By VDC staff
A hard-throwing pitcher from the Windsor County town of Chester has a chance to become the highest drafted major league baseball player in Vermont history.
The 2026 MLB Draft will be held July 11-12, in Philadelphia, as part of the MLB All-Star game activities.
Kaiden McCarthy, who graduated a year early from Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, is one of the top high school prospects in the 2026 MLB Draft class. He is featured in Season 2 of The Prospect, a three-episode original docuseries from GameChanger and MLB Network.
Episode 1 is now available on GameChanger’s YouTube channel.
McCarthy, who attends Vermont Academy and is committed to Tennessee, is ranked No. 78 overall by MLB Pipeline. He is one of the top high school prospects from outside the sport’s traditional hotbeds in the South and West.
Before McCarthy, at least three Vermonters have been selected in the top five rounds of the MLB Draft – Owen Kellington of U-32, who went in the fourth round in 2021; Dale Halvorsen, Essex High School, was drafted in the fifth round by the Montreal Expos in 1975; and Scott Morse of Saxtons River was drafted in the fifth round in 1986 by the Texas Rangers.