The San Diego Padres enter the 2026 MLB Draft in a position to add prospects who can become impact players down the line. For a team aiming to develop homegrown talent who can be headline talent to extend a contending window, nailing the draft is important. 

San Diego has picked in the high-teens and mid-to-late 20s since the turn of the decade, and the team has prioritized taking who they consider to be the best player available.

Jackson Merrill, Kash Mayfield, and others exemplify this approach. In the past two drafts, San Diego has taken high-upside left-handed high school pitchers with all three of their first and second-round picks. Though there is risk to repeating this strategy, there is a left-handed high school pitcher who possesses otherworldly velocity and falls within what the Padres have looked for in recent drafts. 

If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not have seen the name Brody Bumila pop up on your timeline. As a matter of fact, he was mentioned on an episode of the Padres EVT Podcast, but more importantly, he is one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in the 2026 Draft class. Coming out of Bishop Feehan High School in Massachusetts, Bumila is an absolute unit of a human, standing at 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds. The left-hander is in the midst of a stellar senior campaign, as he struck out 69 batters in 27 innings as of May 9. The strikeout numbers are astonishing, but when we dive into the arsenal, it begins to make sense why. 

Brody Bumila, Bishop Feehan (MA) dominated St. John’s Shrewsbury today, striking out nine across four perfect innings.

The 2026 eligible lefty sat 95-97 mph T99 w/ FB spin rates at 2700-2800 rpm, mixed slider (82-86 – 2600 rpm) and changeup. pic.twitter.com/mSyiJcHHaK

— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) April 17, 2026

The Arsenal

Bumila’s upside is highly linked to his elite velocity. Throughout the spring, the left-hander was consistently hitting 98-100 mph on his fastball. Bumila’s four-seamer has topped out at 101 mph, which is impressive for an arm at his age. The left-hander also generates elite extension and a low release height, which has been described by some scouts as an outlier pairing.

His height and extension allow the fastball to possess plus spin capacity, which has given the offering between 19-20 inches of induced vertical break. Simply put, the pitch comes out low and possesses late rising action, allowing it to sneak past batters at the top of the zone. Bumila’s fastball has drawn some rather high praise from evaluators and publications, with some giving the fastball the ever-so-rare 80-grade. 

The southpaw complements his electric heater with a fairly standard mix of secondaries for a high school left-hander. Bumila’s main secondary is a slider in the 84-89 mph range. The slider has shown a somewhat inconsistent shape, as at times it falls into the sweeper category. When at its best, the slider has a tighter movement profile and higher velocity (88-89 mph). Bumila has been able to break out the slider throughout his season. His feel for the pitch is still developing, mostly due to the overpowering nature of the fastball.

Bumila’s changeup grades out around average, but the pitch has flashed potential to be at least a 55-grade offering. Bumila’s changeup does not depend on a change in his arm speed to sell, as he keeps the arm speed the same, giving the pitch a late armside fade. The changeup has clocked in at 88-91 mph, and has (in a small sample size) been a strikeout pitch for the left-hander. As if he needed any more wrinkles to his game, Bumila also flashed a 93-mph cutter in his April 23 start. 

Brody Bumila dominated again today in Taunton against one of the top teams in the state. Went five perfect innings, struck out 12, 21 total whiffs. He’s up to 39 Ks to 0 Bbs over 15 hitless frames this spring.

Sat 95-98 mph T99 on FB, mixed a few CT at 93 mph, flashed CHG & CB. pic.twitter.com/sJX2nmO32e

— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) April 23, 2026

The Potential

With the left-hander’s elite stuff and his large frame, Bumila has risen steadily up draft boards this season. The left-hander currently ranks as the No. 14 prospect on Over-Slot Baseball’s big board, and MLB Pipeline ranks him at No. 22 on their Top Draft Prospects. The left-hander is also ranked as the No. 1 high school prospect in the state of Massachusetts.

The upside with Bumila is one of the highest in the draft, as the advanced nature of his game for a 17-year old pegs him as a pro-ready player. MLB Pipeline cites him as a player who has a strong understanding of pitch metrics and data and is analytically inclined. With him already having a three-pitch mix, refinement of how he uses his stuff will definitely be next on the docket for any team taking him. His command does have room to grow, as he still falls into the “control over command” realm. Bumila has not issued many walks in his senior season, simply due to the dominant nature of his fastball in the Massachusetts high school scene. 

20-strikeout‼️ no-hitter and up to 100 mph from 6-foot-9 Brody Bumila.

2026 high school LHP was overpowering tonight for Bishop Feehan in Massachusetts. Heavy fastball attack and mixed in a quality changeup.

