PHILADELPHIA – A total of 14 student-athletes representing the American Conference were selected during the 2026 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft that was held on July 11-12 to kick off MLB All-Star Game festivities in Philadelphia.

Since the 20-round format was instituted for the MLB Draft in 2021, the American has seen 14 or more players selected in single drafts in five of the past six years.

East Carolina pitcher and American Baseball Championship Most Outstanding Player Ethan Norby was the first American player taken in the 2026 MLB Draft, selected as the 19th pick of the fourth round (122nd overall) by the Cincinnati Reds. An ECU representative has now been the first American player chosen in a given MLB Draft four times since 2021.

South Florida, UTSA and Wichita State each closed the weekend with three selections, while East Carolina had two draft picks. UAB, Florida Atlantic and Tulane also had one player selected in the draft.

American Conference Players Chosen in the 2026 MLB Draft

Round	Overall	Player	Pos	School	MLB Team
4	122	Ethan Norby	P	East Carolina	Cincinnati Reds
7	214	Kide Adetuyi	P	Florida Atlantic	Boston Red Sox
8	225	Jayson Jones	3B	Wichita State	Chicago White Sox
9	271	Ryan Pruitt	OF	South Florida	Houston Astros
10	296	Mason Steele	P	UAB	Arizona Diamondbacks
12	373	Gavin Van Kempen	P	East Carolina	Los Angeles Dodgers
14	412	Brady Hamilton	P	Wichita State	Atlanta Braves
14	426	Edwin Alicea	P	South Florida	Detroit Tigers
14	432	Connor Kelley	P	UTSA	Toronto Blue Jays
16	464	Sam Larson	P	Tulane	Colorado Rockies
16	469	Robert Orloski	P	UTSA	Los Angeles Angels
16	493	Ethan Sutton	P	South Florida	Los Angeles Dodgers
18	537	Max Kaufer	C	Wichita State	Texas Rangers
18	549	Lane Haworth	OF	UTSA	Philadelphia Phillies