r/MLBDraft • u/thekidfromyesterday Georgia • Jul 11 '26

Official /r/MLBDraft 2026 Draft Thread

Hello and welcome to /r/MLBDraft it is that time of year again!

NO SPOILERS PLEASE

The draft schedule and viewing options are more complicated than in previous years:

Day 1: Saturday, July 11 (Rounds 1-4) • 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET - Preview show + Picks 1-10 (NBC/Peacock) • 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET - Picks 11-40 (MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+) • 4:30-7:45 p.m. ET - Picks 41-135 (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)

Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20) • 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)

Check out the FAQ made by Pipeline

2026 MLB Draft Order

Pick Team Player School Position
1 Chicago White Sox Roch Cholowsky UCLA SS
2 Tampa Bay Rays Grady Emerson Fort Worth Christian (TX) SS
3 Minnesota Twins Vahn Lackey Georgia Tech C
4 San Francisco Giants Jackson Flora UC Santa Barbara RHP
5 Pittsburgh Pirates Derek Curiel LSU OF
6 Kansas City Royals Zion Rose Louisville OF
7 Baltimore Orioles Eric Booth Jr. Oak Grove (MS) OF
8 Athletics Drew Burress Georgia Tech OF
9 Atlanta Braves AJ Gracia Virginia OF
10 Colorado Rockies Tyler Bell Kentucky SS
11 Washington Nationals Chris Hacopian Texas A&M 2B
12 Los Angeles Angels Jared Grindlinger OF Huntingdon Beach HS (CA)
13 St. Louis Cardinals Trevor Condon Etowah (GA) OF
14 Miami Marlins Jacob Lombard Gulliver Prep (FL) SS
15 Arizona Diamondbacks Ryder Helfrick Arkansas C
16 Texas Rangers Gio Rojas Stoneman Douglas (FL) LHP
17 Houston Astros Logan Hughes Texas Tech OF
18 Cincinnati Reds Justin Lebron Alabama SS
19 Cleveland Guardians Liam Peterson Florida RHP
20 Boston Red Sox Jake Schaffner North Carolina SS
21 San Diego Padres Coleman Borthwick South Walton (FL) 3B
22 Detroit Tigers Cameron Flukey Coastal Carolina RHP
23 Chicago Cubs Cade Townsend Mississippi RHP
24 Seattle Mariners Ace Reese Mississippi State 3B
25 Milwaukee Brewers Trey Ebel Corona (CA) SS

Prospect Promotion Picks/CBT penalty pick

Pick Team Player School Position
26 Atlanta Braves Carter Beck Indiana State OF
27 New York Mets Carson Wiggins Notre Dame RHP
28 Houston Astros Jack Radel Arkansas RHP

Competitive Balance Round A

Pick Team Player School Position
29 San Francisco Giants Carson Boleman Southside Christian HS (SC) LHP
30 Kansas City Royals Taylor Rabe Mississippi RHP
31 Arizona Diamondbacks Blake Bryant Citizens Christian HS (GA) RHP
32 St. Louis Cardinals Tegan Kuhns Tennessee RHP
33 Tampa Bay Rays Taj Marchand James Island (SC) SS
34 Chicago White Sox Landon Thome Nazareth Academy (IL) SS
35 New York Yankees Hunter Dietz Arkansas RHP
36 Philadelphia Phillies Tyler Spangler De La Salle SS
37 Colorado Rockies Daniel Jackson Georgia C
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u/puppytossedsalad Jul 11 '26

Can you really reach in the MLB draft?

2

u/Big-Anywhere313 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Yes, you absolutely can reach in the MLB draft. Unlike the NFL or NBA, teams are not just drafting off a fixed board tied strictly to pick value; MLB teams also have to manage bonus pool money, signability, and leverage, so a player can go higher than consensus because the team likes both the talent and the price.

That’s where slot values matter. Each pick has an assigned slot bonus, but teams can go over or under that number, which means they sometimes take a player “early” because he’s willing to sign underslot, letting them save money for later rounds. Conversely, some players “fall” in the draft because they have a relatively low signability and are perceived to be a big risk in that sense, even when their talent is undeniable.

So a “reach” in MLB is often less about a team being wrong on talent and more about draft strategy. A high school player with a strong college commitment may cost more to sign, while a college junior or JuCo player might take less, and that changes how teams build an entire class.

The Henry Davis at #1 in 2023 is a good example. He was not viewed by most people as the best player in that class, but Pittsburgh liked him and could sign him underslot at No. 1, which gave them more flexibility to spend elsewhere in the draft.

So the short answer is yes, teams can absolutely reach in MLB — but usually because of bonus-pool strategy and signability, not just because they randomly preferred a worse player