​Dylan Carey wasn’t selected in the MLB Draft despite earning the Brooks Wallace Award as the top shortstop in college baseball for the 2026 season at Nebraska, an honor he added to an impressive resume that already included the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award for his performance with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Sporting News reported the news and noted that Carey’s absence from the draft has left Nebraska fans puzzled. The MLB Draft comprises 20 rounds with 613 picks, and Carey went undrafted.
Carey’s omission from the draft is perplexing given his on-field accomplishments. He batted .353 with 15 home runs this season and boasted solid defensive play, which would typically attract attention from scouts. Yet MLB scouts appeared to evaluate Carey differently than his impressive statistics might suggest. As a senior, Carey did not present a path back to school, meaning teams would be unlikely to select him early and offer him over-slot compensation to push him into the pros ahead of his college eligibility. This combination—no draft interest despite strong production and the lack of a back-to-school option—helps explain why he might have slipped through the rounds.
Despite this setback, it seems likely that Carey will still receive an opportunity to sign with an organization, even if he wasn’t selected in the draft. The reasons behind the decision remain unclear, and the situation has left fans and analysts wondering what the next steps will entail for a player who showed significant defensive prowess and strong hitting for Nebraska. As the process moves forward, Carey’s options could include pursuing a signing with a team as an undrafted free agent, which could still secure him a path to professional baseball.
In the broader landscape of draft discussions, Carey’s case stands as an example of how evaluators weigh a player’s tools, performance, and projectability beyond a single season’s statistics. His college accolades—particularly the Brooks Wallace Award for the best shortstop in the nation and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year—underscore his high level of play, even if they didn’t translate into a draft pick this year. The ambiguity surrounding why he wasn’t drafted will likely be a topic of conversation among scouts, analysts, and Nebraska supporters as Carey navigates possible professional opportunities outside the Draft.