Turnquist Leads List of Seven Mustangs Selected in 2026 MLB Draft
7/12/2026 8:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Seven players on the 2026 Cal Poly baseball team were drafted in the Major League Draft held Saturday and Sunday at the Philadelphia Convention Center.
Four went in the first 10 rounds, raising the total number of Mustangs selected in the Top 10 in head coach Larry Lee's 24 seasons at the helm to 44. Still topping the list is his son, Brooks, who was chosen eighth overall in 2022 by the Minnesota Twins. Mitch Haniger and Garrett Olson were first-round selections as well under Lee.
Three more were selected in the second half of the draft. The seven total Mustangs chosen Sunday are one shy of the school record of eight draftees set in 1979 and equalled in 2008.
No Mustangs were chosen in the first four rounds Saturday. On Sunday, the first Cal Poly player off the board was junior right-hander Carson Turnquist, picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh round and the 206th selection overall.
Next was junior southpaw Josh Volmerding, chosen by the Boston Red Sox in the eighth round, followed by junior catcher Ryan Tayman, taken in the ninth round by the New York Mets, and senior relief pitcher Nick Bonn, drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th round.
A graduate of Paso Robles High School who played one season at Oklahoma before transfering to Cal Poly, Turnquist missed the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery and made just four appearances on the mound in 2025.
The 2026 season was Turnquist's comeback year. Taking over as the Saturday starter when Volmerding was sidelined with an injury in early March, Turnquist earned wins in seven straight starts and finished 9-3 with a 4.01 ERA and 92 strikeouts over 76 1/3 innings en route to second-team All-Big West honors.
Likely best remembered in his Mustang career for eight scoreless and hitless innings at UC Davis in 2025 before giving up a leadoff single in the ninth, Volmerding also pitched six innings in Cal Poly's 5-2 triumph over Saint Mary's that clinched the program's first NCAA regional title at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium in late May. Volmerding scattered five hits with two runs, one walk and a season-high seven strikeouts.
Volmerding, who missed six weeks of the 2026 season with a problematic knee, closed out his junior season at Cal Poly with an 8-6 career record and 5.05 ERA. He was 5-4 with a 5.09 ERA as the Mustangs' Saturday starter in 2025, his sophomore campaign.
Tayman, the Big West Field Player of the Year following a season that included a .357 batting average, 18 home runs, 19 doubles and 57 RBIs, is another San Luis Obispo County native, growing up in Grover Beach and graduating from Arroyo Grande High School.
Tayman was a backup catcher at Cal for two seasons before transfering to Cal Poly and breaking or tying school records for home runs in a season, including three grand slams, and 546 putouts en route to an NCBWA third-team All-America award and a spot on the ABCA All-West Region first team.
Named Cal Poly's Male Student-Athlete of the Year in June, Tayman was the team's top hitter by 29 points this season and was particularly successful in the postseason with a .394 batting average, sparking the Mustangs to their second Big West regular season title, second successive conference tournament championship and first NCAA regional crown for a spot in the Super Regionals. Tayman hit .366 in 30 conference games.
A member of the Buster Posey National Catcher of the Year Midseason Watch List, Tayman was 6-for-15 with two doubles in the Big West tournament and 6-for-12 with a pair of home runs and three RBIs in the Los Angeles Regional on the way to most outstanding player honors and a spot on the all-regional team.
Tayman threw out 17 would-be base stealers this season (tied for No. 11 in the Cal Poly record book) and his 57 RBIs place him tied for No. 13 in a single season. He replaced Eric Peterson atop the single-season putouts chart and is tied with Monty Waltz (1985) and Steve Wood (1998) on the single-season home run list.
Named 2023 San Luis Obispo County High School Player of the Year by The Tribune and earning first-team Cal-Hi Sports all-state honors, Tayman hit .453 with eight doubles, six home runs and 20 RBIs in 28 games as a senior at Arroyo Grande High School.
Bonn led the nation and shattered Cal Poly's single-season saves record with 17 and also earned a victory against UC Irvine with three scoreless innings in relief, finishing the year with a 3.44 ERA. Eleven of his saves were in Big West games and Bonn earned three saves in the conference tournament and added two more in the Los Angeles Regional.
The Laguna Beach High School graduate played two seasons at Pepperdine and one at Dallas Baptist before transfering to Cal Poly, where he earned first-team All-Big West, second-team All-ABCA West Region and third-team NCBWA All-American awards.
In the final 10 rounds Sunday afternoon, junior third baseman Alejandro Garza was chosen in the 15th by the Cleveland Guardians while right-hander Griffin Naess was snagged by the Cubs, also in the 15th round. Junior southpaw Chris Downs was drafted by the Padres in the 19th round.
