As usual, there’s no shortage of alums of the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series towards the top of the board in looking ahead to the upcoming Draft.
That remains the case this year, with the potential for multiple first-rounders once again.
Ace Reese, Zion Rose, Trey Rangel, Cole Prosek and Jake Brown are among the alums featured in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft Prospects list, put out on Thursday with the Draft still seven months away. The order of selection gets set early next week while the FSS is at the home of this year’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, hosting the World Combine presented by DraftLine in nearby Ocoee, but it’s never too early to start thinking about who might end up where.
Additionally, multiple highly-regarded players who have been seen at Regional Combines or other FSS-affiliated events are on the list; Grady Emerson (2, 2023 Dallas Regional Combine), Jensen Hirschkorn (30, 2023 and 2024 NorCal World Series), Jackson Flora (14, 2019 NorCal Scout Day and 2022 NorCal World Series) and Sean Duncan (77, Best of the West) find themselves in position to receive six-to-seven figure signing bonuses come July.
With that said, here’s a look at some players with FSS ties who you might see your favorite team take on the first day of the Draft.
18. Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State
We saw Reese extensively back in 2022, starting with a Regional Combine early in the year, followed by a trip to the National Combine and subsequent well-earned trip to the Main Event at Fenway Park. The accolades for the now-20-year-old have been seemingly endless since then; he was named the SEC Newcomer of the Year after transferring from Houston and earned a spot on USA Baseball’s National Collegiate Team after producing a 1.140 OPS over 57 games last year, including 21 homers and 66 RBI.
27. Zion Rose, OF, Louisville
Primarily a catcher coming up through the amateur circuit, Rose has been used nearly exclusively as an outfielder at Louisville in his collegiate career, a move that’s seemed to pay dividends for him as a potential first-rounder heading into July. Rose hit .310 with 13 homers and 67 RBI last year, and walked 31 times compared to just 36 strikeouts. He has an extensive history with the FSS, including multiple Regional Combines, the Pre-Draft Combine, the 2022 Main Event and subsequent Caribbean Classic, where he helped lead the “Goon Squad” to a clean sweep in the Dominican.
55. Jake Brown, OF, LSU
A true two-way talent coming up in travel ball that we saw a ton both on the mound and at the plate, it’s been the latter that’s carried Brown to a potential top-two round selection in 2026. He hit .320 with eight homers and 11 steals for LSU this season en route to winning a National Championship. Brown had a three-year run with the FSS prior to that, including an appearance at the Main Event in 2022, where he earned one of the prestigious starts on the mound at Fenway Park.
79. Trey Rangel, RHP, The Colony HS (TX)
In FSS circles, Rangel is best remembered for his appearance at the 2022 Fresh 50 in Arizona, where he recorded multiple strikeouts in an event that helped put him on the map. He never left it. The Texas commit now touches 98 with his fastball from a frame that has presumably obviously taken significant strides since then. He’ll be 19 on Draft day, and would be Draft eligible again in 2028 as a result if he ends up going the collegiate route.
97. Cole Prosek, 3B, Magnolia Heights (MS)
We got a very recent look at Prosek, and are set to again shortly at the upcoming Caribbean Classic presented by DraftLine this January in Puerto Rico. But this October in Arlington at the Main Event, Prosek took a high-quality arm out of a big-league ballpark, and is considered one of the better hitters in his entire prep class. A Mississippi commit, he’ll also be Draft eligible in 2028 should he make it there, but a big spring will see his stock likely only continue to rise.
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 seven 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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