Mets add Arkansas RHP Cooper Dossett in 2026 Draft, banking on athletic upside and a record-setting high school arm

The New York Mets have selected right-hander Cooper Dossett with the 17th round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, turning to a college arm from the University of Arkansas as they continue to build depth in their farm system. While a 17th-round pick is rarely expected to arrive immediately at the major league level, Dossett’s profile stands out for its combination of tools and production, traits that can matter in multiple phases of player development.

Dossett’s reputation predates his college career. At Har-Ber High School in Springdale, Arkansas, he was described as a high-profile prospect and, more specifically, as a record-setting performer. Yahoo Sports’ Draft profile notes that he set a Perfect Game national record by uncorking a throw from the outfield clocked at 100 mph. That kind of raw arm strength is the first building block teams look for, particularly when they begin mapping a player’s future role on a pitching staff.

He was not only a pitcher in high school. Over the course of his Har-Ber career, the profile says Dossett appeared in 79 games and hit.312 with a.432 on-base percentage and a.625 slugging percentage. It also lists 21 doubles, 2 triples, 10 home runs, and 26 walks against 46 strikeouts. At the mound, the same account describes 28 pitching appearances, a 2.13 ERA across 98.2 innings, and 188 strikeouts with 43 hits allowed and 71 walks. Those numbers suggest a player who could impact games on both sides of the ball, an attribute that can be valuable for a franchise even after he transitions fully into baseball’s pitching-centric workload.

The Mets’ decision to draft Dossett in the later rounds reflects a common front-office strategy: add upside arms and evaluate how their mechanics, command, and pitch usage translate over time. The reported baseline here is clear. Dossett has an established track record of missing bats as a high school pitcher, plus a hitting resume that implies athleticism and hand-eye coordination. The next step for New York is determining how that skill set evolves once he is surrounded by professional coaching, performance monitoring, and the inning-management demands of a longer season.

Arkansas provides another layer of context. A college pipeline selection can offer an organization a steadier look at a prospect’s ability to handle higher-level competition and longer stretches than a purely high school track. Even so, the Mets still must translate earlier production into a repeatable major league path, which typically comes down to whether a pitcher can consistently locate pitches, sequence effectively against batters, and hold up physically as the role tightens.

For Mets fans, the practical takeaway is less about immediate impact and more about organizational depth. A 17th-round college pick is often aimed at developing a potential upper-level contributor rather than filling a major league need this summer. The most watchable indicators will be how Dossett’s repertoire is refined, how his command progresses at the professional level, and whether the strikeout ability referenced in his Har-Ber numbers carries forward as he faces more advanced hitters.

At the same time, it is worth noting the limits of what is publicly confirmed in the profile. The draft announcement here centers on selection and background, not on any specific minor league assignment, professional debut timeline, or new scouting report beyond the high school and general profile information. As Dossett moves into the Mets’ system, those remaining questions will likely be answered by his early development, especially any evidence of improved control and pitch effectiveness against more consistent competition.