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The MLB Draft is mere minutes away from starting as I begin this weekend’s missive, and I find myself pondering the unknowable magic of the thing itself. No other sport can boast the breadth and depth of this draft, even as they’ve shrunk it down to 20 rounds. Some years are fairly bereft of big league impact players, leaving precious few right answers atop the first round. The early returns on the 2025 class look less than inspiring, for instance. Washington’s number one overall pick SS Eli Willits looks good, and Pirates RHP Seth Hernandez looks like a potential star, but it’s hard to imagine anyone but Mariners LHP Kade Anderson making next year’s midsummer classic. And that’s fine. Totally normal. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Aha! This time I have done it, working ahead deep into the night with a box of Slim Jims and Sunny D to power through. Alas, Mamma Hobbs need not call down to the basement from the kitchen for the college prospect rankings this week, for Hobbsy is done! I hit send and promptly notify Truss, then wait for her to call down (accompanied by the usual smell of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies). As 11 a.m. becomes 12 p.m. and the morning turns into the afternoon, I begin to wonder if she has forgotten about my bi-weekly column. It then dawns on me that it is Thursday, March 19, and we were supposed to leave for our family trip to Minsk at 8 a.m. I rushed upstairs and was quickly welcomed with the disbelief that I had been Kevin McCallister’ed. Alas, the price of being a hard-working fantasy baseball writer in this day and age. See you never, Minsk.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Three weeks into the 2026 college baseball season, and no pre-draft rankings yet, Hobbs!? Again, my mother, calling down to the basement from the kitchen as I watch a third rerun of Breaking Bad Season 3, Episode 12 (Half Measures) while eating a fourth meatball Hot Pocket. As I burn my chin on steamy marinara, I turn my visage to my laptop screen and realize I have been finished for six weeks but forgot to hit send, and now have compiled seven missed text messages from Truss. So, away we go, unveiling the top-five college prospects for the 2026 MLB Draft, without bias, and without groupthink to give you an idea of who you really should be looking at for first-year player drafts despite all the hullabaloo out there.

Please, blog, may I have some more?