An All-MLB Team Representing the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament Field

Ten players across each position represent 10 of the college programs vying for the College World Series in 2026.

It’s been a minute since we talked baseball here at Press Break, and what more appropriate time than the beginning of the NCAA Baseball Tournament?

Other outlets have breakdowns on this year’s Road to Omaha and the College World Series, so I’ll leave that to the experts. Instead, let’s view the 2026 field through the lens of its concurrent Major League season!

I have assembled an MLB All-NCAA Baseball Tournament lineup employing the following critera:

• No more than one representative per program to incorporate as much of the Tournament as possible.

• A player’s university must be in the 2026 Tournament, ergo no Paul Skenes. Skenes’ alma mater LSU (and the alma mater of Alex Bregman, among many others) failed to qualify for the bracket.

• Selections are based solely on a player’s production in the 2026 MLB season. Keep this in mind when you begin a catcher and notice no Cal Raleigh. After his historic 2025 campaign, setting Major League records for both switch-hit home runs and homers by a catcher, Raleigh has a negative WAR as of May 29 and is batting just .161 for the struggling Seattle Mariners.

Nevertheless, you can check out a Press Break look at Raleigh’s Florida State career from last year below!

Onto our lineup!

C: Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves (Missouri State)

The 2025 National League Rookie of the Year has been even better through the first two months of his sophomore campaign. Drake Baldwin is batting .303 as of this writing with 13 home runs, tied for 12th-most in the league with such noteworthy names as Bryce Harper and Gunnar Henderson.

Before storming onto the MLB scene last season with a .274 average and 19 home runs for the Braves, Baldwin led Missouri State to it most recent NCAA Tournament appearance with a remarkable 2022 campaign.

Baldwin hit .348 and homered 19 times for the 30-win Bears, slugging .647 and posting a stout 1.094 OPS. And, somehow, it didn’t win Baldwin Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year!

That honor went to Southern Illinois shortstop Kaeber Rog.

1B: Nick Kurtz, Athletics (Wake Forest)

Nick Kurtz, the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, has been key to the surprising vagabond Athletics occupying first place in the AL West. Although his franchise record-tying 48-game on-base streak came to an end this week, Kurtz is leading MLB in both on-base percentage for the season at .430 and walks drawn at 43.

The fourth-overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft Kurtz was every bit the on-base machine in his three seasons at Wake Forest, peaking with a .527 on-base percentage, .353 batting average and ridiculous 1.311 OPS thanks in part to mashing 24 home runs during the Demon Deacons 2023 College World Series season.

2B: Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays (Virginia)

Functioning as the quietly invaluable cog in Toronto’s Postseason run a season ago, Ernie Clement came oh-so-close to joining the club of players to win both College World Series and MLB World Series championships.

As a freshman at Virginia in 2015, Clement helped the Cavaliers to the College World Series title as a utilityman at second and in the outfield. Clement grew into a full-fledged collegiate superstar the next seasons, leading Virginia back to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and 2017 with slash lines of .353/.383/.446 and .315/.345/.386.

While the reigning AL champion Blue Jays are struggling in their World Series hangover campaign, Clement is still delivering in 2026 with a league-leading 18 doubles, a .293 average and .447 slugging percentage.

SS: Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs (Vanderbilt)

Dansby Swanson joined the aforementioned group of players boasting both College World Series and MLB World Series titles when, in 2021, he mashed 27 home runs and drove in 88 runs for the Atlanta Braves.

Swanson’s power potential began to shine through in 2015, his final season at Vanderbilt. One year after winning the College World Series with the Commodores in 2014, Swanson led the Commodores back to the final round in Omaha with 16 home runs and a 1.046 OPS for the season.

His offense has come under fire at times since joining the Chicago Cubs in 2023 — including now through the first two months of 2026, as Swanson’s hitting only 1.87. However, he’s still trending to his fourth season with a WAR of 4.5 or better thanks to his outstanding defense.

3B: Kyle Karros, Colorado Rockies (UCLA)

What did Homer Simpson famously declare the two greatest words in the English language?

OK, so that’s not entirely fair to Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros, in just his second Major League season and first full campaign. Karros is on the positive side of WAR through two months, which half of perennially struggling Colorado’s positional starters are not.

What’s more, Karros’ inclusion gives representation to this year’s College World Series favorite UCLA. Karros made an impact for the Bruins in their final years of Pac-12 Conference membership, including batting .308 with 42 runs batted in during UCLA’s NCAA Tournament-qualifying 2022 campaign.

