MORGANTOWN — Steve Sabins will be watching this weekend’s MLB Amateur Draft with both anticipation and with his fingers crossed.
The draft begins at 1 p.m. Saturday and will run through the first four rounds (135 picks), while rounds 5-20 will be on Sunday.
After guiding the Mountaineers to the national semifinals of the College World Series last month, Sabins is fully expecting to celebrate a portion of his roster getting selected and moving on to a professional career.
At the same time, Sabins is also wondering how much of his prized incoming freshman class will get drafted and potentially sign professionally without making a stop in college. The same holds true for some of the players WVU has signed through the transfer portal who are also eligible for the draft.
And then there are other WVU players currently on the roster who may hear their names called in the later rounds of the draft, but still have the option of returning to college to possibly improve their draft status in 2027.
If that sounds like a ton of potential directions WVU’s roster could go for the 2027 season then welcome to Sabins’ world.
“We can have a four to five person swing in either direction on the draft,” Sabins said. “A lot will ride on it. Many of our portal commits and high school players have serious draft interest.”
Who is expected to take the next step? Who could possibly come back for another season? How many newcomers will wind up taking the field for WVU next season?
The following is our projections, as well as the names you need to know concerning the Mountaineers for the draft:
First to go
It’s quite likely the first players with ties to WVU selected in the draft have yet to play a single game for the Mountaineers.
Henkel Acevedo, an outfielder at P27 Academy (South Carolina), first baseman Jordan Burwell (Seton Hall, N.J., Preparatory) and right-handed pitcher Kyle Casteel (Butler, Pa.) are all projected to fall in the first five rounds.
Acevedo, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 217 pounds, is widely considered one of the top high school outfielders by draft analysts and could go as early as the second round.
Burwell batted .488 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs at Seton Hall Prep this season, while Casteel and Blake Krushinski (Pine Richlands, Pittsburgh) are two highly-recruited pitchers out of Pennsylvania who may have difficult decisions to make.
WVU hasn’t had a high school signee bypass college and go professional since Griffin Burkholder in 2024. It’s possible WVU could have four this season.
Sabins’ take: “Most of them should choose to come to WVU and increase their draft stock long term,” he said. “That would be the intelligent decision.”
Moving on
In this category we offer up WVU pitchers Maxx Yehl and Dawson Montesa, who are both projected as fourth- or fifth-round selections.
Yehl was the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after going 9-3 with a 2.13 ERA. According to ESPN, he is projected as the 161st top prospect.
Montesa, meanwhile, put on an impressive display during the NCAA tournament with victories over Wake Forest and Troy. He finished 6-5 on the season with a 5.38 ERA. ESPN ranks Montesa as the 148th top prospect.
Both players have the option of returning to WVU, but if they are drafted where they are projected, it’s likely they’ve thrown their final pitch for the Mountaineers.
Portal guys
The most interesting name to keep an eye on here just might be Le Moyne outfielder transfer Jack Cannon (6-3, 215), who put together one heck of a junior season with the Dolphins.
The Webster, N.Y. native batted .440 with 10 home runs and 64 RBIs this season and was also one of the nation’s top base stealers with 51 in 48 games played.
He is projected as a middle-to low-round pick.
Sabins’ take: “Unless they are a high-end prospect – top three rounds – most or all should choose school.”
Interesting options
Of all of WVU’s draft prospects, WVU utility man Armani Guzman just may have the most difficult decision ahead of him.
Guzman batted .321 and drove in 45 runs this past season. He also set the school record for most stolen bases in a season with 42. He stole 12 bases during the NCAA tournament, including a straight steal of home against Troy in the College World Series opener.
Guzman has also shown the ability to play just about everywhere on the diamond. At WVU, he appeared in center field, right field, third base and first base and was recruited as a shortstop coming out of high school.
Guzman is ranked as the 366th top prospect, which would put him somewhere in the 12th round.
His decision may be to go pro if he is offered enough of a signing bonus or he could elect to return to WVU.
The interesting part here is normally seniors – Guzman would be a senior next season – lose their leverage with MLB teams when it comes to negotiating a signing bonus, because they can’t go back to college. It’s been a take-it-or-leave-it situation historically.
But, the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved the “5 for 5” eligibility rule, meaning Guzman could technically still have two years of college eligibility remaining. If he were to return to WVU next season to improve his draft stock, he wouldn’t necessarily lose his negotiating leverage.
WVU third baseman Tyrus Hall (.278, 7 HR, 38 RBIs) also falls into the same category, except Hall is projected as a late-round pick and it’s possible he isn’t drafted at all.
He could still sign with a pro team as an undrafted free agent, which is the same route former standout Sam White took in 2025, but Hall would also have the option of returning to WVU for his senior year with a fifth year of eligibility remaining after that.
Sabins said he’s already had many draft conversations with his eligible players, talking to them about different scenarios and options.
“The draft can be emotional,” he said. “We want to make sure kids are properly informed on professional baseball.”
