UGA Baseball: 10 Bulldogs Taken On Final Day Of 2026 MLB Draft

ATHENS, Ga. – 10 Georgia Bulldogs were selected on the second and final day of the 2026 Major League Baseball Draft held Sunday in Philadelphia. The Bulldogs led the nation in total draft picks with 13, a new school record.

Justin Byrd was selected in the sixth round with the 170th pick to the Los Angeles Angels. Caden Aoki was taken by the Texas Rangers with the 207th pick in the seventh round. Dylan Vigue was selected with the 209th pick to the Kansas City Royals. The Seattle Mariners selected Ryan Wynn in the seventh round with the 220th overall pick. Kolby Branch’s name was called in the eighth round as the Texas Rangers selected him with the 237th pick. Matt Scott was selected by the Cleveland Guardians with the 243rd pick. With the 258th pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates took Tre Phelps in the ninth round. Caleb Jameson was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 12th round with the 356th pick. Kenny Ishikawa heard his name called in the 13th round as the Cincinnati Reds drafted him 392nd overall. The Chicago Cubs took Brennan Hudson in the 20th round with the 607th pick.

A 6-2, 203-pound redshirt junior of Bogart, Ga., Byrd was a vital member of the pitching staff that finished as one of the best in school history. The right-hander earned Honorable Mention All-America honors by the College Baseball Foundation after posting a 6-2 mark, a 3.73 ERA and eight saves in 27 appearances. In 62.2 innings, he registered 77 strikeouts and only 14 walks while limiting opponents to a .194 batting average. Byrd had a dominant postseason, going 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA and two saves in five relief appearances covering 11.1 innings with 12 strikeouts. Byrd began his career at USC Aiken and transferred to Georgia in 2025.

A 6-0, 185-pound graduate right-hander from Huntington Beach, Calif., Aoki played a monumental part in the starting rotation for one of the best teams in program history. He posted a 9-2 record, 4.08 ERA, three saves in 20 appearances including nine starts for the Bulldogs in 2026. In Georgia’s final game in the College World Series, he fired a complete game against eventual national champion Oklahoma. In 86 innings pitched, he added 110 strikeouts and 27 walks. A 2nd Team All-American and finalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, Aoki spent his first four seasons at USC where he compiled a 12-10 record and a 3.67 ERA in 41 appearances including 38 starts across 213.1 innings.

A 6-3, 230-pound junior right-hander from Leominster, Mass., Vigue was part of the starting rotation for one of the best team Georgia teams in school history. In his first year at Georgia, he posted a 4-1 mark, 4.43 ERA in 18 appearances including 16 starts. In 63 innings pitched, he tallied 77 strikeouts and 36 walks. He was part of a combined 2-0 shutout of No. 5 Texas to advance Georgia to the semifinals of the College World Series. He started and went four innings, allowing two hits and eight strikeouts in the win over the Longhorns. Vigue spent his first two seasons at the University of Michigan where he went 3-8 with two saves and a 6.00 ERA in 114 innings.

A 6-0, 185-pound native of Douglasville, Ga, Wynn made 50 appearances with 29 starts in his first season with the Bulldogs. He batted .323 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 37 RBI while fielding .948 in 96 total chances at second. He was named to the NCAA Athens Regional All-Tournament team after batting .500 with five runs scored, three home runs and seven RBI. Wynn spent his first two seasons at Wofford, tallying 61 starts in 79 appearances with a batting average of .326 and fielding percentage of .927.

A 6-0, 202-pound native of Lucas, Texas, Branch started 186 games for the Bulldogs over the past three seasons. He posted a career batting average of .291 with 39 doubles, 50 home runs and 159 RBI and tallied a school record .972 fielding percentage for a shortstop. He hit a home run in his final collegiate at bat at the College World Series to cap a season when he batted .291 with 19 doubles, 20 home runs and 60 RBI. A Gold-Glove winning shortstop, he received an invitation and made USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. Currently, they are competing at the World Collegiate Baseball Championships in Taiwan. Branch spent his freshman season playing at Baylor before leading Georgia as a senior back to the College World Series for the first time since 2008.

A 6-7, 241-pound senior right-hander from Redding, Conn., Scott was a key member of the pitching staff that finished as one of the best in school history. He posted a 7-0 record, 4.22 ERA with five saves in 20 appearances including three starts. In 59.2 innings pitched, he tallied 76 strikeouts and 30 walks. In SEC action, he went 4-0 with a 4.05 ERA and three saves. A member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, he spent his first three seasons playing for Stanford where he went 14-17 with one save and a 5.69 ERA in 51 games including 38 starts covering 199.1 innings.

Phelps, a 6-2, 197-pound native of Atlanta, Ga., appeared in 157 games during his three-year Bulldog career and made 149 starts at six different positions (3B-2B-1B,RF-LF-DH). A consensus first team All-American as a third baseman in 2026, he batted .348 with 11 doubles, 19 home runs and 59 RBI plus set a school record with 35 hit-by-pitches. Phelps posted a team-best 27-game hitting streak in 2026 and was named All-SEC first team and to the SEC All-Defensive team. In his career, Phelps finished with a .339 batting average, 36 doubles, 41 home runs and 143 RBI.

A 6-1, 185-pound left-hander from Paris Texas, Jameson appeared in 17 games including one start in his first year with the Bulldogs. He posted a 2-0 record with a 6.11 ERA in 17.2 innings with just four walks and 26 strikeouts. Jameson played his first two years of his college career at Paris Junior College before transferring to Baylor, where he spent one season, posting a 2-1 record with a 5.02 ERA in 28.2 innings.

A 5-11, 193-pound sophomore outfielder/pitcher from Yokohama, Japan, Ishikawa started 38 games as a position player (20-LF, 13-RF, 4-CF, 1-DH) and made 10 appearances including six starts on the mound. A left-handed hitter and pitcher, he batted .336 with three home runs and 21 RBI in 125 at bats plus went 1-1 with a 14.44 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched in his first season with the Bulldogs. He missed three weeks early in the season after getting hit by a pitch while batting that resulted in a hairline fracture in his right foot. Ishikawa posted a team-high 23-game on base streak and batted a team-best .357 (5-for-14) with a home run and three RBI at the College World Series. In November of 2025, he was drafted in the sixth round by the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Professional League. Ishikawa spent the 2025 season playing for Seattle University.

A 6-1, 222-pound senior catcher/first baseman from Cumming, Ga., Hudson appeared in 56 games with 50 starts (34-1B, 9-C, 7-RF) for the Bulldogs in 2026. He batted .294 with five doubles, a career-high 22 home runs and 51 RBI while fielding .993. He was named Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Athens Regional after batting .556 with six runs scored, three home runs and three RBI. A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, he was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team as an economics major. Hudson spent two seasons with the Bulldogs and his first two years of college playing for Georgia State.

In 2026, Georgia won a school record 53 games (53-14), finished third at the College World Series and captured the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles. The Bulldogs were ranked a consensus No. 3 in the final national top 25 polls.

The Bulldogs have a string of 52 straight seasons with at least one player signing a professional contract. Also, Georgia has had at least one player drafted each year going back to 1987.
MLB teams have until Monday, July 27 at 5 p.m. ET to agree to deals with players they draft out of four-year colleges and high schools. If a draft pick doesn’t sign and attends junior college (juco), they have a draft-and-follow option where they can sign following the end of their juco season and up until the week before the beginning of next year’s Draft for up to $225,000.