Four UCF Knights baseball players are turning professional this summer following the 2026 MLB Draft.
Three players were selected during the draft's 20 rounds over the weekend, extending UCF's streak of having at least one player selected in every draft since 1992. In addition, another player signed as an undrafted free agent following the draft's conclusion.
Among these four players are all three of the Knights' All-Big 12 Second Team honorees from the 2026 season, plus a pitcher who made headlines around the country after his season was ended due to an injury. So, listed below are all four players of these players, plus an outlook on their professional baseball futures:
Outfielder Andrew Williamson was the only one of the drafted trio to hear his name called on Day 1.
With his selection in Competitive Balance Round B at the 68th overall pick by the St. Louis Cardinals , Williamson is the first Knight to get selected in the Top 100 picks since pitcher Eric Skoglund in 2014 and the highest-selected Knight in the draft overall since pitcher Matt Fox went 35th overall in 2004. Since Competitive Balance Round B is essentially an extension of the second round, he is also the sixth Knight in program history to be selected in the top two rounds of the draft, joining the likes of Fox, Justin Pope, Jason Arnold, Chad Mottola and Joe Wagner.
In addition to his All-Big 12 Second Team honor, Williamson led UCF with 16 home runs, four triples, a .442 on-base percentage and a .645 slugging percentage. His 34 career home runs put him in eighth place on the program's all-time home run list and his .590 career slugging percentage is the fifth-highest in program history.
This is the Cardinals' seventh time selecting a Knight in the draft, with one of them actually being Pope at 28th overall in 2001. However, the last time they did was back in 2011 with Chris Matulis.
Outlook:The Cardinals are fairly thin in the outfield in their Top 30 prospects list on MLB.com, with just four; and that's still counting Ryan Mitchell, who is also listed as a shortstop.
With major-league players like Jose Fermin and Lars Nootbaar now approaching their late 20s, a player like Williamson can provide the franchise another young option to explore at the position.
Pitcher Braden Smith was selected in the 15th round of the draft with the 440th overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles .
Smith's lone season with the Knights ended prematurely after he took a line drive hit to the head against West Virginia, which necessitated coach Rich Wallace and Jack Zyska, UCF's assistant director of player development, to drive him back from Morgantown to Orlando in a rental Chevy Suburban. Before that, the Maryville transfer went 3-1, sported a 6.21 ERA and struck out 23 batters.
Smith is the first Knight to get selected by the Orioles since J.J. Montgomery was selected in the 2018 draft and is the sixth overall to get drafted by the franchise.
Outlook:Smith is not the first instance of a UCF player having a season-ending injury only to go on to get drafted in the following MLB Draft. Back in 2021, Colton Gordon underwent Tommy John surgery, ending his senior season with the Knights, only for the Houston Astros to select him in the eighth round of the draft. Gordon went on to make his MLB debut with the Astros nearly four years later in 2025.
Last month, Wallace said it was "days" before Smith started "getting back to normal rehab," so Smith has the opportunity to continue that in the Orioles organization that has the 12th-highest team ERA and is 23rd in the league in team strikeouts so far this season.
Pitchers can be hard to project since their roles could change over time and with just how many pitchers are in a given organization, but if Smith's rehab goes smoothly and he can continue flashing the talent that got him named Second-Team All-Region by the NCBWA and the D2CCA at Maryville in 2025 then he has a chance to carve out a role for himself and have a chance to make it to The Show.
Outfielder John Smith III was selected in the 19th round of the draft with the 570th overall pick by the New York Mets .
An All-Big 12 Second-Teamer alongside Williamson, Smith was right with his fellow outfielder battling it out for who was the team's best power bat throughout the 2026 season. He actually tied with Williamson for the highest batting average on the team at .322 and led the team with 49 RBIs, just one more than Williamson. He was also the only player aside from Williamson to hit double-digit home runs this past season at 12.
The Mets selecting Smith marks back-to-back years of selecting a Knight who transferred to the school for one season after last year's selection of shortstop Antonio Jimenez in the third round. Smith is the eighth UCF player the franchise has selected in its history, putting it behind only the Los Angeles Angels (11) and the Cincinnati Reds (10) for the most in the MLB.
Outlook:Looking at the Mets' Top 30 prospects list, there are only three pure outfielders among them, with four others counting outfield as one of multiple positions they play.
However, the Mets are fairly young at the outfield position at the highest level with the likes of Carson Beng and A.J Ewing, two players in their early 20s, already getting regular playing time alongside multi-time All-Star Juan Soto . Should all three end up becoming fixtures of the franchise over the long term, it is going to be difficult for Smith to work his way up to the MLB within the organization.
Despite having another season of eligibility he could use, Wicker elected not to return to UCF and instead sign with the Baltimore Orioles as an undrafted free agent, joining fellow Knight Braden Smith in the organization.
Wicker was the only Knight to start in double-digit games in 2026. This helped him lead the team with 62 strikeouts, go 5-3, record a 4.16 ERA and lead the Big 12 in hits allowed per nine innings at 7.02. He earned an All-Big 12 Second Team honor for his efforts.
This is not the first time the Orioles signed an undrafted free agent out of UCF. Following the 2024 season, the organization signed pitcher Ben Vespi after he was not selected in the 2024 MLB draft. He was promoted to the organization's Double-A affiliate back in April, according to MLB.com.
Outlook:Considering Vespi has hung on with the Orioles and has worked his way up to Double-A ball over the last two years, it seems like the organization is taking another chance on an undrafted UCF pitcher.
If Wicker is going to be anything like Vespi, his journey up the organizational ladder is likely to be a slow one, but with the Orioles' pitching struggles (see Braden Smith), a pitcher like him could prove to be a diamond in the rough that, if nothing else, can provide organizational depth on the mound.
Catch up on more UCF news below:
Which UCF Knights Players Will Be Picked in the 2026 MLB Draft?
What Went Wrong for the UCF Knights in Elimination Game Loss Against Auburn
Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 53 LaParka Langston
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/ucf as Three Knights Selected in 2026 MLB Draft .
