Baseball America has officially published our first in-cycle rankings update for the 2027 MLB draft class, which means we have tons of new information to respond to, including summer showcases, college summer leagues, Team USA performances and plenty more.
Below, BA subscribers can find a comprehensive rundown of the most significant movers up and down our overall Top 100 rankings for 2027.
First-Round Movement
Today’s draft update brings a new player into the No. 1 spot on the board: Florida shortstop Brendan Lawson.
It might be counterintuitive that a player like Lawson, who didn’t play this summer, is moving up the board. But our feedback from scouts places Lawson at the top of a cluster of players—which also includes Tomas Valincius, Dylan Seward and Dax Whitney—that is difficult to separate with no obvious pecking order. Lawson boasts the loudest combination of hitting ability and power in the class, and while his defense will be scrutinized this spring, he’s at least nominally a middle-of-the-diamond position player.
Seward falls from No. 1 to No. 3 mainly because of more swing-and-miss tendencies than expected this summer, while Valincius and Whitney maintain their previous rankings of No. 2 and No. 4, respectively.
All four players have compelling cases to be the No. 1 player in the group, and we don’t view Lawson in the same sort of separated 1-1 tier that UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky was at this time a year ago.
Beyond the top tier of players, there are plenty of names worth noting.
Georgia shortstop Malachi Butler is extremely young for the class with a well-rounded and lefthanded-hitting shortstop profile. He excelled all summer and now ranks as the No. 2 high school player in the class.
Texas prep righthander George Ferguson has separated himself as the top high school pitcher in the class by dominating with a three-pitch mix that could be plus across the board. He also has impressive control despite an unconventional delivery.
California shortstop Carter Hadnot is an up-arrow name thanks to his excellent twitch, defensive chops and switch-hitting shortstop profile. Texas shortstop Sebastian Castillo is less likely to remain at shortstop but moves up the board because he proved himself as one of the best pure hitters in the class. The same is true of Texas outfielder Drake Hawpe. He might be a corner outfielder, but he displayed one of the more exciting hit/power combinations in the class.
The most significant riser in today’s update is North Carolina outfielder John Hucko. Hucko showed one of the most exciting athletic engines in the class to go with an all-around toolset and polished lefthanded swing and approach. He feels like a clear first-round prospect now, and some scouts have him ranked even more aggressively than the No. 25 ranking with which he enters the board.
Though he was BA’s College Player of the Year last season, Arizona State outfielder Landon Hairston is a mild down-arrow name because of the pressure on his profile as a high-probability corner outfielder. The same is true of Texas shortstop Lubin Rincon, who still ranks inside the top 20 but has slid some because of defensive profile questions.
Texas righthander Sam Cozart has fallen back some because of the reliever risk that he carries. North Carolina prep lefthander Connor Salerno still ranks as the top high school lefty, but we’re opting to push more college pitching profiles ahead of him for now.
Oregon righthander Will Sanford has high-end pure stuff, and he did a nice job throwing more strikes this summer with Team USA.
Brendan Lawson, SS, Florida (+2 spots from No. 3 to No. 1)
Dylan Seward, SS, Norco (Calif.) HS (-2 spots from No. 1 to No. 3)
Malachi Butler, SS, McEachern HS, Powder Springs, Ga. (+22 spots from No. 30 to No. 8)
Landon Hairston, OF, Arizona State (-3 spots from No. 6 to No. 9)
George Ferguson, RHP, Abilene (Texas) HS (+26 spots from No. 42 to No. 16)
Carter Hadnot, SS, Aquinas HS, San Bernardino, Calif. (+9 spots from No. 27 to No. 18)
Lubin Rincon, SS, The Bennett School, Houston, Texas (-11 spots from No. 9 to No. 20)
Sam Cozart, RHP, Texas (-10 spots from No. 12 to No. 22)
John Hucko, OF, Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic HS (+76 spots from NR to No. 25)
Will Sanford, RHP, Oregon (+29 spots from No. 55 to No. 26)
Connor Salerno, LHP, Sun Valley HS, Monroe, N.C. (-7 spots from No. 21 to No. 28)
Sebastian Castillo, SS, Byron Nelson HS, Trophy Club, Texas (+19 spots from No. 48 to No. 29)
Drake Hawpe, OF, Liberty Christian HS, Argyle, Texas (+23 spots from No. 53 to No. 30)
Notable Risers
Below are all of the players who have moved at least 10 spots higher in today’s ranking but still fall outside of the top 30. A majority of the up-arrow names in this update are up-the-middle position players who either boast high-end physical tools, polished hitting chops or both.
West Virginia shortstop Matt Ineich has great contact skills and has added strength this offseason, while North Carolina shortstop Jamie Laskofski excelled in the Cape Cod League.
There’s a deep group of toolsy, athletic high school outfielders that includes Sebastian Wilson, Jack Leeper, Jake Cueto and Demarcus Lowery in the 30-60 range of the board.
The industry also seems to view the following collection of prep pitchers as clustered in the second tier of arms and close to the first round: Ethan Gustus, Andrew Carlson, Brogan Witcher and Calum Andersen.
We’re still waiting to see more of Penn State righthander Genei Sato, but the early feedback from scouts this fall has been strong. He jumps right into the second-round range in this update.
Notable 2028 reclass Cullen Scott joins the 2027 ranking at No. 70 and boasts big physical tools on both sides of the ball.
