Jackson Flora - UCSB Gauchos
The sophomore right-hander dazzled again last night as his fastball hit 102 mph.
In last night's 7-5 victory for the Gauchos over the San Diego State Aztecs, sophomore right-hander Jackson Flora continued his hot start to the season, throwing six shutout innings while allowing just two hits and two walks. Flora’s stellar outing followed a dominant season debut against the Campbell Camels last week, where he completed five shutout innings, surrendering only three hits, one hit batter, and striking out six.
Standing at 6'5" and weighing 205 pounds, Flora possesses the prototypical build for a pitcher. He relies on a pitch mix that includes a fastball in the upper-90s that registered at over 100 mph on occasion according to the stadium scoreboard last night. In addition to his fastball, Flora has a slider that he manipulates well into a mid-80s cutter or a low-80s sweeper with a ton of glove side bite and occasionally will flash a changeup in the upper-80s.
With Jackson Flora emerging as a dominant force on the mound this season and Tyler Bremner ranked as MLB.com’s 4th overall draft prospect, the Gauchos have forged what could be the most formidable 1-2 punch in all of college baseball. If Flora maintains this level of performance throughout the rest of this season and next, he’s poised to become one of the top names called in the 2026 MLB Draft.