashmore has worked eight Super Bowls, 12 Stanley Cup Finals, the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NBA Playoffs, College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Frozen Four, Daytona 500, major UFC events and much more as he approaches 3,300 games covered in his career.
An avid trading card enthusiast, he lives with his wife, Sarah, their son, future No. 1 overall draft pick in 2042, William, their beloved dog, Bailey, and occasionally well-behaved cat, Smokey.
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