Matt Ineich, SS, West Virginia (+11 spots from No. 49 to No. 38)
Jamie Laskofski, SS, North Carolina (+19 spots from No. 58 to No. 39)
Sebastian Wilson, OF, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Fla. (+33 spots from No. 74 to No. 41)
Jack Leeper, OF, St. Francis HS, Mountain View, Calif. (+26 spots from No. 68 to No. 42)
Ethan Gustus, RHP, Roseville (Calif.) HS (+11 spots from No. 54 to No. 43)
Andrew Carlson, RHP, Trinity Classical Academy, Valencia, Calif. (+41 spots from No. 87 to No. 46)
Genei Sato, RHP, Penn State (+46 spots from No. 93 to No. 47)
Brogan Witcher, RHP/C, Liberty HS, Bakersfield, Calif. (+28 spots from No. 76 to No. 48)
Jake Cueto, OF, Belen Jesuit Prep, Miami (+50 spots from NR to No. 51)
Jacob Lee, C, VCU (+32 spots from No. 84 to No. 52)
Calum Andersen, RHP, Vauxhall (Alb.) Academy (+47 spots from NR to No. 54)
Demarcus Lowery, OF, Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic HS (+38 spots from NR to No. 63)
CJ Wall, C, Georgia Premier Academy, Statesboro, Ga. (+35 spots from NR to No. 66)
Derrick Pitts, OF, Cincinnati (+34 spots from NR to No. 67)
Cullen Scott, RHP/3B, Melissa (Texas) HS (+31 spots from NR to No. 70)
Juan Diaz, SS, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Fla. (+18 spots from NR to No. 83)
Casey Euper, LHP, Pepperdine (+15 spots from NR to No. 86)
Trip Ostergard, SS, James Island HS, Charleston, S.C. (+14 spots from NR to No. 87)
Julio Solier, SS, Boston College (+12 spots from NR to No. 89)
Frank Thomas III, 1B, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Fla. (+10 spots from NR to No. 91)
Notable Fallers
And now we come to the players who fell 15 or more spots on today’s update. There are a number of reasons for a player to fall in this list, but a common theme of this group is position players who fit best on the corners, hitters with swing-and-miss tendencies and pitchers who struggle to throw strikes.
Florida righthander Aidan King falls more because we might have overranked him at the start of the summer. Scout feedback preferred him just outside of the first round instead of right in the middle of it.
North Carolina prep Jacob Seamon was one of the most difficult players to rank. He has elite athleticism, size and tools and boasts some of the most exciting upside in the class. But he also missed most of the summer with labrum surgery and comes with swing-and-miss tendencies that he didn’t get the chance to address against the best high school pitchers in the class. We’re more comfortable with that profile just outside of the first round for now.
College players like Brodie Johnston, Hogan Denny, Teddy Tokheim, Nate Savoie, Jake Hanley and Blaine Brown are all potential corner players who have lots of hit tool pressure.
High school hitters Brady Cunningham and Leo Nockley are ranked lower because of the swing-and-miss tendencies they showed over the summer. Grant Westphal is lower mostly because of scout feedback than any specific flaw or lack of performance this summer. Max Hemenway, meanwhile, is lower because of questions about impact and physical tools, though he continued to show a polished all-around game.
High school righthander Striker Pence is one of the most significant fallers in today’s update. He jumped onto national radars as an underclassman by showing elite triple-digit velocity, but he struggled mightily with his control this summer and carries significant reliever risk.
Many of the down-arrow players who ranked toward the back of our previous top 100 have fallen as much because of players jumping ahead of them in the rankings as anything specific to their own profiles.
Aidan King, RHP, Florida (-15 spots from No. 18 to No. 33)
Jacob Seamon, OF/SS, Metrolina Christian Academy, Indian Trail, N.C. (-21 spots from No. 13 to No. 34)
Brodie Johnston, 3B, Vanderbilt (-18 spots from No. 22 to No. 40)
Max Hemenway, SS, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Fla. (-25 spots from No. 28 to No. 53)
Grant Westphal, OF, Blue Valley HS, Stilwell, Kan. (-34 spots from No. 24 to No. 58)
Hogan Denny, OF/C, Indiana (-15 spots from No. 46 to No. 61)
Brady Cunningham, 3B, Brother Rice HS, Chicago, Ill. (-37 spots from No. 31 to No. 68)
Teddy Tokheim, OF, Stanford (-28 spots from No. 45 to No. 73)
Nate Savoie, OF/C, Texas A&M (-30 spots from No. 44 to No. 74)
Jake Hanley, 1B, Georgia (-29 spots from No. 51 to No. 80)
Leo Nockley, SS, Wyoming Seminary HS, Kingston, Pa. (-57 spots from No. 25 to No. 82)
Ryker Waite, SS, Vanderbilt (-23 spots from No. 77 to No. 100)
Striker Pence, RHP, Santiago HS, Corona, Calif. (From No. 43 to NR)
Kyler Meccage, OF/LHP, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Fla. (From No. 65 to NR)
Trent Lutz, RHP, Souderton Area (Penn.) HS (From No. 73 to NR)
Blaine Brown, OF, Tennessee (From No. 80 to NR)
Cade Arrambide, C, LSU (From No. 85 to NR)
Charlie Sarsfield, OF, Linn-Mar HS, Marion, Iowa (From No. 86 to NR)
Hunter Wieckowski, RHP, Timber Creek HS, Orlando, Fla. (From No. 88 to NR)
Jake Ivey, LHP, Gunter (Texas) HS (From No. 89 to NR)
Kellen Rogers, SS, Wake Forest (N.C.) HS (From No. 90 to NR)
Kyle Alivo, RHP, Iowa (From No. 92 to NR)
Noah Franco, 1B/LHP, TCU (From No. 94 to NR)
Dariel Carrion, C, Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy, Florida, P.R. (From No. 95 to NR)
Caden Borcherding, C, Etowah HS, Woodstock, Ga. (From No. 97 to NR)
Kinon Bastian, OF, The First Academy, Orlando, Fla. (From No. 99 to NR)
Cole Cheatham, RHP, Union County HS, Liberty, Ind. (From No. 100 to NR)