With Opening Day of the 2026 MLB season set for Thursday, MaxPreps is looking back at where all of the starting pitchers went to high school. California and Florida combine for eight of the 30 projected starters.
Twelve pitchers are making their first Opening Day starts.
Arizona, Colorado and Washington each check in with a pair of starters. In total, 14 states are represented along with Canada, Dominican Republic and Japan.
California — 5
Starting pitcher, MLB team, high schoolTanner Bibee, Guardians,
Mission ViejoMax Fried, Yankees,
Harvard-Westlake (Studio City)Joe Ryan, Twins,
Archie Williams (San Anselmo)Paul Skenes, Pirates,
El Toro (Lake Forest)Logan Webb, Giants,
RocklinFlorida — 3Logan Gilbert, Mariners,
Wekiva (Apopka)Cole Ragans, Royals,
North Florida Christian (Tallahassee)Chris Sale, Braves,
LakelandArizona — 2Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals,
Mountain Ridge (Glendale)Tarik Skubal, Tigers,
Kingman Academy (Kingman)Colorado — 2Kyle Freeland, Rockies,
Thomas Jefferson (Denver)Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays,
Grandview (AuroraWashington — 2Matthew Boyd, Cubs,
Eastside Catholic (Sammamish)Drew Rasmussen, Rays,
Mt. Spokane (Mead)
Massachusetts — 1Shane Smith, White Sox,
Governor's Academy (Byfield)Michigan — 1Hunter Brown, Astros,
Lakeview (Battle Creek)Mississippi — 1Garrett Crochet, Red Sox,
Ocean Springs
Missouri — 1Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers,
Grain ValleyNew Jersey — 1Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks,
Bishop Eustace Prep (Pennsauken)
New Mexico — 1Trevor Rogers, Orioles,
Carlsbad
Oklahoma — 1Cade Cavalli, Nationals,
Bixby
Texas — 1Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers,
Alvin
Virginia — 1 Andrew Abbott, Reds,
Halifax County (South Boston)
Dominician Republic — 5Sandy Alcantara, Marlins
Christopher Sanchez, Phillies
Freddy Peralta, Mets
Luis Severino, Athletics
Jose Soriano, Angels
Canada — 1Nick Pivetta, Padres
Japan — 1Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers