Washington Huskies OF is among college baseball's fastest-rising stars

The Washington Huskies have one of college baseball's brightest stars on their hands in left fielder Jackson Hotchkiss.

Even after missing the first ten games of the year while recovering from an abdominal injury, he put together a stellar season, leading the Huskies with his .339 batting average, 1.137 OPS, 63 hits, 20 home runs, 47 runs batted in, 47 runs scored, and 134 total bases. Those 20 long balls tied him for No. 2 in the Big Ten, only behind the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft, UCLA's Roch Cholowsky, and also made him the third player in Husky history to blast 20 homers.

The Huskies went 1-9 in his absence to open the year, and it was clear that he provided a massive impact immediately.

"It was devastating for our offense (when he was out injured)," coach Eddie Smith told UW Athletics' Mark Moschetti. "When he returned, our offense was incredible overnight. In my career, I don't remember a single player having that sort of impact."

UW centerfielder Jackson Hotchkiss might be the best hitter in the country nobody is talking about. That's 17 homers playing up the middle of the field.

Hitting .362 on the year. Going to be a big name in the 2027 Draft. pic.twitter.com/i4XOBzVjOE— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) May 7, 2026

That impact came partially thanks to a large increase in strength to bulk up his 190 pound frame.

"The biggest thing holding me back was just being a skinny freshman," Hotchkiss said. "I needed to gain that weight to go from flyouts to homers. That was the biggest thing for me was that I took the summer off (from playing) to weight lift…It helped a lot."

When he got back to campus, it stood out immediately.

Just the third Husky in history to reach 20 homers in a season.

Hear from Hotchkiss after his big night against Michigan! pic.twitter.com/Tqm2a3JeUd— Washington Baseball (@UW_Baseball) May 21, 2026

"Every player says he's going to work out hard, but Jackson is different," Smith added. "This strength rampage he went on was pretty remarkable. He came out this past fall and hitting the ball 115 miles an hour off the bat. What he was doing in the fall was totally different than a year ago. Then he had an incredible January (in preseason workouts) and I thought, 'Wow, this is a superstar in the making.'"

Even as his head coach sings his praises, Hotchkiss has kept his head down and has big plans to keep improving ahead of his third year after blowing past his goal of hitting 10 home runs during his sophomore campaign.

"You just take one at a time," he said. "You don't ever see too far into the future, and this definitely wasn't something that I was expecting. But it's happening, and I'm just going with it and kind of keep doing my thing, and it's working fine for me."

However, after watching Aiva Arquette depart for Oregon State ahead of his junior season, where he became a top ten pick in the 2025 MLB draft, Smith will have to focus on keeping Hotchkiss on Montlake for one more year.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies OF among college baseball's brightest stars