Who Is No. 1 Prospect on 2026 MLB Draft Rankings Big Board by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel?

Now that the college baseball season is underway and the MLB season begins in just over a month, the 2026 draft class will start coming into focus.

In his first top-50 big board of the season, ESPN's Kiley McDaniel has UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky ranked as the No. 1 overall prospect in the '26 class with a 60-grade future value:

"Cholowsky is a roughly average runner, but he is quick and instinctual defensively; he's a plus defender with a plus arm. The concern out of high school was his offensive upside, but Cholowsky has grown into plus raw power that he has feel to get to in games along with the bat-to-ball and pitch selection to make that work."

Cholowsky has continued to ascend in the three years since he was draft-eligible coming out of high school. He was considered a borderline first-round talent in the 2023 draft, but there was an expectation it would take a large signing bonus to keep him away from UCLA.

As a result of his college commitment, Cholowsky wound up going undrafted in 2023. He has raked in college with a .333/.446/.618 slash line in 118 games over his first two seasons with the Bruins.

The 20-year-old was named Baseball America's College Player of the Year in 2025 after ranking second the Big Ten with 23 homers, a .710 slugging percentage and an 1.190 OPS.

For comparison, Cholowsky's 60 future value grade from McDaniel would have also made him the top prospect in last year's draft when he ranked LSU's Kade Anderson as the No. 1 overall player with a 55 FV.

Anderson wound up being the third pick to the Seattle Mariners, after the Washington Nationals took shortstop Eli Willits at No. 1 and the Los Angeles Angels went with right-handed pitcher Tyler Bremner at No. 2.

UCLA entered this season ranked No. 1 in the D1 Baseball Top 25 poll. The Bruins are off to a 3-1 start and will open a three-game weekend series against No. 7 TCU at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday.

Cholowsky is off to a hot start with a .438 batting average and three homers in his first four games.