As we close in on the 2026 MLB Draft, the focus on who the Atlanta Braves are looking at for the ninth overall pick has come into focus a bit. Names like Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress, Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick, Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell, and Florida prep lefty Gio Rojas seem to be the names most prominently linked to the club. Massachusetts prep lefty Brody Bumila is also a name that has received some buzz. My goal is to start to break down who these players are and their strengths
and weaknesses to prepare you for the newest Braves prospect.
We will continue the series by looking at Florida high school pitcher Gio Rojas, the lone pitcher and prep player being prominently linked to the Braves at #9.
Bio
Name: Gio Rojas
Position: Left-Handed Pitcher
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 195
College Commitment: Miami
High School: Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS (Coral Springs, FL)
Previously Drafted: N/A
Bats/Throws: R/L
Stats
2024: 4-0, 0.66 ERA, 0.47 WHIP, 41 K, 3 BB, 7 H, 21.1 IP, 5 Games
2025: 13-0, 0.72 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 120 K, 16 BB, 35 H, 68 IP, 14 Games
2026: 11-1, 0.58 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 124 K, 17 BB, 31 H, 72.2 IP, 13 Games
Fastball 60
Rojas has a big fastball up to 98 MPH from the left side, coming in with plenty of life. This is definitely a bat missing pitch that will grade out as a plus offering for him.
Slider 60
As good as his fastball is, the slider is his out pitch and comes in with very high spin rates. It’s just nasty and should be a pitch that will rack up the strikeouts for him as he continues to progress.
Changeup 50
Like many high school pitchers with a powerful arm, Rojas doesn’t use the changeup much in games because it actually gives his competition a better chance at being successful due to him taking something off his premium stuff. He does however have some feel for it and it should be a solid third offering for him – though this does take some projection to get to the average grade.
Command 55
Rojas is a strike thrower who has a chance to get to above average command in the future. He needs to clean up his mechanics a little bit, mostly by being more consistent all the time, but that is a coachable thing for an arm like him. Once that takes place, it’s not hard to see the 55 grade coming into play.
Overall
Rojas is a projectable, athletic young arm who only turns 19 about two weeks ahead of the draft. All of the ingredients are there for him to have top of the rotation potential. That is why he is not only the top ranked prep pitcher in this draft, but may even be the second best arm in this draft, behind only Jackson Flora.
He would almost certainly be an underslot option for the Braves at #9, but at the same time he wouldn’t come extremely cheap either. Even if you took the underslot out of things, he is probably my favorite option among the four most commonly linked players to the Braves – simply because he has the highest ceiling of those options.
Rojas ceiling is a potential ace, but with his stuff and command he also seems like a higher floor option than most prep arms. If the Braves did draft him I would count on him maybe seeing Augusta for a short stint this season, and he might get the chance to earn his way to Augusta in 2027 – similar to Briggs McKenzie from last year. He would potentially be a big league option mid-2029 at the earliest.
