With our initial class of 2028 rankings slated to be released in less than a month, I decided to look back at our initital list of 2026s to see how the list has grown and evolved. At Prep Baseball, we take pride in identifying the next generation of prospects early and monitoring their development as they mature. Attempting to forecast each class comes with its own difficulties, as players mature and develop at various rates, however these early looks on prospects allows us to gain valuable background on the player while beginning to build a four-year track record. All indications suggest that the 2028 class will be another strong class, but before that list is revealed in mid-December, I take a look back at some of our "picks that clicked", along with acknowledging those prospects that burst onto the scene later and are now held in high regards.

Our 2026 rankings began with an initial list of 20 prospects, and has now evolved to a list of 225, including 26 juniors currently committed to play Division I baseball. 13 of our initial ranked players from the 2026 class remain in the top 20, with the chart below outlining where they started versus where they are today.

Initial	Current	Name	Position	Commitment
14	1	Rob Czarniecki	OF	Kentucky
16	2	Beckett Doane	LHP	Mississippi State
8	3	Hudson Devaughan	RHP	Alabama
4	4	Dylan Bowen	SS	Oklahoma State
20	6	Aiden Smith	RHP	Kentucky
19	7	Gannon Grant	RHP	Tennessee
6	8	Sammy Swank	RHP	Kentucky
3	9	Aiden Reynolds	3B	Indiana
7	10	Kobe Cherry	RHP
2	14	Rhys Wolf	RHP	Notre Dame
12	16	Kellen Thomson	RHP	Ball State
18	19	Reed Robinson	C/OF
15	20	Peyton Gray	SS	Western Kentucky

In retrospect, the initial list was fairly strong, with 65% of the initial top 20 still in tact today. In total, 70% (14 of 20) of our initial top 20 are currently committed to Division I programs. While 13 still remain in the top 20, a couple of players from that initial list are now just a few spots shy of the top 20, including Trent Gill (#22 - Indiana commit), Colt Dehart (#24 - uncommitted), Tate Troxell (#25 - Alabama commit), and Nate Millington (#28 - Kentucky commit). As it stands now, 90% (18 of 20) of the initial list remains in the top 40, and 80% remains in the top 25 of our 2026 player rankings. 

From the evidence above, our early projection on this class earned a passing grade, however there were certainly players we missed on or had yet to identify prior to our initial list. The highest ranked player currently not on the initial list was C Sean Dunlap, a Tennessee commit. Dunlap was unknown to our staff before attending attending our Great Lakes Preseason ID as a freshman - and even then he debuted at only #44 in our 2nd rankings update for the class - following the classes' freshman spring season in 2023. Dunlap climbed to #21 after a breakout showing at our Fall State Games that same year, finally catapulting himself to #5 after cementing himself as one of the premier 2026 catchers in the country during the 2024 season. RHP Jaxon Lueken, OF Desmond Francis, 1B Jake Winger, RHP Matthew Cook, SS Lannon Nicoloff, and SS Beckett Suh are the remaining 6 players in the top 20 now who weren't there initially - all of whom were added to the rankings in our 2nd rendition of the class rankings after the 2023 Preseason All-State Underclass, another 2023 Preseason ID, or after being identified during their freshman spring. Nicoloff and Suh are the two that I consider misses, both being players that attended one of our events prior to the initital release. Both players have shown continuous growth over the past two seasons, as highlighted below.

Three more players to note, who were recognized early, but not enough : Beckett Doane, Gannon Grant, and Aiden Smith. As the class stands today, they are the three of the top four arms in the class, although all three inititally debuted between No. 16 and 20. At the time of the release, none of the three had registered a fastball over 82 mph. However, all had some traits in common that are indicators of future success : projectable bodies (lean, 6-foot-2 or better), athletic movement patterns, and the ability to throw strikes on a consistent basis. Grant, Doane, and Smith are all now committed to SEC programs, and their fastballs now reach 90-plus on a consistent basis. 

The examples above can be used to "pat ourselves on the back" for the players that we projected out correctly, but they can also be used to show the different development rates that players progress upon. Plain and simple - players get better, and our staff works dilligently to reward those that do so within our state. For players reading this, regardless of whether you are #1 in your class, unranked, or anywhere in between, there is work to be done to get to where you want - and ultimately the cream will rise to the top. 

Find where we began with the initial class of 2026 rankings release article ---> HERE.