2026 MLB Draft Deep Dive: Jarren Advincula

In a very balanced 2026 draft class among the different demographics, this year’s crop of college bats could be the strength of the class when it’s all said and done. Among those high-level bats is Georgia Tech’s Jarren Advincula, Just Baseball’s No. 28 college draft prospect.

Georgia Tech’s newest second baseman, Advincula spent two years at California, where he was named to the All-Pac-12 first team as a freshman in 2024, and then the All-ACC second team as a sophomore a year ago.

Headed into the 2026 season, Advincula is widely recognized as one of the top second basemen in the country and is expected to be a big part of Georgia Tech’s potent lineup. He’s on a number of preseason awards lists, including the Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list, as well as both NCBWA’s and Baseball America’s preseason All-American second teams.

• Age on draft day: 21.4
• B/T: L/R
• HT: 5’11”
• WT: 200
• Hometown: Santa Clara, CA
• 2025 Stats: 55 G, 267 PA, .342/.410/.506 (.916), 48 R, 6 HR (25 XBH), 8.2 BB%, 10.9 K%, 118 wRC+, 13 SB (86.6%)

Jarren’s amateur baseball journey began at Archbishop Mitty High School in Santa Clara, California, where his older brother Jonah also played and was later drafted in the eighth round of the 2023 draft by the Guardians out of Washington State. Come this July, Jarren should be joining his older brother in the professional ranks, and potentially from the first round.

It didn’t take long for Jarren Advincula to make an impact at Cal as a freshman. He started in 54 of Cal’s 55 games, where his advanced hit tool immediately showed up.

He posted a team best 6.5% strikeout rate as he fanned just 16 times to 26 walks in 248 plate appearances. It took a bit for him to show much in the power department as he increased his extra-base hit total to 25 in his sophomore year, up from 16 in his freshman year. Entering his draft year with Georgia Tech, Advincula’s bat is expected to take another step forward.

Before making the move to Atlanta after entering the transfer portal this summer, Advincula made a pit stop in the Cape Cod League, where he boosted his draft stock. In 18 games, he hit .360, a mark that ranked fifth among the 77 hitters to log at least 50 plate appearances.

He has quite the track record on the Cape, as he was even better the summer prior, posting a .392 batting average across 145 plate appearances.

The carrying tool for Advincula as a draft prospect is the aforementioned advanced hit tool. It’s comfortably a 60+ grade tool with further projection as he continues to refine his approach and improve his batted ball profile.

He often gets tagged as being a pure hitter, as he rarely whiffs and makes in-zone contact at a super high rate. It was a 90% overall contact rate and a 94% in-zone contact rate in 2025.

For reference, the MLB average contact rate for hitters is 76.9% while the average in-zone contact rate is 85.4%. That’s not to say that you could drop Advincula into Major League Baseball right now and expect him to hold his own, but it does show that there is already an excellent foundation set for him to work with at the professional level.

Advincula does employ an aggressive approach, as he expands the zone often. He has drawn a total of 48 walks in his college career thus far, good for a 9.3% walk rate. It’s not an alarmingly low number, but you’d typically like to see that number at least a few ticks higher for a first-round caliber college bat.

If not for his elite bat-to-ball skills, this aggression could stick out as a red flag. Because he makes so much contact, he can mitigate the risk of expanding the zone, but there’s no telling that pro breaking balls and offspeed pitches won’t cause him problems at the next level. Regardless, his hit tool still ranks among the top tools in this class at the moment.

The big question when it comes to Advincula’s bat and whether or not he lands in the first round this July is the power tool.

At 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, he carries a frame that you’d expect to possess more juice at the plate. However, he only hit six home runs a year ago and five a year prior.

This can be attributed to the approach, as he’s clearly trying to make more contact and spray the ball around the field. When he does get into his power, it has been to the pull side, where it flashes some solid pop.

Georgia Tech’s head coach James Ramsey has mentioned that Advincula worked hard during the fall to get the ball in the air to the pull side at a higher rate, which could certainly boost his offensive profile this spring. He already has present bat speed with feel for the barrel, so there’s no doubt he can get to more power.

Overhauling a player’s approach to tap into more power can be risky, but Advincula has the skills at the plate to get to more of his power without sacrificing much of what currently makes him a special hitter.

Because of his offensive profile, Advincula often has the chance to put his plus speed to work, legging out infield singles or turning singles in the gap into doubles.

It doesn’t show up as much in the stolen base department as you would think, considering how often he’s on base, as he’s stolen only 21 bases in 28 attempts in his college career in 28 attempts. However, his recent performance on the Cape could be a sneak peek of things to come, as he swiped 11 bags in just 18 games.

On the defensive side of the ball, Advincula projects to be an above-average defender at second base. He could be given the chance to play some shortstop in a pinch this spring, but his arm isn’t quite strong enough to handle the left side of the infield long-term. With quick feet and smooth actions at second base, he’ll do more than enough there to stick around on the dirt at the pro level.

While Advincula’s landing spot in this year’s draft class is still widely undetermined, he’s likely to be a late first-rounder or an early second-rounder at the moment.

With some factors in his profile having room to improve, he could certainly be a riser in this class, while a profile like his that lacks a super high ceiling could give way to risers elsewhere. Regardless, the Georgia Tech second baseman is an impact player to follow this spring.