UCLA Bruins infielder Roch Cholowsky may be college baseball’s best player entering the 2026 season.
He improved upon an elite freshman season in 2024 with an even better sophomore season.
In 2025, Cholowsky had a .353 batting average, a .480 on-base percentage, 19 doubles, 23 home runs, and 74 RBI.
The Bruins’ infielder also nearly had 90 hits last season and scored 80 runs. He was top ten in the country in runs this past season.
Cholowsky helped lead UCLA to a 48-18 record and a 22-8 record in conference play. In their first season in the Big Ten conference, they brought home a share of the conference regular season title along with the Oregon Ducks.
UCLA also made it to the 2025 College World Series. It was the Bruins’ sixth appearance in the College World Series in their program’s history.
The great sophomore season Cholowsky had in 2025 brought him some individual recognition.
He was nominated as the 2025 Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Rawlings, D1Baseball, Perfect Game, and Baseball America.
Those same media outlets also named the UCLA star a first-team All-American.
Cholowsky was also the Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while being first-team All-Big Ten and a Rawlings Gold Glove winner.
Cholowsky won the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award, which is given to the best shortstop in college baseball.
As a freshman All-American in 2024 and a near-unanimous first-team All-American in 2025, Cholowsky is set for an astronomically good season in 2026.
He showed improvement in his game from his freshman to sophomore season. This has set him up to be possibly the best player in college baseball this upcoming season. Thus, he is in a position to take home the Golden Spikes award.
In 2025, Cholowsky was also one of 25 players to be a Golden Spikes semi-finalist. This means he already has notoriety for the award from last season.
Cholowsky is also getting some high praise ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft this upcoming summer.
According to MLB Pipeline’s Way-Too-Early Mock Draft from September, Cholowsky is slotted in as the number one overall pick.
Due to this projection, MLB Pipeline also has him ranked as the number one overall college draft prospect.
Cholowsky and the UCLA Bruins will begin the 2026 college baseball season with a weekend series from February 13-15.
That weekend, the Bruins will host the UC San Diego Tritons at home in Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The game between UCLA and UC San Diego on February 13 will be at 8 p.m. EST. The first pitch for the game on February 14 will be at 5 p.m. EST. The final game of the series on February 15 will be at 4 p.m. EST.
NCAA News: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
PHOTO: UCLA infielder Roch Cholowsky (1) during an NCAA College World Series baseball game on Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Cory Eads)
