​Three North Carolina players heard their names called on Day 2 of the 2026 MLB Draft, bringing the total number of Diamond Heels selected to seven. That followed the first four rounds, in which Jake Schaffner, Owen Hull, Jason DeCaro, and Ryan Lynch all went off the board, giving UNC four players chosen in the top 100 picks for the first time. Schaffner went No. 20 overall to the Boston Red Sox, who later added Hull at No. 67. DeCaro followed at No. 80 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Lynch was selected by the San Diego Padres at No. 97. With that quartet off the board, attention turned to Day 2 as the draft concluded Sunday with rounds 5 through 20.
On Day 2, UNC added another pair of selections, led by catcher Macon Winslow in Round 6 at No. 190 overall, selected by the Philadelphia Phillies. Winslow became the fifth Tar Heel drafted, advancing after just one season at Chapel Hill. He appeared in 67 games for North Carolina, finishing fourth on the team with 57 RBIs and 10 home runs. During the regular season, he ranked second on the roster in RBIs with 51 and was third in both homers (9) and hits (58). Defensively, the Hertford, North Carolina native posted the ACC’s second-best caught-stealing rate at .556, throwing out eight of 18 attempted base stealers en route to Third-Team All-ACC honors. Winslow’s journey to UNC included two seasons at Duke before transferring to Chapel Hill, where he appeared in 100 games with 96 starts at catcher and in the outfield, batting .267 with 61 runs, 33 extra-base hits, and 65 RBIs for the Blue Devils prior to his move to UNC.
Shortly after Winslow’s selection, right-handed pitcher Matthew Matthijs became the sixth Tar Heel drafted in 2026, going to the Seattle Mariners in the 17th round (No. 520 overall) after four seasons at North Carolina. Matthijs closed his UNC career with a 4.48 ERA and 153 strikeouts over 128 2/3 innings. As a senior, he pitched exclusively from the bullpen, appearing in 27 games and posting a 6.39 ERA with 39 strikeouts over 31 innings. His standout breakthrough came as a sophomore in 2024, when he went 12-4 with a 3.72 ERA across 36 appearances. Matthijs now heads to the Pacific Northwest, joining a growing UNC presence in the Mariners organization that includes Luke Stevenson (2024-25) and Anthony Donofrio (2024).
The draft coverage highlighted a strong UNC presence on the mound and in the lineup as Day 2 wrapped, extending North Carolina’s run of high-level drafting in recent years. The combination of Winslow’s versatile catching and bat control, along with Matthijs’s bullpen durability, complemented the earlier selections of Schaffner, Hull, DeCaro, and Lynch, who provided UNC with a quartet of top-100 picks in the initial rounds and a broader base of emerging professional talent. As UNC looks ahead, the ongoing development of these players will shape the program’s future recruiting momentum and its continued impact at the MLB level. The 2026 draft thus left the Tar Heels with a notable footprint across the professional ranks, signaling a productive pipeline between Chapel Hill and the major leagues.