We’re due for a Class of 2026 rankings update in Wisconsin following our Preseason ID circuit that took us across the state, and we’ve also been busy taking in as much spring ball as we can throughout the month of April.

As the calendar officially flips to May, we’re rolling out our updated and expanded rankings for the state’s junior class. It’s a fun one at the top, and we think it’s really deep too. We’re going to break down the top-10 players in the class, but to underscore the depth inside the state’s ‘26 rankings, we’ll also highlight some of the need-to-know prospects that go beyond the first 10 too. Also, our next national update is coming later this month, so we’ll be refreshing these rankings again soon after we take the month of May to get our eyes on even more of the best players Wisconsin has to offer.

We’ll continue highlighting new names and rising players from this most recent update over the next week, so keep an eye out for more analysis on this ‘26 class. For now, here’s where things stand as we’ve exited the winter, now that the WIAA is fully back.

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AT THE TOP

We’ve been saying it a lot, but the top of this class is an especially fun group. There are some past years in which several of these players would have been considered the top prospect of that year’s grad class, which helps make this 2026 group one of the most talented at the top in recent memory.

With that, 1B/OF Dominic Santarelli (Kenosha St. Joseph; Louisville commit) holds down the top overall spot, and he is an ascending prospect nationally. Known for what he can do with at the plate as one of the top left-handed bats in the Midwest, and increasingly at a national level, Santarelli has top-of-the-class power to pair with advanced bat-to-ball traits and a keen eye. Over the winter, Santarelli showed up a more explosive version of himself, shaving his run time down over a half a second from 7.32 to 6.74, while standing at a physical 6-foot-1, 223 pounds frame, and generating the highest max exit speeds for a left-handed hitter of any junior in the country at a 2025 Prep Baseball event.

It’s an exceptional offensive profile.

RHP/ATH Ben Kuglitsch (Muskego; Florida State) moves back up to No. 2 in the state and he looks like one of the top athletes in the country, standing at a wiry/strong 6-foot-2, 181 pounds. Kuglitsch has some of the top arm talent to come through Wisconsin in recent years, armed with a fastball that reaches 94 mph with a complementary breaking ball in the upper-70s. The bat has made strides this spring, consistently on the barrel throughout our looks with speed that translates in game. His offensive gains are notable, considering he still has legit two-way traits and it’s far too early to tell where his future lies. There’s a chance his 6.47 speed helps him develop into a true center fielder at the next level, and a more impactful bat will only elevate his game.

It’ll be fascinating to see how Kuglitsch continues to develop from here, because the sky is the limit athletically.

INF/RHP Calvin Moreau (Monona Grove; Central Florida) is what helps make this Wisconsin class at the top feel one-of-a-kind, because Moreau is a similar caliber athlete as Kuglitsch – which is to say they have some of the best size and athleticism in the nation. Moreau has a little more physicality to his 6-foot-3 stature, with broad shoulders and a build that would support more muscle and strength. And he, too, is a true two-way player as it stands. It’s an athletic right-handed swing and he moves around the middle of the infield especially well. On the mound, he more often sits in the upper-80s with a wipeout slider, though we’ve seen it up to 91 mph this spring already.

Our top left-handed pitcher in the state is Colton Semmelmann (Brookfield Central; South Carolina), and we could see him climbing up this list still yet, especially as he continues to throw more and more strikes and compete in the zone with his impressive pitch mix. At our February event in Waukesha, Semmelmann showed a low-90s fastball that has an advanced shape, with carry/run traits from a lower release height. He’s getting it done this spring too, and we saw him 88-91 mph just a couple weekends back with his signature curveball, 75-76 mph, and a swing-and-miss changeup.

We’re also huge fans of SS Chance Ruby (Wilmot Union; UIC), who’s yet another special athlete in the state with 6.56 speed and just a knack for the game. He doesn’t swing and miss often from the right side and he has compact strength that helps him lift balls over the fence too – he just slugged a walk-off homer for his high school earlier this week. Ruby is one of the top performers in the state, and he starred for Wilmot as an underclassman and he’s doing it all for them again in 2025.

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STILL UNCOMMITTED

INF Winston Alonso (Reedsburg Area), OF Ezra Liggon (Madison Memorial), C Maddux Lessard (Muskego), RHP Tyson Grulkowski (Muskego), OF Matthew O’Grady (Badger), and 3B Caleb Liggon (Madison Memorial) are each ranked inside the top-15, and they’re all uncommitted. These are some of the best uncommitted talents in the entire region, in our minds.

