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MLB Draft hopeful duped by prank phone call.
Manhattan Jaspers baseball player Justin Best hoped to hear his name called during the 2026 MLB Draft. He believed scouts were interested days before the event.
The outfielder was duped by a phone call from a fake scout. He went public with the deception on social media in attempts to bring awareness to the situation.
Best is not the first athlete tricked by phony draft day communications. He joins a list that includes Will Levis, Shedeur Sanders, and Tyler Warren.
During the 2025 NFL Draft, at least four players were pranked by fans. It’s something that has become more common of late. Best wants to see it stop.
Who is Justin Best?
The outfielder was one of the top high school prospects in North Carolina back in 2023. Perfect Game ranked him as a Top 100 talent nationally. While he received some MLB Draft interest, Justin Best ultimately opted to go the college route.
He signed with Florida State where he redshirted as a freshman. He then transferred to New Orleans where he hit .300 across 21 games.
A coaching change led Best to again enter the transfer portal. In 2025, he signed with Manhattan to play as a draft-eligible sophomore. He shined with the Jaspers in his debut campaign.
Best hit .317 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs. Sixteen of his 52 hits went for extra bases. He flashed both pop and speed from the left side of the plate.
Again, there was MLB Draft buzz in 2026. Not all of it was authentic.
Justin Best duped ahead of MLB Draft.
Best took to social media on Monday to detail a conversation had with a fake scout. The phony impersonated a member of the Boston Red Sox.
“I come to bring light to a very unfunny situation,” he led off in a video posted to Instagram. “I had a call from a person a day or two before the draft impersonating a scout… Come to find out, that was all a prank. Once we got the news – me, my family, my agent, my girlfriend – we were all very upset.
“I come to bring awareness to the situation. No athlete that’s going through the draft process wants to experience this. This is our livelihood, and we’re trying to play this game of baseball for a very long time. To sit here and play with someone’s dreams is not cool at all.”
Best says the phone call came a few days before draft, which started on July 11th. After learning that his conversation with a scout was a hoax, he made his decision on pro ball.
It appears he’ll return to Manhattan for his redshirt junior season. He’ll hope to boost draft stock next year before the 2027 selection process.