MLB Draft & 2026 Schedule

 

Liberty has had another excellent offseason where they currently reside in the T25 in portal classes for the 2nd year in a row.  They've made 7 portal additions with 2 to 3 more expected.  It's the portal so anything can happen until it closes at month end but it sounds like Cooper Harrington is locked in to come back.  The ceiling of the team with Harrington at the top is Omaha if all the additions work out and players develop.  They've also added 3 JUCO players and 5 HS signees.  

Scheduling wise, it sounds like the Flames are heading back old rival Coastal Carolina for 3 and at Auburn for 3 in the non conference slate.  As of now, UNC and Clemson are back on the midweek schedule in road games only as well.  I'd expect the same slate of ACC home and homes as usual for the most part (UVA, Wake, Duke, VT).  Wake may take a step back after losing long time top assistant Bill Cilento to South Carolina.  CUSA will also be in transition as DBU and La Tech exit stage left to the WAC and Sunbelt.  Jacksonville State will be replacing their Head Coach and a ton of talent in the portal.  WKU lost a decent amount of talent via the portal for the second year in a row.  

The Draft is just a few weeks away.  I continue to hear Ben Blair in the 2nd round and no later than the 3rd round (54 on final MLB Pipeline).  Teams love that he's relatively low mileage arm, big frame with projectability, upper 90's velo already, excellent slider & his release point is super unique.  He could be the highest draft pick from the program since RHP Jason Jones was taken in the 4th round in 2004.  The Flames have had quite a few in recent years in the 5th through 7th.  Let's move on to SS Tanner Marsh.  I continue to hear Marsh in rounds 4-8 and most likely in the 5th or 6th.  Tanner could stick at SS due to his gumbly like flexibility and impressive range.  I still think he may wind up as a higher upside 2B in somebody's system.  Once you get past the 3rd round things are very fluid in the MLB draft.   Signability and draft pool funds come into play in these rounds along with upside.  Tanner of course has the option to come back if he doesn't like what he's getting but I don't expect that to happen.  Josh Swink & Tyler August are on the radar as well.  It sounds like August will almost certainly be taken at this point.  Swink is still hard to get your finger on exactly what will happen with him depending on who you talk to.  Nick Barone played his way onto the Draft radar with a huge 2nd half.  He's playing for Williamsport in the draft league while trying to make another late push for the draft.  So far he's hitting .250 in 28 AB's with no HR"s and 3 RBI's but he does have 11 BB's which has pushed his OBP to a whopping .488.  He's also made no Errors in LF or RF and has 1 OF assist.  Other names to watch are Mike Lane (Delaware St. transfer) who had a down year in 26 but was still up to 96 and had a much better Sopomore campaign.  HS SS Tre Miller got some early draft interest but I haven't heard as much lately on he or Reid Garrett the other MS HS signee.