2028 Bats — Staff Rankings
Hitters from the ARMS 2028 Big Board (93 position players screened) · ranked on a three-source blend — PBR national · PG top-500 (9/2) · Over Slot 2028 HS top-100 — plus our Future Games data · updated 9/10/26
UVA Recruiting
Hitter Rankings
⬇︎ Download PDF
Tier 1 — National Targets · the class's best bats on our board
1
Colin Anderson — 3B/OF · Etowah, GA
PBR #8 · PG #6 · Over Slot #22 · 6'0" 185 · R/R · uncommitted
The best consensus bat on the board — top-10 on BOTH services. PG: "barrel skills and game power… MVP of the 14U World Series… .406-13-79 in 2024." The rare '28 who has already produced against every level they've put in front of him. National recruitment; move accordingly.
Over Slot #22 — top-25 on all three national boards.
2
Landon Bonner — SS · Rouse HS, TX
PBR #7 · PG #11 · Over Slot #7 · 5'9" 160 · L/R · uncommitted
Elite everywhere they rank him (7/11/7). PG: ".493-4-20 in 30 PG games in '25, an absurd .833 at WWBA 15U… fun to watch play." Small frame, huge production lefty middle infielder — the profile that always outhits its listed size.
Over Slot #7 — their highest-ranked hitter on our board.
3
Derek Vazquez — SS · Cox Mill, NC
PG #15 · PBR #23 · Over Slot #3 overall · 6'2" 188 · L/R · uncommitted
Over Slot's #3 player in the ENTIRE 2028 HS class. PG: "smooth fielding middle infielder with arm strength, power in the LH'd swing, 6.50 runner / 90 mph IF arm." True shortstop with power and speed — the complete toolset at the premium position, one state south of us.
Over Slot #3 — the highest national ranking of any player on either of our boards.
4
Levi Kerr — SS/3B · Marvin Ridge, NC
PBR #21 · PG #40 · Over Slot #74 · 6'5" 195 · L/R · uncommitted
The highest-ceiling frame we saw at the Future Games — a 6'5" QB1 who hit a 97-EV opposite-field homer at LakePoint. PG: "extra long and lean, ultra projectable, very loose and fluid left-handed swing — highest level hitting prospect." If the frame fills the way frames like this do, he outgrows every rank listed here.
5
Jacob Welch — SS/2B · Lehi HS, UT
PG #16 · Over Slot #8 · PBR unranked · 5'11" 170 · uncommitted
The best bat-to-ball on the board: PG logs a 50:9 walk-to-strikeout ratio from 2023–25 — read that again — with an MVP at 15U WWBA (.552). "Bouncy" middle infield athlete. PBR hasn't ranked him, which is a filing error the other two boards already corrected.
Tier 2 — High-Consensus Bats
6
Travis Fiedler — SS/3B · Prosper, TX
PBR #33 · PG #48 · Over Slot #12 · 5'11" 180 · L/R · uncommitted
Two-way standout — lefty-hitting middle infielder with a 90 mph arm off the mound (PG), showed out at 15U WWBA. Over Slot buying at #12 says the helium is real. Fits the athletic-infielder mold this staff recruits.
7
Ryan Sheffer — SS/3B · CA
PBR #22 · Over Slot #24 · PG #149 · 6'0" 165 · uncommitted
PBR and Over Slot agree (22/24) while PG lags at #149 — two of three boards say top-25 bat. West Coast middle infielder with the classic lean projection build. The PG number is the discount.
8
Rylan Jenkins — CF · Washington County, GA
PG #27 · Over Slot #20 · PBR #117 · 5'9" 175 · L/L · uncommitted
Our own FG scouting: "best pure at-bats at the event — six hits, three steals, a true CF table-setter." PG: game-changing 6.46 speed, .501 hitter 2023-24 with 11 K in 65 games. The leadoff/CF archetype done to perfection.
9
Noah Harris — SS · Benedictine Military, GA
PG #37 · Over Slot #37 · PBR #71 · 6'3" 185 · L/R · uncommitted
Projection lefty infielder — our FG note: "smooth stroke, 102 EV already" at 6'3"/185. PG and OS land on the identical number (#37), which is about as clean as consensus gets for a projectable frame this age.
10
Kam Gillespie — SS · Liberty, MO
PBR #30 · Over Slot #28 · PG #69 · 6'0" 165 · L/R · uncommitted
Our FG read: "lefty table-setter, sprays line drives, best shot of the group to stay at short." PG: stood out playing UP at Jupiter. Two boards in the 20s; the glove keeps the floor high.
11
Francis Conners-Schmid — OF/LHP · Salisbury School, NY
PG #21 · Over Slot #83 · PBR #124 · 6'2" 220 · L/L · uncommitted · also #1 on our Arms board
The two-way flagship — ranked #1 on our pitching board, and the bat alone belongs here: 107.7 EV (3rd-best at the FG), 421-foot power, Impact 90. OS: "plus raw power projection with middle-of-the-lineup impact upside." One recruit, two boards, both real.
