​The Diamond Dores’ 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. ET window yesterday didn’t unfold as well as we’d hoped, at least not for any current players. No one on our roster was selected in rounds 1 through 4, which is a sting we’ve been bracing for for a while. Yes, we earned that postseason miss this year, but six commitments still heard their names called in the later rounds. That part of the news will likely sound alarming to some, but it was, fairly predictably, par for the course.
Eric Booth Jr. slipped into the first round with the Orioles, Aiden Ruiz went in the second to the Pirates, Sean Duncan also landed in the second with the Yankees, Luke Williams—recently flipped from a UVA commit— went in the third to the Gnats, and Keon Johnson followed in the third to the Astros. The only surprise was 1B Collin Bland being selected by the Devil Rays in the fourth. Most people assumed Bland would stay on the prep path and enroll at campus; he’s a 1B/DH type, and those players typically get picked out of high school only if their bats are unreal. Still, all it takes is one team to like you and pull the trigger, and apparently Bland’s stock crossed that threshold.
Under normal circumstances, losing six potential incoming freshmen to the draft would feel like the rest of the class had been raided. We’d be furious about a class that might be undermined by professional reach. And yes, three players who could have taken over for Ryker Waite at shortstop within a year would usually sound like a disaster, right?
But this year, the reaction is different. Not yet. Not this class.
It’s important to note that there are more names in this class than Aria listed. Those are the Perfect Game top 100 “croots” still on the board. Wilson at center field (ranked 11), Contreras (21) on the mound, Holloway (23) a left-handed pitcher, Tronstein (40) at short, Cope (46) a left-handed pitcher, Skelton (56) at short, and even though Herst is ranked outside those confines, he still appeared on the Top 250 lists across MLB, ESPN, and Perfect Game for the overall draft and is the most ready-starter among our pitching croots. That doesn’t even count Hinojosa (ranked 150) and other prized four-star commits who remain in play.
Bottom line: we still have two five-star players at shortstop on the slate after losing three to the draft. One of them, Gunner Skelton, is my pick to deliver an immediate impact on offense at the level of a Brodie Johnston, having torn up the Appy League this summer. Esposito, Corbs, and Brownie all contributed meaningfully to this class.
Make no mistake: if no other commits are selected today, this could easily be the #1 class in the nation and a monumental jump-start for The Diamond Dores in reclaiming the top spot. But the sun isn’t fully up yet. The draft’s new schedule—rounds 1–4 on Day 1 and rounds 5–20 on Day 2—means teams are already calling remaining over-slot high school players, those with $2 million asking prices, to test signability. That makes the fifth round a potential danger zone for our commitments, and once we’re past that, we can exhale a little. It wouldn’t shock me if Corbs and the crew went all-in with NIL offers to boosters last night, especially with Contreras, Wilson, and Holloway still on the board.
Today, we want to hear names from current players too—like The Hulk—for better SEO and broader interest. We’re aiming for a minimum 500-word update here, but the core takeaway remains: this class still has impressive depth, and even when a few top targets come off the board, there’s a strong foundation to build on for The Diamond Dores as we navigate the rest of the draft and the signing period.