MLB Draft Expert Kiley McDaniel Ranks 'Most Loaded Teams' Ahead of College Baseball Regionals

MLB fans looking for teams to follow during the 2026 NCAA baseball tournament will surely want to keep their eyes on the squads with the best draft prospects.

With that in mind, ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranked "the most loaded rosters in college baseball" ahead of Friday's regionals. McDaniel highlighted just how close the margins are since "just one second-rounder added to any of the teams below would likely move it up a spot or two" and ranked the top 10 as follows:

Ranking	Team
1	UCLA
2	Georgia Tech
3	Florida
4	Mississippi State
5	Wake Forest
6	Texas
7	Tennessee
8	Texas A&M
9	LSU
10	Arkansas

McDaniel explained Oregon State would have been on the list if injured ace Dax Whitney was healthy and also listed UC Santa Barbara with potential top-five pick Jackson Flora and Arizona State with possible top-15 picks in Landon Hairston and Cole Carlon as honorable mentions.

UCLA landing in the No. 1 spot is a testament to its overall talent, but shortstop Roch Cholowsky is the headliner.

McDaniel called him the "leading candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2026 draft" after B/R's Joel Reuter projected him as the No. 1 pick in his latest mock draft.

"Cholowsky has been penciled in atop mock draft boards for so long that there will inevitably be some contrarian takes that surface in the coming weeks and months, but it remains highly likely that he will be the No. 1 choice," Reuter wrote. "He is hitting .330/.465/.684 with 21 home runs this spring, and he possesses some of the same intangibles and leadership qualities that Dansby Swanson had coming out of Vanderbilt when he was taken No. 1 overall in 2015."

Pitchers Logan Reddemann and Angel Cervantes also figure to be early draft picks for a Bruins team that is the top overall seed in the 2026 tournament.

UCLA is hosting the Los Angeles Regional and will face St. Mary's in its first tournament game on Friday. Georgia Tech, which was second on McDaniel's list, is also the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will host the Atlanta Region.

Catcher Vahn Lackey and the Yellow Jackets will face UIC on Friday.

Reuter projected Lackey to go No. 3 overall in his mock draft, adding he "has gone from top catcher in this class and a safe bet to be a first-round selection to a consensus top-five prospect, and given the positional scarcity, this might be his floor."

There could eventually be a showdown in store between Lackey and Cholowsky if both teams continue to advance in the tournament.