12
Brett Paciorek — SS · TN
Over Slot #6 · PBR #45 · PG #358 · 6'0" 165 · uncommitted
The biggest divergence case on the board: Over Slot has him #6 in the class while PG sits at #358. When a film-heavy evaluator is 350 spots ahead of a metrics aggregator, someone is about to be very right — the in-person look this fall settles it cheaply.
Tier 3 — The Catchers
13
Jack Rhodes — C/OF · Christ Presbyterian, TN
PG #33 · Over Slot #61 · PBR #217 · 6'3" 190 · uncommitted
C1 on this board: a 6'3" catcher PG puts #33 in the class. Two of three boards top-65. Premium position plus frame — the kind of catcher recruitment that ends early; treat the timeline that way.
14
Julian Martinez — C · NY
PG #76 · PBR #126 · 5'10" 175 · uncommitted
PG: "highest level defensive catcher, can dominate a game defensively" — .400 with 9 walks at 14U WWBA, 4X Select Fest. The defense-first C profile every staff needs one of; the receiving is the carrying tool and it's already elite.
15
Brody Sharp — C/SS · Rouse HS, TX
PBR #66 · PG #333 · 6'0" 195 · uncommitted
A catcher athletic enough to double at shortstop — PBR top-70. Bonner's HS teammate, so one Texas trip scouts #2 and #15 together.
Tier 4 — Risers & Leaderboard Bats
16
Canyon Koonce — CF/LHP · Brownsburg, IN
PBR #60 (riser, was #138) · Over Slot #17 · PG #261 · 6'1" 175 · L/L · uncommitted
Over Slot at #17 and PBR jumping him 78 spots tell the same story our FG data does: 89.9 avg EV at 160 lbs, 26.2 hand speed, and the event's Top Run Tool award. Plus-run lefty CF with a lefty arm — two-sport-style athleticism in one package.
17
Gabriel Coupet — SS · FL
PG #65 · Over Slot #70 · PBR unranked · 6'0" 166 · uncommitted
PG: "hit everywhere in 2025 — .500-0-23 in PG play — true shortstop athleticism with 6.58 speed." Two boards agree in the 65-70 range; the production line is the argument.
18
Ty Madden — CF/SS · NJ
PG #99 · PBR #146 · 6'0" 177 · L/R · uncommitted
PG: ".500-4-37 with 21 steals in 2025, MVP at the 16U PG Fall World Series" — 8-of-9 on all-tournament teams last year. Production machine from the Northeast; the trophies keep stacking.
19
Brooks Bond — SS · Lewis Central, IA
PBR #108 · PG #165 · 6'0" 175 · L/R · uncommitted
Our FG scouting: "easily one of the sweetest strokes at the event" — 102+ EV with a 93 mph infield arm. Iowa kid, under-seen, over-skilled.
20
Kobe Reese — OF · Eastside Catholic, WA
PG #143 · Over Slot #96 · PBR #188 · 6'4" 219 · uncommitted
Made five separate FG leaderboards: 100 avg EV, a 423-foot shot, top-4 hand speed, bat speed AND rotational acceleration. The biggest raw-power/bat-speed combination in this tier, in a 6'4" frame.
21
Yariel Diaz — UTL · FL
PBR #60 (July) · PG unranked · uncommitted
PBR top-60 on the July list with no PG top-500 presence — a one-board bat out of Florida worth one look to break the tie. Thin public data; flagged for an in-person or video follow-up.
22
Kai Bledsoe — OF/SS · Brentwood Academy, TN
Unranked both services · R/R · uncommitted
Ranked here on one number: a 95.4 Edge Score — elite MLB hitters test around 87. Best vision/decision tool in the class per the FG testing, and nobody has priced it yet. The purest data-sleeper bet on the board.
Data Sleepers — FG metrics outrunning the rankings
★
Elijah Archer — OF/1B · Dominion, VA  ·  Graham Virag — SS · Cardinal Gibbons, NC  ·  Nathan Godbold — SS · CA  ·  Thomas Shank — CF · CO  ·  Dylan Murphy — SS · IN
Archer (unranked, IN VIRGINIA): 99.4 avg EV with 70% sweet-spot — top-8 at the Future Games; the single cheapest visit on this page. Virag (PG #205): 417 feet at 105 EV — the NC power sleeper. Godbold (PG #64 / OS #86): two boards in, PBR out. Shank (PG #190 / OS #44): OS 150 spots ahead of the field. Murphy (PBR #79 / PG #390): the reverse split. All five carry board-worthy data with off-board prices.
Off the Board — committed
✗
Emerson Morris — SS, TN → Alabama  ·  Grady Callaway — C, TN → Kennesaw State  ·  Brad Bucci — SS, PA → Penn State
Three board names already gone in the post-Labor Day wave — the same clock running on every uncommitted bat above. The daily watcher flags changes at 7:25am.
Ranking = blend of national consensus (PBR July list · PG 9/2 top-500 · Over Slot 2028 HS Draft top-100), verified production (PG game lines & scouting notes), our Future Games TrackMan/testing research, and fit/recruitability · 93 position players screened from the ARMS 2028 Big Board; 58 carried a national ranking on at least one service; 19 on Over Slot's top-100 · Committed players excluded from numbered ranks · Prepared by UVA Recruiting · 9/10/26