Virginia star Eric Becker is another potential high end shortstop in the 2026 MLB Draft.
With the Atlanta Braves draft position being settled in as of last week, it is now time to start taking a look at some of the potential targets for the team in the 2026 MLB Draft. This series will take a look at 10 players who will have some chance to be available for the team with the ninth pick. We will be skipping over the four guys who as of right now have no shot at falling that far, the top three shortstops (Roch Cholowsky, Grady Emerson, Justin Lebron) and the top pitcher (Liam Peterson).
We will continue our series with a third shortstop in Eric Becker, following Jacob Lombard and Tyler Spangler at the position. This group of players is based on how things look ahead of the spring, as players could see their stock or even game change significantly over the next eight months.
Eric Becker is the starting shortstop for the University of Virginia, and he is also known as the older brother of 2025 Mariners second round shortstop selection Nick Becker. He’s a 6’3’, 190-pound prospect who hits lefty and throws right. As a freshman in 2023 he hit .362/.468/.669 with eight homers among his 20 extra base hits and 17 walks to 30 strikeouts over 159 plate appearances. As a sophomore in 2025 he also posted an OPS over 1.000, slashing .368/.453/.617 with nine homers among his 31 extra base hits, and 21 walks to 41 strikeouts over 236 plate appearances. Combined he has stolen nine bases in 14 attempts between the two years, going four for five as a freshman before going five for nine this past year.
Eric is seen as the better prospect than his younger brother with a little more pop in his bat, and potentially more to come in the future – though his excellent feel for hitting and swing mechanics lead to a potential plus hit tool grade for him, making that his carrying tool. Becker is more of a fringy power guy with plenty of extra base power in there due to the amount of hard contact he makes, though there are some scouts who can see him getting a little more power in the future with some changes to his swing as he continues to get stronger.
The rest of his toolset is all average, which is the run, field, and arm tools. That leads to some believing that he could potentially have to move to second or third base in the future as he doesn’t quite have the elite range or elite arm for short, as much as he is just a steady, solid performer there.
Becker will get drafted as a shortstop, but whether he ends up there or not he is a guy with an advanced hit tool that has a chance to develop average power as well, and should end up playing somewhere in the infield. If the power doesn’t develop he has a chance to be an excellent offensive second baseman if that is where he needs to move, but if the power does slightly increase he has a chance to be a strong performer as a third baseman as well.
Category: General Sports
