Drew Burress has never looked like the kind of prospect scouts usually fall in love with. He’s 5-foot-9, not the six-foot, broad-shouldered type that tends to light up a room at a showcase. But the Georgia Tech outfielder has done plenty to make the size talk irrelevant.
Three seasons into his college career, Burress has become one of the premier bats in the 2026 MLB Draft class and a likely top-10 selection. The rankings back that up: The Athletic has him at No.
7, Baseball America at No. 8, ESPN at No.
7, MLB Pipeline at No. 7 and Perfect Game at No. 10.
Burress, a right-handed hitter and right-handed thrower from Warner Robins, Georgia, announced himself in a hurry. He homered nine times in his first eight games at Georgia Tech, then finished his freshman year with 25 home runs, setting the program’s freshman record. That season also brought National Freshman of the Year honors and made him just the 10th freshman position player ever named a Baseball America First-Team All-American.
He kept climbing from there. In 2026, Burress passed Georgia Tech legend Jason Varitek to become the school’s all-time home run leader, doing it in three seasons instead of Varitek’s four. He finished the year at .358/.473/.657 with 16 home runs, 49 walks and 43 strikeouts in 61 games.
What makes him such a tough evaluation is that the production comes with real strike-zone control. Keith Law notes that Burress has finished all three college seasons with more walks than strikeouts and has chased fewer than 20 percent of pitches outside the zone. His contact rate on strikes is well above the Division I average, which gives him a rare mix: power, patience and a bat that keeps finding the ball.
The power is no mirage, either. Burress generates it with fast hands, real strength and a swing built for lift. His 90th-percentile exit velocity of 109.1 mph ranked in the top three percent of qualified Division I hitters during the regular season, and Law projects him as a future 20-plus home run hitter in the majors.
There was a brief wobble early in 2026 when he tried to lift and pull everything, but he settled back into the more balanced approach that made him so dangerous. He finished especially well during ACC play.
Still, teams have questions to answer before draft day. Baseball America points to a pull-heavy approach and a sizable leg kick, and scouts say his swing can get long.
There’s also the wood-bat question. Burress hit only .125 in the Cape Code League in 2024 after his freshman year, and evaluators want to know whether his power will translate against pro pitchers who can live down and away with breaking balls.
Defensively, he brings more than just the bat. Burress has played center field at Georgia Tech and has above average speed, which helps him cover ground.
The opinions split from there: Keith Law gives him less than an even chance to stay in center, while MLB Pipeline is more optimistic. If he ends up in right field, his plus throwing arm and offensive profile should still make him an impact regular.
The makeup also gets strong reviews. MLB Pipeline highlights his work ethic, athleticism and baseball instincts, and those traits helped him adjust after mechanical issues led to a slow start in his junior season.
For all the concern that follows undersized sluggers, Burress has spent three years answering it on the field. His blend of elite production, disciplined at-bats, plus power and defensive value gives him one of the highest floors among college position players in the draft.
He could also move quickly, which is part of why the Royals come up in the conversation. In his latest mock draft, Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo wrote that he “wouldn’t have expected a quick-moving college player for the Royals in this year’s draft, but it sounds like the current poor play of the major league team could become a real factor in who gets picked here.
Burress would make sense if the organization feels the need to add a fast-mover.” MLB Pipeline does not mock Burress to Kansas City, but says “there’s a small chance that it could be Drew Burress from Georgia Tech if they went for the high floor versus ceiling pick.”
College bats come with less risk than prep players, but they are not immune to disappointment. The Royals took Gavin Cross out of Virginia Tech expecting a fast path to the majors, and that didn’t play out as planned. Burress has a similar profile as a patient hitter with above-average power who can play all over the outfield, and if Kansas City or another team calls his name, the hope is that he can help a lineup that needs more quality hitters.
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