Mustangs in the 2026 MLB Draft
7/8/2026 12:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Junior catcher Ryan Tayman was not drafted out of Arroyo Grande High School and battled for two seasons as a backup at Cal in 2024 and 2025. Tayman entered the Transfer Portal after hitting .254 in 21 games (16 starts) as a freshman and .274 in 39 contests (17 starts) as a sophomore with the Golden Bears.
At Cal Poly this season, however, Tayman powered his way onto the national scene, hitting .357 and breaking or tying school records with 18 home runs, 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.
Today, Tayman is Cal Poly's top draft prospect, at least in the eyes of D1Baseball.com's staff, placing the Grover Beach resident 127th on its list of the nation's top 250 Major League Baseball Draft college prospects this week.
The annual draft will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Philadelphia Convention Center in conjunction with All-Star Week. First four rounds will be conducted Saturday with rounds five through 20 slated for Sunday. NBC and Peacock will cover the first 10 picks at 10 a.m., with MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB TV and MLB+ covering the rest of the draft.
The Chicago White Sox will make the first selection, followed by The Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins. There will be just 25 picks in the first round as the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Yankees, Mets and Phillies received a 10-pick penalty for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.
Named Big West Co-Field Player of the Year in May and Cal Poly's Male Student-Athlete of the Year in June, Tayman was the team's top hitter by 29 points this season and also produced 19 doubles and 57 RBIs.
He 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.
Other Mustang draft prospects include fifth-year seniors Cam Hoiland (OF/DH), Casey Murray Jr. (OF) and Dylan Kordic (OF), fourth-year senior Nick Bonn (RHP) and juniors Carson Turnquist (RHP), Griffin Naess (RHP), Chris Downs (LHP), Laif Palmer (RHP), Alejandro Garza (3B), Braxton Thomas (1B/DH), Josh Volmerding (LHP) and Josh Morano (LHP).
Cal Poly posted a 39-24 overall mark in 2026, the sixth-most victories in program history, and appeared in an NCAA Division I regional for the fifth time in Larry Lee's 24 seasons as head coach of the Mustangs.
In his first 23 seasons at the helm, Lee produced 88 players who signed professional contracts, including 40 in the top 10 rounds. Lee's son, Brooks, is the highest-ever Mustang drafted, chosen eighth overall in 2022 by the Minnesota Twins, and Mitch Haniger and Garrett Olson were first-round selections as well.
Other players from teams that faced Cal Poly this season on D1Baseball.com's 250 top draft prospects include pitcher Jackson Flora (No. 3) of UC Santa Barbara, pitcher Mason Edwards (No. 19) of USC, pitcher Brett Renfrow (No. 59) of Virginia Tech, pitcher Ethan Kleinschmit (No. 61) of Oregon State, pitcher Maxx Yehl (No. 69) of West Virginia, pitcher Steele Murdock (No. 93) of UC San Diego, pitcher Dawson Montessa (No. 98) of West Virginia, pitcher Eric Segura (No. 108) of Oregon State, pitcher Max Bayles (No. 109) of Santa Clara, and utility Kevin Takeuchi (No. 139) of USC.
Also, outfielder Max Hartman (No. 148) of Washington State, pitcher Grant Govel (No. 150) of USC, third baseman Jacob Johnson (No. 161) of Saint Mary's, outfielder Paul Contreras (No. 179) of Cal State Fullerton, pitcher Zach Edwards (No. 196) of Oregon State, pitcher Nathan Aceves (No. 197) of UC Santa Barbara, pitcher Ricky Ojeda (No. 211) of UC Irvine, outfielder Paul Schoenfield (No. 213) of West Virginia, outfielder Matthew Thomas (No. 225) of CSUN, pitcher Cole Tryba (No. 231) of UC Santa Barbara, pitcher Albert Roblez (No. 237) of Oregon State, pitcher Trevor Hansen (No. 242) of UC Irvine and first baseman Adrian Lopez (No. 245) of USC.
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