EDITOR’S NOTE: The following rankings and evaluations by FSS PLUS are based on subjective analysis and industry sources, and do not influence, are not influenced by, or are affiliated with the opinions and reports of Future Stars Series scouting and development staff.
The 2026 Draft is still a year out, but it’s time to preview what college stars you should focus on for the 2025 season with a look forward. This board is built on three pillars. Live looks, data evaluation, and intel/conversations provided from within the industry. These players have a ton of time and projection ahead of them, so expect this list to change considerably as we approach the 2026 Draft.
Big time favorite of Georgia area guys due to an advanced feel for hitting, as well as finding the barrel, Burress is one of the more beloved recruits in Georgia Tech history. Explosive hips and big bat speed help Burress generate power well beyond what you might expect from a smaller frame. Athletic, runs well and has plenty of arm for center field. Swing can get uppercut heavy when he really tries to lift the ball, but he’s hit at every stop.
Burress has some drift in his swing and inconsistencies in terms of direction depending on where the pitch is. He’ll step in the bucket at times despite loading from an open stance. It’s an oddity in terms of conventionalism at the plate, but Burress has been the most impactful player in the 2206 class and it isn’t terribly close. The raw power is legit and so are the tools. Until the quirks in his swing prove to be an issue, there’s little reason to question his operation.
It’ll just come down to how he performs over the course of the next three years and how scouts buy into the operation. It’s without question, comfortably, first round talent.
Gracia is a slugging corner outfielder with a very present over-the-fence power and a highly-advanced understanding for how to backspin a baseball. He’s shown polish well beyond his years in terms of his approach and the ability to handle both spin and velocity. He’s admired for his sweet, smooth, left-handed stroke. He’s grown into considerable power during his first year at Duke and now projects to provide at least plus game power by the time he’s draft-eligible in 2026.
It’s a long, athletic body and longer levers that should add muscle and strength as he matures. In the field, he’s a solid average runner with a fringe-average arm strength in a corner. Gracia has a chance to develop into a 30-homer left fielder.
Everything about Vochko fits the “prototype”. It’s a 6-foot-4-inch, 220-lb frame with a fastball that explodes. Volchko generates some cut and carry on the heat, missing bats aplenty at the top of the zone, though he’ll struggle to generate whiffs below the letters. The ceiling for the fastball is pretty obvious as his peak shapes are far more impressive than his averages. Volchko generates huge spin on his entire arsenal and the fastball possesses some of the biggest spin rates of any fastball in the class. He’s already up to 99 mph and consistently tickling the upper-90s in shorter outings. He should have no issue getting the fastball to at least a ‘plus’ pitch in due time.
He’s got two breaking balls, a low-90s slider being the more consistent and devestating weapon of the pair. He generates huge chase and whiffs rates on the slider thanks to its firmness and elite spin rates. He’s shown good conviction and bite on a traditional slurvy bender too. There’s a bit more growing to do in the polish department, and the operation will tighten up as he gets older, but the arm is loose and the whole arsenal works well.
Volchko turned down considerable money in the 2023 Draft and now appears primed to do well in 2026.
Considered the premium pitching prize of the 2023 class, Peterson walked away from a lot of money to get to Gainesville. It’s a premium fastball that sits 94-96 touching 98 with running life late and carry, filling up the zone. He can spin it and the pitch should trend more effective as he matures thanks to well-above average extension down the mound. Peterson has above average command for the pitch and likes to live on the corners at the top of the strike zone.
His most effective pitch is a nast slider featuring high spin, resting 82-84, up to 87 with deep, late break. Peterson has shown the ability to manipulate shape and a willingness to throw it to righties and lefties. It’s another pitch with a strong command track record. His misses are generally off the plate and his best offerings on the black low, glove-side. It’s a breaking ball with some of the highest ceiling in the class. He flashes a changeup at 85 with tumble and a mid-70’s bender as tertiary offerings.
Peterson has long levers, whippy, athletic actions, and a compact delivery with definitive starter traits. At this early stage, he looks like the top arm in the class for 2026.
In a very deep prep shortstop class in 2023, Cholowsky stood out as having some of the highest projectability in the class with supremely impressive talent on the defensive end. Long, athletic frame with tons of room for growth throughout with high level actions in the dirt, Cholowsky continues to blossom into a more physical player. Great range moving laterally and has the arm strength to make every throw.
