St. Augustine’s Weingartner Made a Great Final Impression Before the MLB Draft

by Marc Narducci | Jul 6, 2026

It’s been quite a baseball season and career for recent St. Augustine graduate Alex Weingartner and now he will sit and wait to possibly see where his future lies.

Weingartner was the New Jersey Gatorade player of the Year after a dominant two-way season that helped the Hermits earn the South Jersey Non-Public A championship.

A right-hander, Weingartner went 6-1 with a 0.87 ERA. He struck out 81 in 48.1 innings. Normally a centerfielder when he didn’t pitch, Weingartner batted .495 with seven doubles, seven home runs and 36 RBIs. Opposing teams often didn’t pitch to him, which is why he drew 21 walks.

Now he could hear his name in the upcoming Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The draft begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday with the first four rounds. Then Sunday it will be rounds 5-20.

In the most recent draft rankings from MLB.com, Weingartner is listed as the country’s 160^th best prospect, which includes both high school and college players.

That actually may be a low ranking for Weingartner.

So many factors go into where a player is drafted, including his signability. For high school players, MLB has to compete with colleges. Weingartner has committed to Penn State, so he is going to have a great option either way – play for the Nittany Lions in the Big 10 or sign with a professional team.

“I am pretty excited,” Weingartner said about the draft in a phone interview. “There is not a lot of stress for me because I trust that I did everything I could and felt I emptied the tank.”

He also made a strong final impressive last month while participating in the MLB Draft Combine at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The combine invited more than 300 of the top high school and college prospects to work out and Weingartner took advantage to show his hitting prowess. He said he only worked out as a hitter and not a pitcher, although the ability to do both at a high level certainly won’t hurt his stock. At the combine, he hit the sixth furthest ball, 442.2 feet. Weingartner said the ball went to left-centerfield.

“It felt good,” he said. “It was the hardest ball I hit also.”

That performance just added to the experience of being at the combine. Simply put, Weingartner had a blast during his time in Phoenix.

“It was a great week out there and definitely a cool experience,” he said. “I had never been to Arizona let alone the Diamondbacks stadium and it was probably my favorite showcase ever.”

This is the second straight year that Weingartner is eagerly anticipating the draft. Last season his brother Ryan, who was a junior shortstop at Penn State (and former St. Augustine standout) was selected in the eighth round by the St. Louis Cardinals. Ryan Weingartner signed with St. Louis and is currently playing for the Palm Beach Cardinals in the Single-A Florida State League.

Now Alex Weingartner is expected to hear his name.

“Leading up to it there is a lot of excitement, but you can’t put the cart before the horse and I have to take things day by day,” he said. “That said, knowing it will be a huge day, I will be excited and it’s been an awesome process.”

Alex Weingartner / Marc Narducci

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Author: Marc Narducci

St. Augustine’s Weingartner Made a Great Final Impression Before the MLB Draft

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