Baseball America projected first-round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. pic.twitter.com/Y5NDvqS4xQ

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) May 9, 2026

Since he has not relied on his secondary offerings as much as his fastball, the usage of those pitches at the professional level will be something he works on with coaches. Early on in the season, the left-hander had short outings where he would throw exclusively fastballs (with one or two secondaries mixed in). Developing the feel for the breaking pitches and the changeup is definitely an area of growth for the left-hander. Due to his ability to repeat his mechanics, Bumila is somewhat farther ahead of where pitchers of comparable age and size would be. Building out his repertoire will be another element that will be worth following in his development.

His fastball is elite, but rounding out the arsenal’s depth will allow him to be viable as a starter long term. In the first round, teams do not take high school pitchers with the goal of them becoming relievers. If Bumila can develop his slider and changeup into strong offerings against professional hitters, he has some long-term viability as a starter. If the slider differentiation he has shown as an amateur can be harnessed for two separate breaking pitches, that long-term potential gets cranked up a notch. 

2026 LHP Brody Bumila (Bishop Feehan HS, MA) // @TexasBaseball commit

Another look at the #1 player in Massachusetts. The lefty sits at 6’9 and comes from a low 3/4 slot. Overpowering FB and mixes in the offspeed. Draft stock is rising quickly

FB: 94-97 T100⛽️
SL: 80-81
CH:… pic.twitter.com/J1GhrT7mfl

— Prep Baseball New England (@PBNewEngland) May 9, 2026

The Potential Risk

There is an element of Bumila’s profile that has not yet been mentioned. The left-hander’s workload was monitored closely by his coaching staff in 2026 as he was less than a year removed from an internal brace procedure. Bumila underwent the procedure in May 2025, as he suffered a UCL sprain in 2025. This forced the left-hander to miss the 2025 summer travel ball season.

While his 2026 spring season was the stuff of legend, it was the only time that scouts and evaluators had seen this version of the left-hander. His track record, therefore, is rather limited. This has turned some professional evaluators off from him as a first-round pick, especially when paired with the perceived lack of development of his breaking ball. Could this be a result of coming back from the UCL procedure? Only Bumila and his inner circle hold the answers there. 

Bumila also has a collegiate commitment that may scare some teams away. The 6-foot-9 left-hander is committed to Texas and has repeatedly sung the praises of the Longhorns’ baseball program. His belief in the program is not to be understated, as Texas has produced 21 draftees in the past four drafts. Current Longhorn Rujer Riojas projects as a top 60 pick in the 2026 draft, and the team has shown rather strong pitching development in the past five years.

If the Padres (or any team for that matter) is unable to meet his signing bonus demands, there is a chance the left-hander forgoes the draft and follows through on his commitment to Texas. While this scenario is rare for first-round high-school arms, it has indeed happened, as it did in the case of Brady Aiken and the Astros in 2014, as well as with Carter Stewart Jr and the Braves in 2018 (albeit with each case having specific circumstances). 

Brody Bumila is drawing HEAVY scouting attention.

But one question stands out ⬇️

Are teams targeting him with their first pick or their next? pic.twitter.com/77yW4uLMLE

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) May 16, 2026

The Team-to-Player Fit

The Padres organization has seen an overhaul in their pitching development since the turn of the decade, with more and more Padres minor league arms throwing the high-iVB fastball as opposed to a dead-zone fastball (fairly equal amounts of horizontal and induced vertical break). Bumila would be the kind of arm to fall in line with the high-iVB category.

If San Diego can take Bumila with the 21st overall pick, he is the kind of arm they would not rush. Much like with Kruz Schoolcraft, Bumila is the kind of arm who will take time to develop, but has incredibly high upside if all goes right. San Diego is also known to trade prospects with projectable physical traits, which, while true, is not what is at the forefront of a team’s mind when selecting in the first-year player draft. Bumila is the sort of arm who can develop over time, while the team’s older crop of prospects like Carson Montgomery, Eric Yost, and Miguel Mendez approach the MLB level. 

The Final Assessment

Brody Bumila has some of the flashiest potential in the entire 2026 MLB draft class, and his profile is the kind that screams “A.J. Preller and Co. Draft Pick”. Immense physical traits, a blistering high-90s fastball, and questions surrounding the breaking ball remain talking points surrounding the left-hander.

Bumila has been ranked as high as a top-15 pick, albeit with the risk of falling out of the first round. If the left-hander remains on the board at No. 21, don’t be surprised if the Padres select the two-sport athlete in the first round.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.