A strong Iowa presence showed up in the 2026 Major League Baseball draft, with six high school standouts from the state hearing their names called over the July 11-12 event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Gable Mitchell, Kaleb LaFavor, Caleb Klein, Sam George, Nate Smithburg and Kooper Schulte all came off the board, each taking a different path from Iowa prep star to pro prospect.
Mitchell led the group as the eighth-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, going 193rd overall. The Iowa City High graduate went on to play at the University of Iowa after a senior year that packed in production at the plate and on the mound.
He hit .466 with 12 extra-base hits, scored 55 runs, drove in 29 and stole 25 bases, while also going 5-0 with a 0.95 earned run average and 18 strikeouts. In high school, Mitchell was an all-stater in baseball and earned all-conference honors in football.
His grandfather is Dan Gable, the Olympic wrestling gold medalist who led the Hawkeyes to 15 NCAA championships.
LaFavor, a senior at Sioux City Bishop Heelan High School, went to the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round with the 304th pick. On the mound this summer, he has gone 3-1 with 40 strikeouts and a 0.79 ERA in just under 18 innings.
Klein’s route ran through Western Dubuque High School, Southeastern Community College and Southeast Missouri before the Atlanta Braves grabbed him with the 442nd pick in the 15th round. He was a key part of Western Dubuque’s back-to-back Class 3A Iowa High School Athletic Association State Baseball Tournament titles. As a senior, he hit .414 with nine doubles, seven triples, 49 runs scored, 30 RBI and 20 stolen bases.
George, who starred at Pleasant Valley High School before playing this past spring at Minnesota State University, was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 19th round with the No. 581 overall pick. His final high school season with the Spartans featured 62 strikeouts in 44 innings and a 2.07 ERA.
Smithburg, a Fairfield High School product who also played for the Oklahoma Sooners, went to the Tampa Bay Rays in the 18th round with the 533rd pick. As a senior, he posted a 6-1 record with 83 strikeouts and a 0.43 ERA in 47 innings on the mound.
Schulte rounded out the Iowa group, landing with the New York Mets in the 20th round as the 600th pick overall. The New London High School alum played collegiately at Central Arizona, Southeastern Community College and Iowa.
He was an all-stater for New London in 2022 and helped lead the school to a state baseball championship that season. In his senior year, Schulte hit .444 with six home runs, 13 doubles, 50 runs scored, 44 RBI and nine steals, while also recording three saves and 29 strikeouts in just over 14 innings pitched.
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