Hands stand out with both the glove and with the bat. Extremely hitterish in the box with advanced barrel control and ability to use the entire field. He’s hit the ball on the ground more than scouts would like to see at this stage, but that’s not terribly uncommon for a player of his age and maturity. Cholowsky makes a ton of contact and has shown few holes in his swing. He projects a ‘plus’ hitter with average raw power. Scouts think he could eventually blossom into a middle-infielder with 20-homer output.
High level profile that should only continue to get better and could grow into a top of the first round player if the impact offensively comes along.
Wiggins is a physical force in all aspects of the game, though without a doubt it’s most noticeable in the batter’s box. Very strong with advanced barrel feel, a true all-fields power threat. His exit velocities have routinely sat toward the top of his class. Wiggins has some moving parts in his swing that can cause some inconsistencies in timing triggers, but he’s a high-IQ player whose swing should mature the deeper he gets into baseball. His IQ and acumen for the game show up in his at-bats as Wiggins hardly ever expands the zone and is more than willing to take his walks; a rare trait for a young hitter. On the other hand, Wiggins has struggled mightily to hit the breaking ball in college, an adjustment he’ll need to make quickly as his draft year approaches.
He is an average runner who most likely fits in an outfield corner long term where the bat still plays. Wiggins has arm strength that’ll play in right field and his routes have continued to improve behind the scenes on campus.
Gaeckle has shown the ability to sit 95-96, touching 98, unafraid to locate in on the hands to righties, arm-side. He’ll brush them off the plate. Gaeckle’s best pitch is a 3000-rpm breaker that he pitches front-door to righties and can locate off the plate and bury to lefties to get punch outs. It’s mostly a two-pitch arsenal right now, but the arm talent and operation on the mound are starter-quality. A changeup has been a point of emphasis in Fayetteville and it’s certainly taken huge strides. An 88-89 mph fader, Gaeckle has seen this pitch take flight in Fayetteville. He creates horizontal planes tailing the pitch away from lefties. It projects an above average pitch going forward, maybe more with continued refinement. Mix in a budding low-90s cutter and his pitch design plot is fairly robust. It’s a very “stuffy” profile.
Gaeckle isn’t the biggest guy in the world, and his body is already fairly maxed out muscle-wise, so skeptics may look at the frame and question where it goes from here, but the stuff is so *now* it’s hard to argue with the upside. Gaeckle is on his second UCL after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020. He was a 20th round selection by the Reds in 2023, but elected to head to Arkansas.
McElvain saw a massive jump in stuff and body heading into college shoving 96, sitting 93-95 with carry on the top rail, commanded glove-side. His fastball was extremely effective as a freshman boasting well-above average whiff and chase rates and pounding the zone with authority. He’s worked into harnessing a low-80s slider with swing-and-miss potential, but he’ll spray that pitch a bit at times. McElvain does shape his slider quite nicely featuring deeper, sharp break, but he’ll go through cold snaps where it’s uncompetitive. He’s worked to integrate a changeup against right-handed hitters this fall, a pitch we should see much more in 2025 and 2026.
McElvain controls the body well and works down the mound with intent and solid athleticism. He projects to throw in the mid-90s with added strength and maturation. He also adds in a bit of deception.
There’s a lot of runway ahead of McElvain to grow and establish himself as one of the top college arms in the 2026 class. His best pitches are ahead of him.
A 17th-round pick by the Pirates in 2023, Cuvet has been on scouts’ radars for some time now. Cuvet fits the prototype power corner-infield profile in a nutshell.
It’s an imposing, high-waisted frame with elite bat speed and plus-plus raw power that will play frequently in-game. Plays light on his feet for his size and has the ability to attack the ball with confidence and arm strength behind it. Shows a real chance of sticking at 3B long term, with high level power projection if the frame doesn’t get too physical.
Scouts want to see Cuvet continue to refine the overall hit tool in order to meet his ceiling of a middle-of-the-order hitter, but the impact he’s shown since arriving to Miami is first round talent.
Johnson is a really talented do-it-all prospect with tools scattered all over the field. He’s been up to 97 on the mound from the left side, generating plenty of whiffs and ugly swings outside of the strike zone. His athleticism is obvious in how he rides the mound and generates solid extension for his size. Johnson is working to develop a more dynamic breaking ball, but what he’s shown thus far flashes ‘plus’ production. Hitters have an awfully difficult time picking his arsenal up out of the hand.
Most think his future will be on the bump, but at the plate he posts impressive exit velocities with the bat, though his game performances have been streaky. Johnson has put on muscle since arriving to campus and has slowed down to just an average runner. In the field, it’s a plus throwing arm with strong routes in both left and right field.
Tons of tools, tons of avenues toward impact. Defining how it all works best is next on the horizon.
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