{"id":723447,"date":"2026-06-11T21:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/723447\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:15:15","slug":"uva-baseball-ranking-prep-recruiting-transfer-portal-pick-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/723447\/","title":{"rendered":"UVA Baseball: Ranking prep recruiting, transfer portal pick-ups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uva-baseball-chris-pollard.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"uva baseball chris pollard\" width=\"555\" height=\"312\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uva-baseball-chris-pollard.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/a>UVA Baseball coach Chris Pollard. Photo: UVA Athletics<\/p>\n<p>UVA Baseball coach Chris Pollard, coming off an OK first season \u2013 he got the program back into the NCAA Tournament, but didn\u2019t get very far \u2013 is hitting the recruiting trail hard to get a roster together for Year 2.<\/p>\n<p>The obvious needs: pitching, which was in short supply with Pollard\u2019s first Virginia squad, and up the middle \u2013 second base and shortstop, and center field.<\/p>\n<p>Notable losses (to end of eligibility\/MLB Draft)<\/p>\n<p>CF AJ Gracia: 14 HRs, 48 RBIs, .354 BA\/1.121 OPS, 4.04 WAR<br \/>\nSS Eric Becker: 7 HRs, 42 RBIs, .317 BA\/.961 OPS, 2.63 WAR<br \/>\nLF Harrison Didawick: 9 HRs, 52 RBIs, .309 BA\/.888 OPS, 2.09 WAR<br \/>\nRHP Lucas Hartman: 10-2, 3.78 ERA\/1.32 WHIP, 1.20 WAR<\/p>\n<p>Possible losses (draft-eligible guys)<\/p>\n<p>2B Joe Tiroly: 16 HRs, 66 RBIs, .319 BA\/.984 OPS, 3.45 WAR<br \/>\n1B\/DH Sam Harris: 14 HRs, 53 RBIs, .288 BA\/.929 OPS, 2.49 WAR<br \/>\n3B Noah Murray: 6 HRs, 30 RBIs, .161 BA\/.686 OPS, 1.47 WAR<br \/>\n1B\/DH Antonio Perrotta: 5 HRs, 24 RBIs, .266 BA\/.889 OPS, 1.23 WAR<br \/>\nC Jake Weatherspoon: 5 HRs, 31 RBIs, .272 BA\/.766 OPS, 0.81 WAR<br \/>\nOF\/LHP Kyle Johnson: 7 HRs, 29 RBIs, .241 BA\/.889 OPS, 1.61 WAR: 1-3, 6.87 ERA\/1.45 WHIP, 0.57 WAR<\/p>\n<p>Building blocks<\/p>\n<p>LHP Henry Zatkowski: 8-2, 4.57 ERA\/1.18 WHIP, 1.96 WAR<br \/>\nRF Zach Jackson: 8 HRs, 28 RBIs, .238 BA\/.815 OPS, 1.45 WAR<br \/>\nRHP John Paone: 1-4, 5.85 ERA\/1.40 WHIP, 0.90 WAR<br \/>\nSS RJ Holmes: 2 HRs, 13 RBIs, .338 BA\/.922 OPS, 0.66 WAR<br \/>\nLHP Max Stammel: 4-6, 7.55 ERA\/1.66 WHIP, 0.58 WAR<br \/>\nRHP Noah Yoder: 2-0, 2.30 ERA\/1.57 WHIP, 0.57 WAR<\/p>\n<p>Prep recruiting<\/p>\n<p>Perfect Game ranks the 2026 UVA Baseball prep class at #9 nationally, though the lone Top 100 recruit, Bo Lowrance (3B, Greenville, S.C.), is a likely late first\/early second round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, and thus, not likely to make it to Charlottesville.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also possible\/somewhat likely that Will Yow (SS, St. Anne\u2019s-Belfield\/Charlottesville), ranked as the #102 prospect in the 2026 draft class by MLB.com, could also end up not matriculating on Grounds as well.<\/p>\n<p>Transfer portal class<\/p>\n<p>2B Michael Elko (Richmond): 7 HRs, 38 RBIs, .340 BA\/.992 OPS, 3.13 WAR<br \/>\nSS Reid Howard (Western Kentucky): 0 HRs, 17 RBIs, .302 BA\/.838 OPS, 1.45 WAR<br \/>\nCF Sal Mineo (Delaware): 7 HRs, 32 RBIs, .304 BA\/.857 OPS, 1.31 WAR<br \/>\nLHP Joey Giordano (Richmond): 11-0, 3.35 ERA\/1.20 WHIP, 1.18 WHIP<br \/>\nLHP John Downing (2025 at Seton Hall): 6-0, 2.70 ERA\/1.34 WHIP, 0.84 WHIP<br \/>\nLHP Serigne Sarre (Mount St. Mary\u2019s): 4-4, 4.11 ERA\/1.44 WHIP, 0.52 WAR<br \/>\nLHP Grant Meert (2025 at Johns Hopkins): 1-0, 1.19 ERA\/1.06 WHIP<\/p>\n<p>Analysis: pitching staff<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m assuming Kyle Johnson (#148 MLB Draft prospect, per MLB.com) is gone; 148 would translate to early fifth round, and a signing bonus in the range of $500,000.