Drew Burress is MLB Pipeline's No. 7-ranked prospect for the 2026 Draft. Here's everything you need to know about Burress.
FAST FACTS
MLB Pipeline ranking: No. 7
Position: OF
Height/weight: 5-foot-9, 185 lbs.
Bats/throws: R/R
Age: 21 (Born Dec. 5, 2004)
School: Georgia Tech
MLB PIPELINE SCOUTING GRADES (20-to-80 scale)
Hit: 55
Power: 60
Run: 55
Arm: 60
Field: 55
Overall: 60
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. He had a four-homer game -- on just four swings -- as a freshman.
Burress became the only Georgia Tech player to homer four times in a game when he did it at age 19 in a 2024 contest against Georgia State. Not only that, but the long balls came on the only four swings he took that day.
He became only the third freshman ever to hit four homers in game since single-game stat tracking began in the NCAA in 2012. As if all that weren't impressive enough, the homer barrage came in just Burress' eighth career game.
2. He's been the most dominant hitter at Georgia Tech over the past 15 years.
Despite playing only three seasons of college ball, Burress has put his name all through the Georgia Tech record books. It started with his freshman season in 2024, when he won the team's Triple Crown with a .381 average, 25 homers and 67 RBIs, and was named ACC Freshman of the Year. And it never stopped.
Since the start of the BBCOR era of college baseball in 2011, he's the school's leader in homers (60), RBIs (189), doubles (61), runs (232) and total bases (503). He finished his college career with a .357 average and a 1.204 OPS.
Burress became the first Power Four conference player of the 21st century to collect 40 or more extra-base hits three years in a row, and just the second Division I player of the century to do it. Burress is also just the fourth Tech player of any era to reach 500 total bases, joining Jason Varitek (610), Tony Plagman (513) and Andy Bruce (506), and his .720 slugging percentage ranks second all time in Georgia Tech history behind Tom Anley's .763 (1925-27).
3. He graduated from college in three years.
Burress came to Georgia Tech with almost a full year of college credit, thanks to taking dual-enrollment college courses and AP classes in high school. He took that path at the urging of his mother, a teacher. That meant he was able to graduate after his junior year with a degree in Business Administration.
"It says so much more than just getting the degree. It's, once again, Drew's a very focused and driven dude, and when he sets his mind to something, he's gonna do it," Georgia Tech baseball coach James Ramsey told MLB Network.
Burress' academic prowess also earned him First Team Academic All-America honors this season. That made him just the third Georgia Tech baseball player to receive First Team All-America and First Team Academic All-America honors in the same season, joining Mark Teixeira (2000) and Nomar Garciaparra (1994).
4. He would be the first Georgia Tech outfielder drafted in the first round since 2007.
The Yellow Jackets are known from producing MLB infielders, with Teixeira and Garciaparra being two of the more prominent names to go on to successful big league careers.
But the last Tech outfielder to be drafted in the first round was Danny Payne, who was selected by the Padres with the 64th overall picks in 2007. The last Georgia Tech player at any position to be drafted in the first round was catcher Joey Bart, selected by the Giants in 2018 and currently with the Braves.
5. His dad was drafted by the Reds in 1995 and now runs a baseball academy.
Andy Burress, an outfielder and catcher, was selected by Cincinnati in the sixth round of the 1995 MLB Draft. He played parts of seven seasons in the Minors, reaching Double-A and compiling a .275 average with 43 homers and a .763 OPS in his pro career.
Years after his career ended, the elder Burress founded 5 Star National, a prominent travel baseball development program based in Warner Robbins, Ga. Since its inception, the program has had more than 280 players get drafted and more than 30 reach the Majors, according to its website.