Four Big South Players Selected in 2026 MLB Draft
Four Big South baseball players were selected in the 2026 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Sunday, July 12 -- Longwood's
Jackson Nash (12th round), Radford's
Ray Ladd (14th round), High Point's
Ty Brachbill (14th round) and USC Upstate's
Chris Torres (16th round).
Nash was selected in the 12th round by the Texas Rangers with the 357th overall pick. He is the 12th Longwood player to be chosen in the MLB draft and third highest in history behind
Michael Tucker in 1992 (first round, 10th overall, Kansas City Royals) and
Frankie Watson in 1988 (seventh round, 179th overall, Kansas City). Nash, a 6-foot-6, 235-pounder from Monroe, N.C., pitched to a 4-2 record and 4.26 ERA across 44 1/3 innings and 19 games in 2026 for the Lancers, his first in Farmville. He struck out 59 and walked just 18 with one save on the year. Nash was named Big South Reliever of the Week on Feb. 17, while posting seven scoreless outings on the season. He did not give up an earned run in five of his final six appearances to finish the year. He is the first Longwood player to be chosen in the draft since the Philadelphia Phillies took left-hander Kevin Warunek in the 18th round in 2024.
Ladd was selected in the 14th round by the Cincinnati Reds with the 422nd overall pick. He started all 15 appearances he made in 2026 and went 3-1 with a 4.68 ERA for the Highlanders. He fanned 57 batters in 59.2 innings and combined on a shutout. Ladd is the first Radford played to be chosen in the draft since Dylan Howard went to the Astros in the 2024 Draft (eighth round, 253rd overall).
Brachbill, who led the way for the 2026 pitching staff with an 11-2 mark, became the 41st player in program history selected in the Major League Baseball Draft when he was drafted in the 14th round (425th pick) by the San Diego Padres. Brachbill becomes the third player to be drafted from High Point under the direction of head coach Joey Hammond. Furthermore, Brachbill is the third Panther in program history to be drafted by the Padres, joining
Nick Perlozzo (1970) and
Al Brumfield (1975) who were also selected by the organization. Brachbill, who captured 2026 Big South Conference Pitcher of the Year honors, boasted a team-best 3.59 ERA among those with 15 starts. He led the way in innings pitched (90.1), strikeouts (81) and had the fourth-most batters struck out looking (13) on the mound for the Panthers. Brachbill, who was a two-time Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week honoree in 2026, claimed five of his 11 wins in league action, where he logged 50 innings and converted 39 strikeouts along the way. Brachbill, twice named as D1 Baseball's Weekly Top 100 Pitchers, opened May with a 10-0 victory against Longwood, becoming the fifth different High Point pitcher since the 1972 season to win 10 games as he fanned seven Lancer hitters in an eight-inning outing. His final win of the season came in a complete-game performance against Winthrop (May 9) as he sat down five Eagle hitters and allowed just four hits and three walks along the way.
Torres was picked in the 16th round by the Seattle Mariners with the 490th overall selection. In two seasons with Upstate, Torres, a West Springfield, Mass., native, earned 13 wins over 35 career appearances and 158.0 career innings. He struck out 149 batters over his two seasons, posting an 8.49 strikeout per nine innings total. His 13 career wins tie for sixth in the program's Division I era (2007-pres.) and his 149 strikeouts also rank sixth in the era. He headed the Upstate rotation in 2026, and helped Upstate to another Big South Tournament Championship and the Spartans' first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.