2026 MLB Draft Deep Dive: Eric Becker

The 2026 college baseball season is right around the corner, which means the 2026 MLB Draft cycle will be heating up very soon.

The top of this year’s draft class is littered with excellent college bats, especially in the middle infield. Among top shortstop prospects such as Roch Cholowsky, Justin Lebron, and Tyler Bell, Virginia’s Eric Becker presents himself as a shortstop who could keep pace with the top talents in this class and potentially warrant a top 10 selection in July, backed by a strong junior campaign.

• Age on draft day: 21.2
• B/T: L/R
• HT: 6’3″
• WT: 190
• Hometown: Thiells, NY
• 2025 Stats: 50 G, 236 PA, .368/.453/.617 (1.070), 54 R, 9 HR (31 XBH), 8.9 BB%, 17.4 K%, 138 wRC+, 5 SB (55%)

Ever since Becker stepped foot on Virginia’s campus, he has been a very valuable piece in the Cavaliers’ lineup. He was named to the ACC All-Freshman team in 2024 following a strong campaign in which he posted a 1.137 OPS with eight home runs in 45 games as he helped lead Virginia to an appearance in Omaha.

In 2025, Becker moved into the full-time shortstop role after splitting time between third base and second base in 2024. At the plate, he continued to produce at a high level, as he led the Cavaliers in batting average (.368), OPS (1.070), and extra-base hits (31), earning himself a Third Team All-ACC selection.

Becker entered the transfer portal following the 2025 season, but decided to stick around in Charlottesville, where he’s expected to once again play a big role in the middle of a strong Cavaliers lineup ahead of the draft.

As Just Baseball’s 13th-ranked college draft prospect, Becker is expected to land anywhere between the middle of the first round and the middle of the second, but very well could be a riser this spring.

His younger brother Nick was a second-round pick (57th overall) to the Mariners a year ago, and had it not been for the $2.75 million signing bonus Seattle extended to Nick, he was going to join his older brother Eric in Virginia’s infield. Fast forward one year later and Eric will be joining the pro ranks with Nick at likely a higher dollar amount.

The carrying tool for Becker is the advanced bat. He has a solid combination of feel to hit and improving power from the left side of the plate. It’s a very simple, fluid left-handed stroke without too many moving parts and plenty of bat speed. It’s an adjustable swing path as well, which helps Becker find the barrel at a high rate and employ his all-fields approach while getting the ball in the air often.

Becker makes plenty of contact, specifically in-zone. Due to his aggressive approach, which yielded just an 8.9% walk rate in 2025, he does expand the zone too much at times, and that has led to swing and miss issues, especially on breaking balls outside of the zone. It’s not an overly aggressive approach that comes with red flags, but one that could use refinement to get the most out of his bat at the next level.

As for what Becker provides in the power department, it’s largely gap-to-gap doubles power at the moment, but there’s still some room to pack some more juice into his 6-foot-3 frame.

He makes consistent hard contact to all fields while flashing some pull-side pop, which he’ll need to tap into more to reach his power potential. He’s not going to be a hitter consistently popping 110+ mph EVs, but there’s enough feel to hit and loft in his swing, along with remaining projection, to believe he can get to at least average power at the pro level.

Defensively, Becker should be given the opportunity to stick at shortstop, but it’s still more likely he transitions to either second or third base full-time. He obviously will handle shortstop for Virginia this spring, where he’ll have the chance to show improved defensive tools, which could be a big factor in deciding where he lands on draft boards come July.

There isn’t a ton of athletic upside in Becker’s profile, but there’s enough present athleticism and instincts to believe he can be an average to above-average defender regardless of where his future defensive home may be. He has enough arm strength to handle third base, where his range may play better than it does at shortstop and where he can lean more into the advanced offensive profile.

A 50-grade runner, Becker isn’t a burner on the bases and may lose a step if he continues to grow, so his value as a runner is likely a non-factor moving forward.

Heading into his junior year, Eric Becker possesses plenty of talent to be one of the first college bats off the board in the upcoming MLB draft and is a prospect worth following this spring.