Inbox: Which Draft prospects helped their stock the most and more 

We just finished our expanded and updated Draft Top 150 Prospects list, so the Draft is very much on my mind, as you'll see from the questions below. Our first in-season mock draft will come out at the end of next week, so be on the lookout for that.

Let's divide this answer into two sections, the players who rose the most from the Top 100 in December and the newcomers debuting the highest on the Top 150. We'll start with the risers:

Cade Townsend, RHP, Mississippi (+55, No. 76 to No. 21)
Mason Edwards, LHP, Southern California (+52, No. 86 to No. 32)
Sean Duncan, LHP, HS/Canada (+35, No. 75 to No. 40)
Cole Prosek, 3B/C, HS/Mississippi (+25, No. 96 to No. 71)
Eric Booth Jr., OF, HS/Mississippi (+22, No. 28 to No. 6)
Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas (+20, No. 38 to No. 18)

Three of those guys are college pitchers, the most volatile demographic in the 2026 Draft. Dietz, Townsend and Edwards all could work their way into the first round after performing well all spring. Duncan is a projectable prep left-hander who continually performs well and improves his stuff.

One of the best prep hitters available, Prosek is intriguing scouts by adding catching to his portfolio, and I've even heard a little late first-round buzz on him. Fellow Mississippi high schooler Eric Booth Jr. is one of the best athletes in the Draft and has added more polish to his game, vaulting from a possible first-rounder to a likely top-10 pick.

Now for the newcomers:

Logan Reddemann, RHP, UCLA (No. 20)
Brody Bumila, LHP, HS/Massachusetts (No. 22)
Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas (No. 26)
Wes Mendes, LHP, Florida State (No. 42)
Jack Radel, RHP, Notre Dame (No. 46)
Ben Blair, RHP, Liberty (No. 48)

Four more college arms here, and Reddemann, Mendes, Radel and Blair all could go by the end of the supplemental first round. It's not out of the question that Dietz, Reddemann or Townsend could be the second college pitcher drafted, following UC Santa Barbara right-hander Jackson Flora.

Bumila is a 6-foot-9 lefty with a monster fastball that reaches 100 mph with a low release height and plenty of extension and carry. Robbins won the Cape Cod League batting title last summer and has added more power to his game after transferring from Seton Hall to Texas.

I know the draft philosophy for teams is best player available and not to chase positional needs. But the Giants sit at No. 4 overall, many of the likely picks there are high-ceiling shortstops and they have three shortstops on the Top 100 Prospects list and many more talented players at the position in the system. My question is, should the Giants shy away from drafting one of the shortstops because it would almost certainly require pushing some other highly ranked prospect out of a middle-infield spot? -- Kevin C., Foster City, Calif.

With Josuar Gonzalez, Luis Hernández and Jhonny Level already on the Top 100, 2025 first-rounder Gavin Kilen not far off the list and other shortstops percolating through the system, the Giants are well stocked at the position. But as Kevin notes, teams don't draft for need.

Our ETAs on those guys are 2028 for Kilen, 2029 for Gonzalez and Level and 2030 for Hernández, and a lot can happen between now and then. San Francisco shouldn't and almost certainly won't pass a shortstop at No. 4 if he's the best player on its board.

That said, it's highly unlikely that a shortstop will be the top option available to the Giants. There are a consensus top four players in this Draft: shortstops Roch Cholowsky (UCLA) and Grady Emerson (Fort Worth Christian HS in Texas) on a tier ahead of catcher Vahn Lackey (Georgia Tech) and Jackson Flora. I can't imagine Cholowsky getting past the second choice or Emerson past the third selection, though if either did they should be an easy pick for San Francisco.

Otherwise, the Giants' decision likely comes down to whichever of Lackey or Flora is available, and the best guess right now is it will be the latter. They could buck the consensus, of course, but they probably won't wind up with a shortstop -- and not because they're avoiding them.

The Padres haven't drafted a college player in the first round since 2016. With the crop of pitching prospects in this class, is this the year we see the team break the streak and go with a college player? -- Diego G., San Diego

It has been a decade since the Padres spent a first-round pick on a collegian, and they actually did it twice in 2016 with Cal Quantrill and Eric Lauer. The college position players are a stronger group than the college arms this year, though that doesn't really matter. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller has swung for the fences for high-ceiling talent since joining the franchise in 2014, and he did so before that as director of player personnel with the Rangers.

Whom the Padres take will depend on who actually gets to them at No. 21, of course, but my guess is another high schooler. There are a lot of talented prep pitchers in this Draft, and most clubs generally shy away from that demographic in the first round. San Diego could be looking at options such as left-handers Carson Bolemon, Brody Bumila, Logan Schmidt or Sean Duncan or right-hander Coleman Borthwick, while outfielder Trevor Condon is a high school position-player possibility.

Dzierwa (BAL No. 12) immediately became Michigan State's No. 1 starter as a freshman in 2023 and never relinquished the role until the Orioles drafted him in the second round last July. The Spartans' highest-drafted pitcher since 1998 No. 2 overall choice Mark Mulder, Dzierwa's carving up High-A hitters in his pro debut with a 2.33 ERA, .160 opponent average and 29/7 K/BB ratio in his first 27 innings.

Dzierwa's best pitch is his low-80s changeup with significant fade, playing well off of his fastball with similar action. The left-hander's heater velocity is up about 2 mph this year to sitting at 93 mph and peaking at 95, and his 6-foot-8 frame and low arm slot create wide angle with good carry.

His delivery makes it difficult for Dzierwa to stay on top of a spin option, and his low-80s slider and upper-70s curveball are below-average pitches that serve as get-me-over options. He's definitely intriguing, but I'd like to see how much he refines his breaking stuff and how well he fares at higher levels before I'd call him a Top 100 Prospect.