As the 2026 college baseball season begins, the conversation around national awards and MLB Draft positioning starts with one name: Roch Cholowsky.
For the talented roster at Arkansas Razorbacks baseball, the race for national player of the year honors and the top of the 2026 draft board feels, at least for now, like the field versus Cholowsky.
Roch Cholowsky Sets the Gold Standard Everyone Is Chasing
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound shortstop from UCLA Bruins baseball enters the year with preseason buzz as the best player in the country and the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. His tool grades from MLB.com tell the story:
- Hit: 60
- Power: 60
- Run: 45
- Arm: 60
- Field: 60
- Overall: 65
(Grades on the 20–80 scouting scale.)
Those numbers translate to a potential four-plus-tool infielder with impact on both sides of the ball. Cholowsky routinely finds the barrel with an advanced, polished approach at the plate. He doesn’t chase. He doesn’t swing and miss much. He controls at-bats like a seasoned professional, getting pitchers to show their full arsenal to him working the counts and getting the pitches he wants to take advantage.
When he gets the ball out front, however, the polish gives way to explosiveness. Cholowsky flashes 70-grade raw power to his pull side, and that thump showed up in game action throughout 2025. It’s rare to find a shortstop who combines bat-to-ball skill with that kind of juice, and even rarer to see it packaged in a player who projects to stick at the position long term.
Bloodlines and Background
Cholowsky’s baseball IQ isn’t accidental. He’s the son of former minor leaguer and longtime scout Dan Cholowsky, and that foundation shows in the way he carries himself and understands the game.
Before starring at UCLA, he was a top-50 national prospect as a two-sport standout at Hamilton High School in Arizona. Even then, evaluators saw the makings of something special, a right-handed hitter with projection, feel for contact, and the chance to develop into a complete player.
Now, the physicality has caught up with the skill set. At 6’2”, 200 pounds, he looks the part of a franchise shortstop.
The Razorbacks’ Response
But Arkansas isn’t lacking star power.
The Razorbacks counter with elite talent of their own, starting with right-hander Gabe Gaeckle, who is widely viewed as one of the top right-handed pitchers in the 2026 draft class. If he takes the next developmental step, he could push himself squarely into first-round, even top-of-the-board, conversations.
Behind the plate, Ryder Helfrick brings a rare offense-defense combination. Catchers who can impact the game on both sides are outliers, and Helfrick has the skill set to make a national leap this season.
Then there’s the wild card: 6-foot-6, 240-pound lefty Hunter Dietz. With a prototypical frontline frame and an elite fastball, Dietz has the ingredients of a top-of-the-rotation arm. The key will be durability and consistency. If he stays healthy and strings together dominant outings, his stock could soar.
And that’s not even mentioning additional impact talent like Carson Wiggins and Camden Kozeal. Arkansas is loaded with draft aspirations and national award potential across the roster.
Still, entering the season, the national conversation centers on one player.
Cholowsky’s blend of polish, power, defensive reliability, and pedigree makes him the benchmark. For Arkansas’ stars, and the rest of the country, the path to national player of the year honors likely runs through Westwood.
On paper, it may be Cholowsky versus the field. But paper doesn’t decide championships, draft order, or legacy. The games do.
And for a Razorback roster full of hungry, high-end talent, the chase has officially begun.