The 20-round 2026 MLB Draft will take place Saturday and Sunday. UCLA baseball boasts 23 players who could be selected in the First-Year Player Draft, meeting the draft’s eligibility requirement of being at least 21 or spending at least three seasons at a four-year university. Players who’ve just graduated high school or are coming out of junior college are also eligible.

Ahead of what might be UCLA’s most highly anticipated draft since 2011 – when Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer went first and third overall, respectively – Daily Bruin Sports senior staff Kai Dizon profiles the 23 players who could hear MLB commissioner Rob Manfred call their name.

This is the final piece of a three-part series.  

Junior first baseman Mulivai Levu
2026: .340/.441/.622 with 18 homers, 63 RBIs and three stolen bases in 59 games
Career: .320/.400/.541 with 36 homers, 181 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 171 games

Even if Levu gets picked in the first round Saturday, he will have fallen further than he should have.

Levu largely practiced at third base in the fall of his freshman year. But he entered the summer following his junior year as the best defensive collegiate first baseman in the nation for the second year in a row, per his back-to-back ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove awards. 

He had a 27.3% strikeout rate as a freshman and cut that to 11.1% as a junior, while raising his OPS by 254 points. 

He can hit for average, he can hit for power, he can certainly field and he has enough of an arm that coach John Savage said he could comfortably play Levu at third base whenever needed.

Levu’s not going to steal 30 bags in a season, but he’s fast enough that the Bruins confidently left him as the only man on the right side of the infield when deploying an aggressive right-handed shift.

To top it all off, Levu almost certainly has an 80-grade rating in the clubhouse chemistry department. 

Prediction: Selected in the first round 

Junior center fielder Will Gasparino
2026: .314/.412/.659 with 20 homers, 64 RBIs and three stolen bases in 58 games 
Career: .270/.353/.557 with 45 homers, 160 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 175 games 

Gasparino performed like you’d expect a 6-foot-6, 220-pound center fielder to play.

When he was on time and in sync, he was a one-man wrecking crew. 

And when he wasn’t, he was a baby giraffe.

He seemed unstoppable to start 2026. Over his first 179 plate appearances, he slashed .365/.497/.723, hit 14 homers, struck out 33 times and walked 30.

But in his final 94 plate appearances, those marks dropped to .229/.319/.554, six homers and 22 strikeouts to just nine walks. 

Even with his struggles, Gasparino proved his ceiling extends well past his own frame. His 2026 campaign far exceeded his two seasons at Texas. 

There are 30 MLB teams, and there are 37 picks before the start of the second round. But even if all 37 pass without Gasparino hearing his name called, perhaps the hometown Los Angeles Dodgers – including his dad, Vice President of Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager Billy Gasparino – could make the awkward, but not outright insane, decision with the No. 40 overall pick.

Prediction: Selected with the No. 40 overall pick or earlier  

Junior right-hander Logan Reddemann
2026: 2.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and 0.8 HR/9 over 59.2 innings pitched across 10 starts
Career: 3.16 ERA, 1.12 WHIP 9.6 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9 over 191 innings across 32 starts and four relief appearances

Had he played the full season, Reddemann may have been able to snag Big Ten Pitcher of the Year honors from USC southpaw Mason Edwards, who’s also eligible for the 2026 Draft. 

But Reddemann was not. 

He made his final start of the season April 17, just a week removed from an eight-inning gem where he struck out 18.

Reddemann missed his April 24 start for rest, but a week later, Savage said he was out with arm fatigue. Savage maintained Reddemann would return as the staff’s ace, but his timeline kept getting pushed back – and suddenly, UCLA’s season was over.

Reddemann’s case is certainly interesting. 

The right-hander was healthy enough to toss 14 pitches at the MLB Combine, and MLB.com later reported that Reddemann’s true injury was a flexor strain. 

I can’t make heads or tails of it. 

Savage tends to be quite bullish on recovery timelines, but, in my experience, he’s often candid when it comes to disclosing injuries. The coach isn’t unfamiliar with losing an ace down the stretch – perhaps with Alonzo Tredwell’s 2023 campaign the most recent mirroring of Reddemann’s 2026. And his track record – from Trevor Bauer to sophomore right-hander Easton Hawk – hasn’t shown him to be a coach who worries about his players’ draft stock more than winning games. 

Reddemann has first-round talent, and even if health concerns make him a less attractive selection, organizations know they’ll receive a compensatory pick in the 2027 draft if the right-hander goes unsigned – so long as they take him within the first three rounds. 

Prediction: Second-round pick

Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky
2026: .320/.452/.636 with 21 homers, 60 RBIs and a stolen base in 60 games 
Career: .329/.448/.624 with 52 homers, 167 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 178 games

Let’s not get lost in the weeds. 

Cholowsky’s a first-round talent, and whichever team signs him is going to get their shortstop of the future. 

People are going to point to his 2-for-12 performance in the 2026 NCAA Los Angeles Regional, but the truth is Cholowsky has been everything he was ever expected to be and more – and there’s no reason to assume that will stop anytime soon.

Cody Schrier and Duce Gourson – viewed as UCLA’s best players heading into 2024 – both changed jersey numbers so Cholowsky could wear No. 1 on his back.

Everyone knew Cholowsky was heir to Schrier’s position as starting shortstop, but he also took his bat – the Easton Fuze 360 Cholowsky would use the rest of his career. 

Cholowsky is a highly valuable talent based on his arm and glove alone. But it’d be a mistake to assume the bat won’t translate to professional baseball.

If nothing else, Cholowsky’s proven his ability to remain composed, adapt and keep the ship steady.

People are going to look at the 2026 Bruins and think it’s a shame they didn’t even come close to a national title.

But I’m not sure if the 2025 or 2026 Bruins would’ve made the NCAA tournament had Cholowsky not made it to campus after the 2023 Draft, or had he jumped ship after the team’s 19-33 season in 2024. 

Prediction: Major League shortstop