• Alonso really hits from the left side and has started to impact the baseball on a more consistent basis, starting last summer. Paired with natural actions and steady hands that work at a number of positions across the diamond.
• Liggon is a left-handed hitter, one of the top athletes in the state and plays a premium position. This spring Liggon has been able to string together strong performances at the plate, taking a natural path to the baseball and making more contact and impacting the baseball on a more consistent basis early on.
• Lessard is the top catcher in the class with the chance to be an impact defender at the next level with middle-of-the-order upside at the plate. He’s one of the youngest players in the class after reclassifying up from the 2027 class late last fall.
• Grulkowski continues to elevate himself among the arms in the class. An athlete on the mound with a loose and funky delivery to pair with a unique release for someone standing at 6-foot-5. Feel for his entire arsenal, to pair with in game touch and feel, two fastballs both sitting in the upper-80s with a heavy sinker and two secondaries that he regularly goes to. A sweeping slider in the mid-70s, a pitch that has a history of getting hitters to whiff, and a heavy change up in the low-80s. Also one of the strongest right-handed hitters in the state with a feel to hit.

• O’Grady has been one of the best hitters in the WIAA this spring so far, slashing .564/.600/1.000 in 55 at-bats with six homers and six doubles as well as 10 stolen bases, all while profiling as a center fielder. He’s a 6.60 runner with big strength in his right-handed bat (101.9 mph max EV) and he’s built at a brawny 5-foot-11, 194 pounds. O’Grady is also a standout in football, which matches the physicality he brings to the plate.

• Liggon, like O’Grady, has been one of the top right-handed hitters in the WIAA this season and he also has multi-sport talents. He’s a 6-foot-4, 185-pound right-handed hitter with bat-to-ball skills that he’s starting to unlock to offer more and more power potential that’s showing up in game. He can handle the hot corner defensively and we anticipate him getting an even better glove as he continues to increase his reps at the position over the years as he splits his time between baseball and basketball.

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RISING PROSPECTS

This next set of prospects consists of players who made the most of their winter workouts and really impressed our staff at a Preseason ID event and/or the spring season so far, like INF/RHP Jace Mataczynski (Hudson), 3B Trey Kerhoff (Burlington; Illinois-Chicago), RHP Vince Bitter (Brookfield Central; Illinois State), and RHP Tanner Effertz (Whitnall), who have each entered the top-20 in the state for the first time.

• Mataczynski has been an arrow-up name for our staff for sometime now, and it’s all beginning to come together. He’s a 6-foot-3, 182-pound athlete with a two-way profile right now. It’s ticking up in the field and at the plate, and he only just started pitching recently. He moves really well up the middle of the infield for his size, with massive arm strength across (97 mph); Mataczynski’s an athlete who plays with a ton of energy in-game too. On the mound, the right-hander has some of the best natural arm talent in the state, running his fastball up to 93 mph in a bullpen setting this winter and flashed feel for two secondaries. He moved up to No. 14 in the state this update.

• Schmidt stays at No. 17 in this update but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. The uncommitted right-hander is a long-limbed, physical right-hander with an arsenal that has swing-and-miss upside with each pitch. Listed at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, the big righty was up to 91 mph at the Eau Claire ID, featuring a heavy sinker at 88, with late boring and sinking action to the arm side of the plate that will be very effective against right-handed batters. The upper-70s slider also has hard, late sweep that complements the fastball shape and sinker. Schmidt is especially interesting as a prospect for his stature, which has obvious room to mold mass and strength and should naturally translate to velo gains in the near future. He’s been dominating his starts this spring for Somerset which should help increase the chances that he’s a starter at the next level.

• Kerkhoff is an athletic and strong R/R middle infielder standing at 6-foot-1, 193 pounds. At the plate, Kerkhoff has consistently hit in front of our staff while being on the barrel and driving the ball in the air frequently. Defensively Kerkhoff is a steady defender capable of playing multiple spots across the infield with enough arm strength to stick on the left-side of the infield moving forward.
• Bitter moves up a few spots to No. 19 after a strong showing at the West Milwaukee Preseason ID. The strong right-hander showed improved secondaries throughout the ‘pen in late February, both the slider and changeup showing S/M potential with feel to locate. The changeup stands out, averaging -3.2” of IVB while sitting in the upper-70s, metrically looking like a weapon against both handed batters while complimenting the fastball and breaking ball.
• Effertz is one prospect on this list with a wide range of outcomes, and there’s a future in which he’s even the top right-hander in the class. He’s a real quarterback prospect too, standing at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, and it shows in a certain level of rawness on the mound. With that being said, he’s been making huge strides over the last year to date. At the South MKE ID in March, Effertz sat 91-92 mph in his ‘pen on a fastball that is simply elite metrically. It leaves a 6.4 release height while spinning at an average of 2,359 rpm at 99 percent efficiency, generating 19.9 inches of IVB on average. That is an out-pitch on its own. He also has the ingredients of one of the class’ best breaking balls, a 78-80 mph curve with depth and bite that also spins in at 2,600-plus rpm.

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VIEW THE WISCONSIN 2026 RANKINGS HERE

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