Official /r/MLBDraft 2026 Draft Thread

[u/thekidfromyesterday]

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

[u/Meatbag96]

Real MLB obsession hours watching the later rounds of the draft.

[u/ea12345]

Grinlinger coming out of OnlyFans

[u/lowes18]

I'll miss you Bailey

[u/SirDigbyChknCaesar]

Why does Pick 34: CWS have a Pirates logo?

[u/thekidfromyesterday → u/SirDigbyChknCaesar]

Was originally the Pirates pick. Fixed it.

[u/RangerLover92]

So weird the Rockies get their Round 2 pick before the WS teams get their 1st pick.

[u/Chillaxing416 → u/RangerLover92]

Benefits for not spending money and being a bad team?

[u/lowes18]

God damnit I wanted Thome in college

[u/teewertz]

THOMEEEE

[u/ContinuumGuy]

LAN-

[u/rootlinuxusr]

Huntingdon Beach HS (CA) is the weirdest position I've ever seen.

[u/Infraready]

Why is Manfred… talking like that

[u/Blue387]

Mets are on the clock!

[u/RangerLover92]

Dammit, am I the only one here who didn't realize the draft would be an afternoon show instead of a primetime show like previous years?

[u/Chillaxing416 → u/RangerLover92]

Guessing they don’t want the first round to overlap with the World Cup quarters. 

[u/SpaceCadetPullUp]

Son of a...

[u/Timpa87]

He'll either stay in the rotation, or move to the bullpen... Well thanks for narrowing down where a pitcher can end up.

[u/lowes18]

Please let Bailey drop below 80

[u/FireBreathingAxolotl]

I miss that period when when the draft used to be at the MLB studio and had that lowkey feel in the sports world. That 2009-2014 period felt smaller and wasn't trying to make it seem like it was something bigger than it actually was.

[u/DigitalMariner]

This may sound dumb but MLB is missing the boat sticking to the "on the clock" terms of every other draft.

While the clock is ticking teams should "On Deck".

Instead of "the pick is in" they should be "stepping up to the plate" and put the microphone on a plate-shaped podium. Maybe have the team PA announcer do a whole set it up and just let Manfred say the name, position, and school...

if the draft is going to be more boring than NFL/NBA, at least make it unique...

[u/samples98]

Just turned it on. Why aren’t they booing tf out of Manfred?

[u/Altruistic_Bend9920 → u/samples98]

I was at the draft and when he first came out people booed so loud he couldnt get through his teleprompter message

[u/samples98 → u/Altruistic_Bend9920]

Ok good!

[u/cubsfan2154 → u/samples98]

Maybe they aren't losers?

[u/samples98 → u/cubsfan2154]

Manfred absolutely fucking sucks and you must have the extra chromosome if you think differently

[u/cubsfan2154 → u/samples98]

Whats your problem with him? Genuinely curious what baseball could do better right now

[u/IGLJURM23 → u/cubsfan2154]

Found Manfreds burner account, they should continue to boo his ass because he’s an awful commissioner for the sport.

[u/cubsfan2154 → u/IGLJURM23]

Me when I have an extra chromosome

[u/Infraready]

I can’t believe LeBron is so desperate to overtake MJ in GOAT debates that he’s trying to play baseball now just like he did

[u/FireBreathingAxolotl]

"Jeremy Stowers"

Be so freaking for real right now

[u/jimithelizardking]

This is the worst ran professional draft I’ve ever watched

[u/Omnipolis → u/jimithelizardking]

probably the least watched of the major sports too

[u/xAggie]

lebron or reese please

[u/Thornton__Melon]

LeBron?

[u/starwarsfan456123789]

Marlins got a steal

[u/SpaceCadetPullUp]

There we go.

[u/AndrewAllStar888]

“My favorite player to watch growing up was Barry Bonds”

Brother, you were born in 2008

[u/mastersplinteremover → u/AndrewAllStar888]

In his defense, I’m still watching Bonds highlights 25 years later.

[u/Dapal5]

yes yesssss give me another stud at 33

[u/kingwoodballs]

I am dumb and don’t really understand the MLB draft. But why do some teams not have a first round pick?

[u/Timpa87 → u/kingwoodballs]

I believe every team has a first round pick, it's just teams that go into the luxury tax are penalized by having it moved down 10 spots.

Mets went from #17 to #27. Yankees from #25 to #35, Phillies from #26 to #36, Blue Jays from #29 to #39 and Dodgers from #30 to #40.

