Four guys from Chris Pollard’s first UVA Baseball team are headed to the 2026 MLB Draft Combine, which starts on Tuesday in Phoenix.
The four:
- CF AJ Gracia: #17 prospect (first round)
- SS Eric Becker: #26 prospect (first round)
- 2B Joe Tiroly: #144 prospect (fifth round)
- LHP/OF Kyle Johnson: #148 prospect (fifth round)
Ratings from MLB.com
The four are among the 335 prospective draftees – 195 from college and another 140 from high school – who will work out at the event.
For reference, per a release from UVA Athletics, in 2025, 256 of the 309 players who participated in the combine were selected in the MLB Draft, including 87 of the first 100 picks.
MLB Network will have coverage live on Tuesday beginning at noon ET.
Draft Combine workouts on Wednesday will be streamed across MLB’s digital platforms.
Gracia and Becker both started the season as projected first-round picks.
Gracia, in his one-and-only season on Grounds, hit .354 BA/1.121 OPS with 14 homers and 48 RBIs.
Becker, a three-year player who was a big contributor as a freshman on the 2024 College World Series team, hit .317/.961 with seven homers and 42 RBIs in 2026.
Tiroly, a transfer from Rider, had a team-best 16 homers and 66 RBIs, with a .319/.981 split at the plate.
Johnson’s two-way numbers weren’t great either way – on the mound, he was 1-3 with a 6.87 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, and as a position player, he hit .241/.889 with seven homers and 29 RBIs.
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