On the four episodes of the MLB Pipeline Podcast preceding the 2026 Draft, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo are analyzing each demographic in the class: College pitchers, college hitters, high school pitchers and high school hitters. Here's a look at the top high school bats available in July.
Top 5
Grady Emerson, SS, No. 2 -- Fort Worth (Texas) Christian HS
Not quite Bobby Witt Jr., but pretty damn close. -- Callis
Jacob Lombard, SS, No. 4 -- Gulliver Prep, Miami
Super athletic, multisport standout, will play shortstop for a long time. -- Mayo
Eric Booth Jr. OF, No. 6 -- Oak Grove HS, Hattiesburg, Miss.
One of the top athletes and runners in this year’s Draft, also has skills to go with tools. -- Callis
Jared Grindlinger, OF/LHP, No. 18 -- Huntington Beach (Calif.) HS
A legitimate two-way player who is super projectable on both sides. Sweet left-handed swing, should lead to more power in the future. -- Mayo
Trevor Condon, OF, No. 22 -- Etowah HS, Woodstock, Ga.
I think he’s got the best combination of hitting ability and speed in this year’s high school class. -- Callis
Cole Prosek, 3B/C, No. 33 -- Magnolia Heights HS, Senatobia, Miss.
One of the best high school bats in the country, moving behind the plate has added extra intrigue. -- Callis
2026 MLB Draft presented by Nippon Express
July 11-12:
Could any go 1-1?
Callis/Mayo: Grady Emerson
In my last mock my percentages now are 45% Roch Cholowsky, 45% Grady Emerson, 10% Vahn Lackey. Not that I claim I have that honed perfect precision, but it's pretty close. -- Callis
At one point in time I do think that Jacob Lombard was in the conversation. He would’ve been the “save the most money but we really like him” kind of pick, and as far as we know, that has been ruled out. Grady Emerson, for the sake of this, is that high school player who is very much in the mix at 1-1. -- Mayo
How many first rounders?
Mayo: I put it at 7.5. Emerson, Lombard and Booth are going top 10. And then there’s a whole bunch of high school hitters, all of whom could go. Condon, Bo Lowrance, Grindlinger, Cole Prosek, Spangler, Aiden Ruiz, Landon Thome, Taj Marchand. All these guys could go in the first round, so I set the over/under this time and put it at 7.5.
Callis: I was really torn because my first thought was that’s a lot of high school hitters. We say this all the time … as you get closer to the Draft, everyone’s excited about the high school guys, but then it’s like we’re locking the draft board in place. We’re going to move the college guys up and the high school guys down so my initial inclination was I would go under, but there’s too many guys. So I will take the over.
Biggest wild card of group
Here’s a guy who was a top-half of the first round guy coming into the year. We've heard 16 to Texas as his absolute ceiling. If you told me nobody drafted this guy and he went to Stanford, I’d be [believe it]. Spangler to me was the obvious answer. -- Callis
I went with Jared Grindlinger, only because he’s a little all over the map. I think we’ve heard him as high as 11. He’s so young and he’s so projectable, and while there are a number of teams who like him as a hitter, there are some teams who like him on the mound. He’s less of a wild card than Spangler, but I still think it is very much up in the air where he goes. And it’s not a slam dunk that he’s even going to go out as a hitter. -- Mayo
Most helium
I’m going to pick Taj Marchand from South Carolina, who we have currently at No. 46. He will move up, a rare right-handed-hitting shortstop. I did like what I saw from him on the field. He looked very smooth defensively. He’s got a decent amount of power, it’s a quick right-handed swing. His name did start popping up in the back-end of the first round into that Comp. Round area. -- Mayo
I’m going with James Clark. He came out and didn’t have a great start to the spring. This is a guy who was a solid hitter -- he could run, plays good defense, but he started to play well at the end of the year. Everyone’s like, 'James Clark’s rising back up' and I don’t necessarily think he’s going to go in the first round, but you’re hearing his name there. I’d be shocked if he gets to the second round. -- Callis
Guy we like outside of first round
I picked James Clark for a lot of the reasons Jim just laid out. If you talk to area scouts, they love him. He’ll do very well in interviews, working out here he did fine. ... I like his all-around tools and how highly he gets rated for his makeup both on and off the field. -- Mayo
Rocco Maniscalco. He won’t go in the first round because his spring was too choppy at the plate, but I’ve had everyone raving about how good he is defensively and we saw that in evidence [at the Combine]. He looks so smooth and he’s just 17 years old. There are going to be some questions on the bat, but then again, he’s 17 years old, and people liked the bat coming into the year so I think you can get it back on track. -- Callis
Overall grade
Mayo: 55
Callis: 60
So we both had them at 55. We’re bullish, and as we’re sitting here, I’m getting so excited about this group, I may up it to 60! But you know what, I’ll keep it at 55 just to be slightly more conservative. -- Mayo
I did change my grade. We’re talking about these guys that can go in the first round, all these guys we like and there’s even guys we don’t have in the first round we like. We could have the No. 1 pick, three of the top seven and I think Trevor Condon, he could go in the middle of the first round. I don’t think Bo Lowrance is going to get too far past 20, so I switched it to 60. -- Callis