Earning first-team All-Big West honors for the third consecutive year, Garza hit .318 with 50 RBIs, a Big West-leading 21 doubles (14th in the NCAA) and team highs with 91 hits and 28 multiple-hit games. Garza also was one of the toughest players to strike out, fanning just 19 times in 306 trips to the plate (17th in NCAA), and broke the school record for career hits, finshing with 254 in three seasons. Jimmy Allen had 252 hits in four years (2011-14).
Hitting .267 after the Cal State Bakersfield series in mid-March, Garza lifted his batting average 70 points over the last nine weeks of the regular season.
Naess, a member of the Cal Poly weekend pitching rotation all three years so far, was 8-5 with a 4.63 ERA this spring, topping the squad with 97 strikeouts over 91 1/3 innings. His career numbers as a Mustang are a 22-8 win-loss record, including a 7-0 mark as a freshman, and a 3.89 ERA with 221 strikeouts over 259 1/3 innings, striking out a career-high 14 against Washington State as a junior.
Naess was particularly sharp against Cal State Fullerton. In four career starts, he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in 2024, gave up just three runs over 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision in the 2025 regular season, scattered eight hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings for a win in the 2025 Big West tournament and allowed three earned runs in six innings during the 2026 regular season for a 2.00 career ERA versus the Titans.
Downs was 3-1 with a 5.71 ERA and a pair of saves. The Hart High School graduate and native of Santa Clarita allowed one unearned run over six innings in relief for a win at Cal State Fullerton. Downs also was 6-0 with three saves in 2025, including 6 1/3 innings for the win versus UC Irvine in the first of two championship games in the Big West tournament, and also pitched 6 1/3 innings in relief in Cal Poly's 11-inning 7-6 win over Utah Valley in the NCAA Eugene Regional.
Former Mustang relief pitcher Tanner Sagouspe, who transfered to TCU to pursue a postgraduate degree following three seasons and a medical redshirt year at Cal Poly, was taken in the ninth round by the Colorado Rockies. Sagouspe notched 15 saves as a Mustang with an 8-6 career win-loss record and a 4.06 ERA over 99 2/3 innings. At TCU this spring, "Goose" was 3-2 with three saves and a team-leading 1.61 ERA over 28 innings.
During Lee's tenure, Cal Poly has produced a selection in the first 10 rounds in 21 of the last 23 seasons. A total of 88 Mustangs coached by Lee have signed professional contracts, including 86 in the last 20 years. Sixteen Mustangs coached by Lee have reached the Major Leagues.
The eight Mustangs drafted in 1979, coached by Berdy Harr, were Jack Ayer, Tom Beyers, Kevin Irot, Jim Johnson, Ron Mantsch, Erik Peterson, Everett Rey and Corky Wyrick.
The 2008 group of Mustangs under Lee who tied the mark were Brent Morel, Logan Schafer, Kevin Castner, Derrick Saito, Luke Yoder, Brian Grening, Jared Eskew and DJ Mauldin.
Seven Mustangs were chosen in 2009, also under Lee — Adam Buschini, Kyle Smith, Eric Massingham, Castner, Eskew, Ryan Lee and DJ Gentile. A total of six Mustangs have been drafted in a year several times.
From the Big West, UC Santa Barbara junior right-hander Jackson Flora was taken fourth overall by the San Francisco Giants, followed by Cal State Fullerton junior outfielder Paul Contreras, selected in the fourth round by the New York Yankees.
Other players from Big West schools who were drafted include pitcher Steele Murdock (fifth round, Twins) of UC San Diego, southpaw Cole Tryba (seventh round, Cubs) of UC Santa Barbara, right-hander Trevor Hansen (ninth round, Angels) of UC Irvine, southpaw Mikiah Negrete (10th round, Rockies) of Cal State Fullerton and first baseman Ben Ziegler-Namoa (10th round, Braves) of Hawai'i.
Also, right-hander Calvin Proskey (11th round, Reds) of UC Santa Barbara, shortstop Anthony Potestio (11th round, Yankees) of UC San Diego, right-hander Nathan Aceves (12th round, Athletics) of UC Santa Barbara, right-hander AJ Krodel (12th round, Mets) of UC Santa Barbara, outfielder Matthew Thomas (13th round, Cardinals) of CSUN, shortstop Corey Nunez (14th round, Cubs) of UC Santa Barbara, right-hander Joseph Jasso (16th round, Diamondbacks) of Cal State Fullerton, outfielder Gabe Camacho (18th round, Cardinals) of UC San Diego and southpaw Ryder Brooks (18th, Giants) of UC Irvine.
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