2026 MLB Draft Preview: Daniel Jackson scouting report.
The 2026 draft is just days away — the first round kicks off on July 11, 2026 — so its time to start offering capsule looks at players the Texas Rangers could select with their top picks. The Rangers’ first round pick is at #16, their second round pick is at #54, and their third round pick is at #89.
Leading up to draft day, we will be doing writeups of some of the players who could end up getting selected by the Rangers with one of their first
three picks. Today we are looking at University of Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson.
Daniel Jackson is a 6’2”, 200 lb. righthanded hitting catcher at the University of Georgia. After graduating from high school out of Atlanta in 2023, Jackson played for Wofford as a freshman, then transferred to Georgia, where he has played the past two seasons, and won the Golden Spikes Award for 2026. Jackson turns 22 in November.
Jackson is a bat-first power-over-hit guy. He has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, and while he has shown an ability to catch up with velocity, he’s had issues with secondaries. That said, he significantly improved his strikeout rate as a junior. His power is his carrying tool, as he has plus raw power to all fields.
Jackson was the everyday catcher both as a freshman at Wofford and as a junior this year, but split time between catcher and the outfield corners with Georgia his sophomore season. Jackson has a good arm that would play in right field, and the reports indicate that he has improved behind the plate this season. However, he still has a good deal of improvement that will need to be made defensively for him to stick behind the plate, and he may have to move to a corner spot. He is described as much more athletic than most catchers, with good speed, so should be at least an average defender as a corner outfielder if he does have to switch positions.
As a freshman at Wofford, Jackson slashed .357/.460/.599 in 253 plate appearances, walking 31 times, striking out 45 times and hitting 12 homers. Facing a much stiffer level of competition in the SEC as a sophomore, Jackson had a part-time role catching and playing the outfield, slashing .240/365/.612 in 148 plate appearances with 44 Ks against 19 walks, though with 14 homers and an impressive 12 out of 12 on stolen base attempts. He made a major step forward this year, slashing .379/.473/.803 with 32 homers in 319 plate appearances. He struck out 64 times against 44 walks, and was 26 for 28 on stolen base attempts.
Baseball America has Jackson at #36 on their board. MLB Pipeline has Jackson at #28 on their board. Kiley McDaniel puts puts Jackson at #20 on his top 150 list. Keith Law has Jackson at #82 on his board. Fangraphs has Jackson at #26 on their board. Baseball Prospectus does not have Jackson on their top 30 draft board.
I have been debating whether to do a write-up on Jackson. I had been inclined not to, for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t believe he’s been projected by any mocks I’ve seen to go in the top 16 picks, but is also almost certainly going to be off the board when the Rangers pick at #54. Secondly, the Rangers in recent years have generally stayed away from guys with significant contact issues with their premium picks, which would make him an uncharacteristic selection, particularly at 16.
However, Evan Grant mentioned him today as one of five potential candidates who the Rangers could pick at #16, so I’d feel dumb if I ignored that and then the Rangers picked him. Plus, he’s a catcher (at least for now), and as we’ve discussed, catchers are always in demand.
If Jackson were a lock to stay behind the plate, there’s a decent chance he’d be off the board when the Rangers make their first pick. As it is, the questions about whether he will be able to improve enough to be a viable major league catcher, and the fact he projects as average at best defensively if he is able to stick, make him more of a late-first/early-second round option, and a team that doesn’t think he has a realistic chance of staying at catcher is probably going to look at him as more of a third round guy.
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