Still, it should be noted that 2026 has been rough for the alma mater’s of college-product third baseman with Alex Bregman’s LSU Tigers, Josh Jung’s Texas Tech Red Raiders and Max Muncy’s Baylor Bears all missing the field.

Mississippi State is in the Tournament, but Bulldogs alum Jordan Westburg is out for 2026, requiring Tommy John surgery.

LF: Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs (Cincinnati)

Career-long Chicago Cub Ian Happ has been a consistent for the Northsiders, even if the recognition isn’t always there. Happ has just one All-Star appearance, coming in 2022, but is working on his fifth consecutive Gold Glove while likely cruising past his personal-best for 25 home runs (he’s at 12 two months into 2026).

Heck, admittedly had the Rangers Wyatt Langford not been injured much of this season, I may have slotted the former Florida Gator into this spot ahead of Happ. Langford mashed 26 and 21 home runs he’s final two seasons in Gainesville and batted .373 in a 2023 campaign that culminated with the Gators in the College World Series final.

In contrast, it’s easy to overlook Happ’s collegiate contributions, given Cincinnati never made the NCAA Tournament during any of his three seasons as a Bearcat. Cincinnati didn’t snap its 35-year postseason drought until 2019 — and is now in its second straight in 2026 — which came four years after Happ won American Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

But while he didn’t get the opportunity to pursue Omaha, Happ made quite the impression in 2025 with a .369 batting average, 14 home runs and 12 stolen bases.

CF: Daulton Varsho, Toronto Blue Jays (Milwaukee)

Daulton Varsho’s ascent from a low-major program to contributing to a World Series run didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Varsho in the second round in 2017, and by 2022, the former Milwaukee Panthers standout delivered a 27-home run, 16-stolen base season.

Varsho joined the Blue Jays in 2023 and last year, had one of the organization’s most memorable Postseason games ever when he hit two runs in an ALDS win over the Yankees.

What’s wild is that Varsho was not an especially prolific home-run hitter at Milwaukee, maxing out with 11 in 2017. He hit .362 though, and posted an OPS 1.133.

RF: Jac Caglianone, Kansas City Royals (Florida)

With Aaron Judge’s Fresno State Bulldogs finishing 2026 a dismal 14-38-1, the choice for right field among former college standouts already comes with a prominent asterisk. Compounding that are how many of the qualifying right fielders with alma maters in the NCAA Tournament are posting negative WAR two months into the MLB season; among them Sal Frelick (Boston College); Jordan Beck (Tennessee); Matt Wallner (Southern Miss); and Kerry Carpenter (Virginia Tech).

So, Jac Caglianone and his modest 0.6 WAR, .235 average and .694 OPS in his first full season with the Royals makes the cut. However, it does open the floor to spotlight Caglianone’s ridiculous play at Florida, where he shined both at the plate and on the mound as a pitcher.

Caglianone batted .323 and hit 33 home runs for the College World Series runner-up Gators of 2023, then followed it up the next season with an absurd .419 average and 33 home runs. He also struck out a combined 170 batters over those two seasons.

Given his eye-popping offensive numbers, though, it’s not a surprise the Royals organization converted him to a full-time positional player.

P: Trey Yesavage, Toronto Blue Jays (East Carolina)

Considering that the World Series as we recognize it now goes back 125 years, Trey Yesavage writing his name into the Fall Classic record books last year is no minor accomplishment. The 12 strikeouts he threw in Game 5 of the Series set a record by a rookie, and came all of 17 months removed from his last game at East Carolina.

The Pirates won the American Athletic Conference each of Yesavage’s three seasons in Greenville, including the 2023 and 2024 campaigns when the righty was utterly dominant.

Yesavage struck out 105 batters over just 76 innings in 2023, compiling a 2.61 ERA and 1.000 WHIP along the way. In 2024, he fanned 145 in 93 1/3, posted a 2.03 ERA and a scant 0.868 WHIP.

P: Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees (Northeastern)

Should second-year Yankees righty Cam Schlittler continue at the same pace he’s set through the 2026 season’s first two months, Northeastern will have an even more direct connection to the Cy Young Award than it has now.

Northeastern won the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament to reach its second straight NCAA Tournament, third in four years and fourth since 2021. Schlittler, whose current 3.3 WAR, 1.50 ERA and 0.847 WHIP all lead the American League as of May 29, helped ignite Northeastern’s run of excellence in 2021.

Schlittler finished that season with a 1.88 ERA, 85 strikeouts in 76 2/3 innings, and 1.017 WHIP.