'It was all luck': How Draft's top HS hurler ended up at Stoneman Douglas baseball factory

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with its growing legacy for producing MLB players, would seem to be a magnet for a young, aspiring ballplayer like Gio Rojas. His family was willing to uproot from his native Colorado to better his chances of being seen by pro scouts, and so the Parkland, Fla., school was the perfect spot for that to happen.

But as Rojas describes it, winding up at Stoneman Douglas, specifically, was a happy accident for this left-hander with frontline starter potential.

“It was all luck,” said Rojas, the top lefty and the No. 8 player overall on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft Prospects rankings. “My aunt lived about five minutes from the school. My dad made a phone call, and he was told Marjory Stoneman Douglas was in the area.”

The family searched up the school’s baseball program on Max Preps and found that it was an undefeated state champion.

“Wow,” Rojas thought to himself. “OK!”

He and his family made the leap to South Florida, and now Rojas is ready to make the leap to potentially become the next prominent MLB player produced by the school.

Three-time All-Star Anthony Rizzo is the most accomplished Stoneman Douglas grad at the MLB level, but the school has also churned out a rising star in Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony, veteran pitcher Jesús Luzardo and young Orioles infielder Coby Mayo among its seven MLB players.

What the 18-year-old Rojas found since coming to the school is the baseball community built by those players and others. Like his fellow members of the Eagles, he’s participated in the annual Jesús Luzardo Baseball Camp and volunteered at events for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation.

“It's like a big family,” Rojas said. “It’s just a big support system. We’re all united.”

Rojas was above-average but not necessarily on the national radar when he joined that family. His own family -- parents Angela Meza and Luis Rojas -- just hoped he could earn a college scholarship.

But by the end of Rojas’ junior year, when he went 13-0 with a 0.72 ERA, the stakes had been raised significantly. It was obvious he was one of the top prep lefties in the country. He further solidified that standing with the National Under-18 Baseball Team at the 2025 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Japan, where he shut out South Korea in a must-win complete game to punch the team’s ticket to the gold medal game.

“I was pretty well known at that point,” he said. “My career just kind of made a big jump. So going into this senior year, I knew I would have a big crowd watching me, but I never felt pressured or let everything get in my head. I stayed calm and just did what I do best.”

What the 6-foot-4 Rojas does best is overwhelm hitters with a deceptive delivery, a fastball up to 98 mph that has late life, a vicious slider and a smooth movement pattern. He’s a rangy, natural athlete… with a natural smile, to boot.

“I go out there with the same intent I always have,” he said. “I like to have a big smile on my face and just have fun. It's just the game. I mean, I don't like to lose, but it's still just a game and you can’t let the pressure get to you.”

Rojas believes in trusting his stuff and the defense behind him. It helps keep him composed, and that composure helps him stay in command of the power pitching he possesses. A young lefty with this kind of velo is a rare and valued thing, and, after it took him to a prominent spot on such a prominent Florida powerhouse, Rojas is eager to see where it can take him next.

“There's always room for improvement, no matter what,” he said. “I feel like I'm a student of the game right now. All the teachers, all the players that are above me that I like to watch and I grew up watching, in the position I'll have, I'll be able to ask them questions about how they went about their work ethic and put it in my game. Hopefully I’ll be that teacher one day.”

Rojas would be the first pitcher from Stoneman Douglas to get selected in the first round. And leaving his mark on that acclaimed program is already a source of pride for him. Back when his family moved to Florida, he learned he would be joining a baseball team with a lofty track record, and he more than lived up to it.

“There was a standard that I came up into,” he said, “and I had my personal goals to surpass it.”