Becker entered the transfer portal following the 2025 season, but decided to stick around in Charlottesville, where he’s expected to once again play a big role in the middle of a strong Cavaliers lineup ahead of the draft.
As Just Baseball’s 13th-ranked college draft prospect, Becker is expected to land anywhere between the middle of the first round and the middle of the second, but very well could be a riser this spring.
His younger brother Nick was a second-round pick (57th overall) to the Mariners a year ago, and had it not been for the $2.75 million signing bonus Seattle extended to Nick, he was going to join his older brother Eric in Virginia’s infield. Fast forward one year later and Eric will be joining the pro ranks with Nick at likely a higher dollar amount.
The carrying tool for Becker is the advanced bat. He has a solid combination of feel to hit and improving power from the left side of the plate. It’s a very simple, fluid left-handed stroke without too many moving parts and plenty of bat speed. It’s an adjustable swing path as well, which helps Becker find the barrel at a high rate and employ his all-fields approach while getting the ball in the air often.
Becker makes plenty of contact, specifically in-zone. Due to his aggressive approach, which yielded just an 8.9% walk rate in 2025, he does expand the zone too much at times, and that has led to swing and miss issues, especially on breaking balls outside of the zone. It’s not an overly aggressive approach that comes with red flags, but one that could use refinement to get the most out of his bat at the next level.
As for what Becker provides in the power department, it’s largely gap-to-gap doubles power at the moment, but there’s still some room to pack some more juice into his 6-foot-3 frame.
He makes consistent hard contact to all fields while flashing some pull-side pop, which he’ll need to tap into more to reach his power potential. He’s not going to be a hitter consistently popping 110+ mph EVs, but there’s enough feel to hit and loft in his swing, along with remaining projection, to believe he can get to at least average power at the pro level.
Defensively, Becker should be given the opportunity to stick at shortstop, but it’s still more likely he transitions to either second or third base full-time. He obviously will handle shortstop for Virginia this spring, where he’ll have the chance to show improved defensive tools, which could be a big factor in deciding where he lands on draft boards come July.