SAXTONS RIVER – Vermont Academy graduate and reigning Gatorade Vermont Player of the Year Kaiden McCarthy is predicted to be the highest-drafted high school baseball player in history this coming weekend.
The 6-foot, 190-pound right-handed Chester resident is the nation’s No. 77 overall prospect coming into this weekend’s 2026 Major League Baseball Draft. McCarthy graduated from Vermont Academy this past spring after starring at Green Mountain Union High School. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Tennessee this coming fall, but is projected as an early-round selection in this weekend’s MLB draft. Former U-32 star Owen Kellington was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth-round in 2021. South Burlington’s Mike Rochford is the only Vermont high schooler to make it to the big leagues (1982 Boston Red Sox) in the six decades since the MLB draft was instituted.
McCarthy’s fastball has been clocked at 100 miles per hour in front of major league scouts, and he made his debut for the Vermont Lake Monsters in June.
