These 5 MLB Draft prospects overshadowed Roch Cholowsky during regionals

This NCAA baseball tournament was supposed to be a coronation for UCLA, which came into regionals as this season's wire-to-wire No. 1. Instead, after two shocking one-run losses to St. Mary's, the Bruins are headed home — and may have flipped the 2026 MLB Draft on its head in the process.

Because this wasn't just a victory lap for UCLA. It was also a victory lap for their best player, shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who was looking to add one more bullet point to a resume that already had him poised to be the top overall pick later this summer. That may well still be the case, but tallying just two hits across 12 at-bats in three tourney games hardly grabbed the spotlight. Instead, these five prospects were the ones making a statement, and while not all of them will threaten Cholowsky atop the draft board, the race for No. 1 is a lot more interesting now than it was just a few days ago.

C Vahn Lackey, Georgia Tech

With UCLA out of the picture, Tech may well be the most dangerous team remaining in the field — largely thanks to a terrifying offense with Lackey at its core. The star catcher has remained on the outskirts of the discussion around who might go No. 1 overall in this year's draft, but maybe it's time that changed after he homered in each of his first two regional games this weekend to go along with typically solid defense behind the plate.

Taking a catcher with the first pick is always a risky proposition, but backstops with this sort of hit/power combination don't come around that often, and Lackey is an unusually fluid athlete for the position.

RHP Jackson Flora, UC Santa Barbara

UCSB fell short of a regional shocker against Texas, but you can't blame Flora, who fired 7.2 innings of one-run ball while striking out nine to help the Gauchos avoid elimination against Holy Cross on Saturday. While we would've loved to have seen him line up with the Longhorns' fearsome lineup, the performance still solidifies the big righty as the clear top college pitcher in this year's class — which could catch the eye of teams picking high in the first round that might be looking to go under slot.

Flora might not be able to leapfrog Cholowsky in the draft — he is a pitcher, after all — but he's the sort of power arm that could move through a system very quickly. Combine this frame and arm strength with a decent ability to spin the ball, and you've got a stew going.

SS Justin Lebron, Alabama

Now this is the Lebron we've been waiting to see. Talent was never the issue; just 12 months or so ago, he — not Cholowsky — was the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft. Lebron just hadn't been able to put it all together consistently ... until this weekend, when he went yard in each of the Tide's first two regional games before adding another extra-base hit against Oklahoma State on Sunday.

He's got a rare blend of power and speed, and he can really pick it at shortstop. If he can get the bat on the ball the way he did this weekend, his ceiling is as high as anybody's — and he's showing why teams that pass on him might live to regret it.

OF Aiden Robbins, Texas

If you only just started paying attention to college baseball this weekend, you'd be forgiven for wondering why Robbins wasn't in the conversation for No. 1 overall — after he hit his fourth homer of the weekend to help power Texas to the super regionals.

Of course, there's a reason he's likely ticketed for the back half of the first round; he's not the most athletic outfielder, and while his power has shot up in Austin this season, it's come with a worrying uptick in his strikeout rate. That newfound pop is very much for real, though, and if he keeps proving that he can make consistent contact with this new damage-oriented approach, we could be looking at an All-Star caliber bat in either left or right field.

LHP Hunter Dietz, Arkansas

Few pitchers entered the tournament with more helium than Dietz, who missed the better part of two seasons due to injury but has absolutely shoved since returning to the mound in 2026. And that hype train isn't slowing down after the big lefty struck out a whopping 14 batters in his regional start against nationally seeded Kansas. Unfortunately, he also got victimized by the long ball a bit, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks over 6.1 innings. But facing the Jayhawks in their park is a stiff test, and Dietz's explosive stuff was on full display. Left-handers who stand 6-foot-6 with this sort of stuff and velocity don't excatly grow on trees.

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