<\/p>\n<p>I love the Joey Giordano get; pairing him with Henry Zatkowski gives Pollard two lefty aces for the weekend rotation.<\/p>\n<p>We need to see John Paone develop into a more reliable Sunday guy.<\/p>\n<p>Serigne Sarre and Max Stammel will push for the #3 spot in the rotation, but are more likely to be weekday openers and long guys on the weekends.<\/p>\n<p>John Downing and Grant Meert need to develop into lefty leverage guys in the pen.<\/p>\n<p>Noah Yoder, to me, is the closer \u2013 he has electric stuff, just needs to cut down on walks (22 BB in 27.1 IP in 2026).<\/p>\n<p>Analysis: everyday lineup<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m assuming that Joe Tiroly (#144 MLB Draft prospect, per MLB.com) is gone; at 144, that\u2019s early fifth round, and a signing bonus of $500,000-plus.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m also assuming that Sam Harris, Noah Murray, Antonio Perrotta and Jake Weatherspoon are back.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Elko is a step down from Joe Tiroly at second base; neither RJ Holmes nor Reid Howard is the hitter that Eric Becker is at shortstop, but Howard is at least a couple steps up as a fielder.<\/p>\n<p>Noah Murray needs to hit better than .161 and not commit 17 friggin\u2019 errors at third.<\/p>\n<p>Sal Mineo is a big step down from AJ Gracia in center, but that goes without saying.<\/p>\n<p>Zach Jackson is light-hitting for a corner outfielder, and it\u2019s not immediately obvious who replaces Harrison Didawick on the other corner.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line<\/p>\n<p>Without further, and splashier, additions, this roster could struggle to be competitive in the ACC next season.<\/p>\n<p>The pitching should be better, maybe a lot better; the defense (77 errors, third-most in the ACC; 61 unearned runs, most in the ACC) needs to be better.<\/p>\n<p>The offense, which regressed big-time in the last two months \u2013 in ACC games in 2026, Virginia was 12th in runs per game (5.8) and slugging (.445), 13th in OPS (.796), 14th in on-base percentage (.351) and 16th (dead last!) in hitting (.251) \u2013 appears to be taking a major step back.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not having the best feeling about this project right now, is what I\u2019m getting at.<\/p>\n<p>The 2027 team is going to have to pitch its ass off and not kick the ball around to scrap its way to the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UVA Baseball coach Chris Pollard. Photo: UVA Athletics UVA Baseball coach Chris Pollard, coming off an OK first&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,83386,2291,4,1586,14309],"class_list":["post-723447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-draft","tag-baseball","tag-go-hoos","tag-major-league-baseball-draft","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-draft","tag-uva-baseball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116733550468735931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}