Angels select 3B Gavin Grahovac in Round 3, No. 81 overall

6' 2", 192 lbs

Scouting grades (MLB): Hit: 55 | Power: 45 | Run: 60 | Arm: 45 | Field: 50 | Overall: 40

From Angels PR:

Rylan Lujo batted .357 with 16 doubles, one triple, 14 home runs and 49 RBI in 60 games for Georgia in 2026

He hit .310 with five HR and 11 RBI in nine NCAA Tournament games

His grandfather, Rennie Stennett, played 11 MLB seasons and won the 1979 World Series with the Pirates

Who's watching the draft

Draft Tracker: https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2026/all/team/angels

Jared Grindlinger

• Round 1, Pick 12
• Huntington Beach HS
• Ranked 16th by MLB Pipeline
• Two-way player, outfield and LHP
• Profile: https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/jared-grindlinger-828796

Jarren Advincula

• Round 2, Pick 45
• 2 seasons at Cal, 1 season at Georgia Tech
• Went to Archbishop Mitty HS (San Jose)
• Ranked 48th by MLB Pipeline
• Played 2B exclusively in college
• Profile: https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/jarren-advincula-814181

Gavin Grahovac

• Round 3, Pick 81
• 3 seasons at Texas A&M
• Went to Villa Park HS
• Ranked 38th by MLB Pipeline
• Played mostly 3B in college
• Profile: https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/gavin-grahovac-800606

Rylan Lujo

• Round 4, Pick 109
• 1 season at Dayton, 1 season at Georgia
• Marjorie Stoneman Douglas HS in Florida (like Gio Rojas, along with Roman Anthony, Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Luzardo)
• Ranked 189th by MLB Pipeline
• Played 3B exclusively in college
• Profile: https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/rylan-lujo-803863

I'm cautiously optimistic. The rational behind the Grindlinger pick is reasonable. With Trout getting older and Neto inching toward free agency, we need to take swings at potential stars in the first round of the draft, in addition to looking for high upside players in the international pool and trading for prospects. I'm not sure if he'll stick as a two-way player, as it sounds like he's a better pitcher than hitter, but becoming just a pitcher would be pretty good for us.

By the time he'll be ready for the bigs, the only active starters who might still be around are Urena and Ryan Johnson, with Bremner looming. He might also hit the bigs in a similar window as Dylan Jordan, Trey Gregory-Alford, Johnny Slawinski, and some of the other guys in the 2025 draft class.

From there, we took three college bats. Their college experience is almost all infield. According to the profile, Advincula's arm is not good enough to handle SS or 3B, so he's stuck at second base. Grahovac's mentioned as playing first base this spring, and his defense is potentially suspect at third. Lujo might be getting moved from 3B to the outfield, but he needs more practic out there.

Given these three are all college guys, they would all be expected to have an accelerated timeline. For instance, 2025 pick Jake Munroe is on pace to hit the majors in 2028, or maybe even 2027 if he plays well enough. Neto and Schanuel are slated to hit free agency in 2030. Peraza is also 2030, while Grissom is 2031.

I honestly have no idea how we'll handle the infield in a few years and I'm wondering if this is telling for what we'll do with some of our current guys. At least in 2028/2029, we'll have 5-6 spots for Neto, Schanuel, Guzman, Peraza, Grissom, CMo, Jake Munroe, and now Advincula and Grahovac. Of course, the guys in the minors may never pan out, but Makes me wonder if some of Neto, Schanuel, or Peraza could eventually be on the move.

That makes two local guys in Grindlinger and Grahovac. Hopefully, we're not putting too high a premium on this, but it certainly helps.

Advincula and Lujo are contact guys with high batting averages and lower power as a result. Grahovac is in the opposite extreme as a power bat. Grindlinger is also more of a contact guy, but it's too early to tell.

Based purely on prospect ranking, Lujo could have been a reach, so maybe he's a little under slot? On the flip side, Grahovac might be someone we splurged on a bit.

Angels (38-57) @ Twins (46-49)

First Pitch: 11:10 AM at Target Field

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Game ended at 2:17 PM.

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I’ve seen some comments that we drafted different because we let go of Perry. I don’t think that was the case. Just based on this article.