Prep Baseball Report

Prep Baseball Minnesota Recruitment Overview: Class of 2026


Parker Hageman
Prep Baseball Upper Midwest

 

Minnesota — As we turn the page on 2025, we look back at the class of 2026 and its college commitments. Perhaps influenced by recent roster-rule adjustments in college baseball, the total number of commitments is down from a year ago: 217 players in the 2026 class have committed, compared to 278 at this point last cycle. Still, despite tighter roster limits and ongoing transfer-portal churn, this year’s group has produced more Division I commits (32 vs. 28) than last year.

Even with the top-tier prospects already off the board, the current rankings still include more than 40 uncommitted players—a group college coaches would be wise to revisit.

DIVISION 2026 COMMITMENTS 2025 COMMITMENTS
I 32 28
II 56 67
III 73 118
NJCAA 48 56
NAIA/OTHER 8 9

INSIDE MINNESOTA'S TOP 25

This year's Top 25 ranked players in the class have had 21 of the 25 prospects make Division 1 commitments, with the University of Minnesota landing 7 (Parker Killian, Hudson Ohm, Ryan Christiansen, Noah Asuma, Bennett Skinner, Ryan Hjellming, and Davis Fleming). Similar to last year, Creighton University ended up with the second most signees (Carson Hart, Owen Strey, Sullivan Conlin, and Riley Asmus) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville was the only other program with mulitple players (Danny Scheller and Patrick Karlen).

NCAA DIVISION I

As noted above, this class has seen a few more Division 1 commits than the predecessor and that comes from having 8 D1 commits outside of the Top 25, and indication of how deep this class is in talent. 

RANK SCHOOL COMMITS
1 Minnesota 7
2 St. Thomas 6
3 Creighton 4
4 New Mexico State 2
5 Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 2

NCAA DIVISION II

RANK SCHOOL COMMITS
1 University of Minnesota-Duluth 9
2 Minnesota State-Mankato 9
3 Sioux Falls 8
4 Southwest Minnesota State 6
5 Augustana (SD) 5

Last year it was Minnesota-Crookston that paced the field among the Division II schools. This year both UMD and Minnesota State-Mankato have nine recruits each. Sioux Falls was another program that was aggressive in the state after landing just two ranked players from the Class of 2025. 

NCAA DIVISION III

RANK SCHOOL COMMITS
1 St. John's University (MN) 13
2 Gustavus Adolpus 10
3 Bethal (MN) 6
4 St. Scholastica 6
5 Augsburg University 5

NJCAA 

RANK SCHOOL COMMITS
1 DCTC 12
2 Iowa Central 6
3 Kirkwood 4
4 Marshalltown 3
5 Southeastern 3

NAIA 

Eight players made their commitments to NAIA programs headlined by Briar Cliff (3) and Dakota Wesleyan (2).


WHERE THEY GOING? 

This is the interesting part -- especially to young players and parents keeping an eye on the commitment cycle. Too often, people are led to believe they need to travel extensively to be seen by schools around the country. Ultimately, the vast majority of Minnesota players wind up staying in-state and the trend continues for the class of 2026.

This is where attending our premium events such as the Preseason All-State and State Games provides value in being seen by college coaches in the state. 

RANK STATE COMMITS
1 Minnesota 136
2 Iowa 25
3 South Dakota 21
4 Wisconsin 10
5 Nebraska 4

In all, 63% of players from Minnesota's class of 2026 made their commitments to school right here in the North Star State. That number increases to 88% if you include all of the neighboring states including Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. Overall, just 7 prospects (3% of the class) have made their commitments to schools that are consider in the south or southwest. 


HIGH SCHOOLS

Which high schools are sending their players to the next level?