Every draft class gets its arm that starts to separate from the pack, and in 2026 that pitcher looks like Gio Rojas. The Florida left-hander has been sitting near the top of amateur boards for years, and evaluators across the industry now see him as the best high school pitching prospect in the class.
Rojas is a 6’4”, 190 pound southpaw from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. He bats right and throws left, and the rankings back up the buzz: The Athletic has him at No.
25, Baseball America at No. 17, ESPN at No.
14, MLB Pipeline at No. 8, and Perfect Game at No. 11.
What jumps out first is the body and the ease. Rojas has a frame that still looks like it can add more strength, plus the kind of athleticism that gives scouts room to dream.
Baseball America points to his “great movement patterns” on the mound, along with a whip-fast arm from a low three-quarters slot and excellent balance through his finish. The package is already loud, and the projection is even louder.
The fastball is the headliner. Rojas works at 92-96 mph and has reached 98, and the pitch has the kind of riding life that plays at the top of the zone and misses bats.
He’s not just throwing hard, either. MLB Pipeline says he can “fill up the strike zone” with a fastball that has “outstanding riding life” and can be commanded to both sides of the plate.
The slider gives him a second weapon that already looks major league quality. It comes in the low 80s with high spin, sweeping action, and a sharp finish to the glove side. MLB Pipeline calls it a “true out pitch,” and Keith Law noted hitters swung through it about two-thirds of the time at tracked showcase events during 2025 and 2026.
There are still some things to clean up. Law says Rojas will occasionally lower his arm slot on the slider, which can flatten the pitch and potentially tip it to more advanced hitters.
MLB Pipeline also notes that he can rush downhill and open his delivery too early, which leads to scattered command at times. But with his athleticism and clean mechanics, those issues are viewed as fixable.
He also has a low-80s changeup that hasn’t been asked to do much against high school hitters, but evaluators believe it has enough feel to become an average or better big league pitch. That third pitch matters, because it strengthens the case that Rojas can stay in a rotation once he turns pro.
The performance has matched the scouting. Rojas struck out at least 120 hitters in back-to-back high school seasons and was a force for Team USA’s gold medal-winning 18U National Team, tossing 11 scoreless innings at the 2025 WBSC U-18 World Cup. He also stood out on the showcase circuit, including the East Coast Professional Showcase and MLB’s High School All-American Game, where he kept reinforcing the same message: this is one of the elite talents in the draft.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas has already produced major leaguers such as Roman Anthony, Anthony Rizzo, and Jesús Luzardo, and Rojas adds another high-end name to that pipeline. He is committed to the University of Miami, but the upside here is obvious enough that teams are looking well beyond college.
The Royals have reportedly scouted him heavily and have him near the top of their board. Kiley McDaniel at ESPN wrote that Rojas is the backup option if prep hitters Jacob Lombard and Eric Booth Jr. are both off the table, possibly as a “cut-rate option” that could sign underslot.
Prep pitchers always come with risk, but few arms in this class offer a ceiling like Rojas. The Royals have not had a strong history with high school pitchers, though that may be changing under scouting director Brian Bridges. If Kansas City wants to take a swing with the eighth overall pick, Gio Rojas is one of the biggest upside bets in the draft.
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