PHILADELPHIA — UC Santa Barbara Baseball's pathway to the pros continued as the 2026 Major League Baseball Draft concluded on Sunday, with five Gauchos hearing their names called. Cole Tryba and Corey Nunez were both selected by the Chicago Cubs, Calvin Proskey by the Cincinnati Reds, Nathan Aceves by the Athletics and AJ Krodel by the New York Mets. Those five draftees bring UC Santa Barbara's total up to 76 MLB Draft Picks under head coach Andrew Checketts.  
 
The Cubs picked the first of their Gauchos in the seventh round, using the 217^th overall pick on Santa Barbara's electric reliever. Tryba was Santa Barbara's go-to guy for ending games in both 2025 and 2026, racking up a team-high six saves as a sophomore before becoming more of an elite, Swiss Army knife reliever as a junior. Despite not starting his 2026 campaign until mid-March, the lefty finished with the second-most relief innings on the team, with a team-high four saves and bullpen-best 57 strikeouts. He provided signature outings against Oregon and No. 1 UCLA, earning the win over the Ducks with 4 1/3 perfect innings and the save against the Bruins with five strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings of relief. Tryba is the seventh Gaucho drafted by the Cubs, the last being Ryan Gallagher and Ivan Brethowr in 2024.
 
Like in 2024, the Cubs picked up a second Gaucho in the same draft, taking Nunez in the 14^th round, 427^th overall. A veteran piece of Santa Barbara's infield, the senior Nunez enjoyed a career-best season at the plate in 2026, bringing his bat in line with his excellent defense at shortstop. His entire triple slash — .280 batting average, .361 on-base percentage and .393 slugging percentage — were career highs in their respective categories. He recorded a hit in all four of the Gauchos' NCAA Tournament games and made the final out of Jackson Flora's dramatic complete game shutout of UC Riverside on May 14.
 
In the 11^th round, Proskey went to one of Tryba and Nunez's new National League Central rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, with the 332^nd overall pick. Proskey is another Gaucho arm who had to wait to get his season started, but once he got going, he could not be stopped. His first two games back were against No. 14 USC and No. 1 UCLA, both of which the Gauchos won and both of which Proskey kicked off with scoreless starts. Across a career 108 1/3 innings in Santa Barbara's Blue and Gold, Proskey racked up a clean 100 strikeouts, while pitching to an ERA of 3.74. He becomes the 12^th Gaucho drafted by Cincinnati, joining the likes of 2019 Big West Player of the Year Eric Yang and 2016 College World Series pitcher Noah Davis (drafted in 2018.)
 
One round later, two more Gaucho arms came off the board, starting with the standout sophomore, Aceves. Draft-eligible by virtue of turning 21 four days ago, Aceves is now headed towards the desert after being selected 351^st overall by the Athletics. He is the seventh Gaucho drafted by the franchise that is on its way to Las Vegas by way of Sacramento, and the first since Brett Vertigan in 2012. After earning Freshman All-America honors in 2025, Aceves roared out of the gate as Santa Barbara's Saturday starter early in 2026, twirling a pair of impressive 5 1/3-inning outings in his first two starts, then hurling 10 strikeouts as part of 6 1/3 one-hit innings against Utah in week three. His stats dipped mid-season, but he provided a clutch outing when the Gauchos needed one in the NCAA Austin Regional, throwing six innings of two-run ball to help Santa Barbara eliminate Tarleton State and reach the regional final.
 
Nine picks later, the New York Mets selected AJ Krodel with the 360^th pick of the draft, making back-to-back years that the Mets have taken a Gaucho arm whose stats do not tell their full story. Last year, Frank Camarillo went to New York in the 13^th round, despite an ERA over 6.00 in 2025. Camarillo has since settled in and improved his ERA to 3.20 with High-A Brooklyn. This year, Krodel's ERA of 5.66 did not stop the Mets from adding him to their farm system. The picks are an endorsement of Santa Barbara's pitching development, that coaches Andrew Checketts and Dylan Jones have equipped Gauchos like Camarillo and Krodel with the tools to become a great pitcher, fundamentals that the Mets will aim to refine and further build on in the minor leagues. And to be clear, when Krodel is on, he is as good as they come. He bridged the 3 1/3 innings between Proskey and Tryba's outings in the shutout of No. 1 UCLA in April, allowing just two hits while striking out four. He was similarly elite against Oregon in March, pitching three shutout innings with just two hits against him and four K's. Those are the outings the Mets will aim for him to deliver day in and day out in Queens.
 
While the MLB Draft has concluded, Gauchos like Chase Hoover and Jonathan Mendez are still able to sign with teams as undrafted free agents. That is the path that LeTrey McCollum took last season, signing with the Los Angeles Angels.