We are about two months out from the North Carolina Tar Heels’ heartbreaking loss in the finals at the College World Series. In the weeks since, the 2026 MLB Draft was also held, and a number of UNC players have since begun their professional careers. With some time having passed from that, let’s take a look in on how the Diamond Heels are now fitting into their new homes.
In total, six Tar Heels were selected in the 2026 MLB Draft, all six of them opted to sign and begin their minor league careers.
The first two Heels off the board were both selected by the Boston Red Sox. Shortstop Jake Schaffner went 20th overall and came to terms on a $2 million signing bonus. His first taste of pro ball has come with the High Single-A Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League, where he’s put up a .797 OPS in six games through Monday. Meanwhile, Boston then took Super Regional hero Owen Hull 67th overall and inked him to a $1.2 million bonus. Hull is also in Greenville and has also played in six games, putting up a 1.014 OPS. He’s shown a good eye, drawing five walks in six games, continuing on one of his calling cards from college. More notably, they both rank among the Red Sox top ten prospects according to one outlet that covers that aspect.
The third round saw two Tar Heels picked, the first of which was pitcher Jason DeCaro, who went 80th to the Pirates, signing with them for $1,297,500. As teams sometimes tend to do with pitchers, they’ve taken it slowly with DeCaro, as he hasn’t appeared in a minor league game yet. Fellow UNC rotation member Ryan Lynch went a little bit later to the Padres at the 97th pick, and he also has not taken the mound in a live game yet.
A couple rounds later, catcher Macon Winslow was selected by the Phillies and came to terms with them. In six games so far, he has just three hits, but one of them was a home run and he’s also shown a pretty good eye, drawing three walks. That has his OPS sitting at .754 in that small sample size.
The final UNC player picked this year was reliever Matthew Matthijs, who went in one of the last rounds of the draft, the 17th at 520th overall, going to the Mariners. Like the other pitchers on the list, he hasn’t appeared in a real game as of yet.
Among the undrafted free agents, pitcher Joe Charles has struggled in the Mets’ system so far, while catcher Colin Hynek didn’t record a hit in his first two games with a Cubs’ affiliate.
Other than the fact that all six Tar Heels ended up signing with their teams, there wasn’t a lot substantial to talk about just yet. We’ll be sure to check in on this year’s drafted Tar Heels towards the end of the season as they have a little more time to play in their various organizations. Best of luck to those six, and any other former UNC players around the minor leagues over the rest of the 2026 MiLB season.