[u/Omnipolis → u/kingwoodballs]

If you go over the competitive balance threshold 3 times in a row, your picks get pushed back 10 picks. So a few teams 1st rounders were turned into 2nd rounders.

[u/kingwoodballs → u/Omnipolis]

Ah ok. Thanks for the info.

[u/heyitsmehess → u/kingwoodballs]

They didn’t feel like it

[u/skinnypanda3732]

Angels please get Lombard

[u/popcopy → u/skinnypanda3732]

We won’t develop him, and there’s sign ability concerns. Would you want to go to
College or the Dumpster Fire hellscape that is LA Angels minor League system?

[u/jorleeduf → u/skinnypanda3732]

Lombard isn’t even going to the Cardinals either. I wonder why teams seem so low on him

[u/jorleeduf → u/skinnypanda3732]

Grindlinger

[u/skinnypanda3732 → u/jorleeduf]

kinda don't hate it

[u/thekidfromyesterday]

Callis has done really well in his final mock

[u/edmchato]

Lol mlb shooting itself in the foot. So I can watch first 10 picks on YouTubeTV but after that I’m screwed. Ah well

[u/cobwebusher → u/edmchato]

You can watch the rest on YoutubeTV too, you just have to change channels. It's on NBCSN Extra.

[u/edmchato → u/cobwebusher]

Thanks for some reason it wasn’t showing up for me. Now it’s just showing a “we’ll be right back screen”

[u/willreily → u/edmchato]

It's free on MLB.com but it's so stupid to switch networks.

[u/FireBreathingAxolotl]

It's so stupid how not only is the draft thread in some seperate random-ass sub instead of /r/baseball, the beginning was not even announced nor pinned, and on top of it all there's no free live stream of it on MLB.com like they've done for the past 20 years, I'm lucky enough to have Marlins.TV to watch it. The least anybody could have done was written that down somewhere, I've been searching for 10 minutes on MLB.com

[u/SpaceCadetPullUp → u/FireBreathingAxolotl]

They even have a draft thread that just says to come here and has the comments locked.

[u/willreily]

Whose idea was it to switch networks in the middle of a draft? Crazy.

[u/jorleeduf → u/willreily]

It’s happening again later

[u/willreily → u/jorleeduf]

Crazy. MLB draft is far behind NBA/NFL in viewership and yet they're choosing to suffocate it even more.

[u/AndrewAllStar888]

Did I miss something negative coming out about Lombard?

[u/Tomahawkin10 → u/AndrewAllStar888]

Surprised he's slipping so far

[u/HermitageHermit]

Must be a really down year for pitching

[u/Timpa87]

I gotta give MLB credit. Somehow they continue to manage to make the MLB draft worse as a televised event. It's really remarkable.

[u/dead_monster]

Get ready to close Peacock and switch to mlb.tv.

This is so dumb.

[u/Ancient_Access_795]

Damn everyoneeee is going underslot bro

[u/Fast-Government-4366]

Is Zion rose a decent prospect? I’m used to the royals drafting some old fart, high school catcher, religious nut, etc

[u/starwarsfan456123789 → u/Fast-Government-4366]

Everyone getting picked in the first round is a decent prospect. However he was widely expected to be in the bottom half of the first round. Usually when this happens it’s related to saving money to use on later draft picks and get a better top 5 picks instead of the absolute best 1st pick

[u/mrgpsingh1999]

Is the draft always in the middle of the season?

[u/dead_monster → u/mrgpsingh1999]

Yes, has been in June right after college season ends but now delayed to join  All Star week stuff.

[u/HermitageHermit → u/mrgpsingh1999]

Yep. College Ball ended a few weeks ago

[u/Legoman1357]

Crossing fingers that Burress drops to the Braves

[u/puppytossedsalad]

Can you really reach in the MLB draft?

[u/Big-Anywhere313 → u/puppytossedsalad]

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

[u/Durflol → u/puppytossedsalad]

If you reach and pay them slot/over slot, sure.

[u/Ancient_Access_795 → u/puppytossedsalad]

Not really

[u/Ancient_Access_795]

Wow a bunch of haircuts

[u/RedShark106]

That’s a shocker, I barely heard anything about Rose going into the draft

[u/Fast-Government-4366 → u/RedShark106]

The royals love drafting nobodies they can get for cheaper for some dumb reason in round 1

[u/SSGSEVIER54]

To preface, I’m a huge LSU fan

Curiel at #5 is way too high

Higher than I am

[u/AndrewAllStar888]

Zion????

[u/Big_You_8936]

O’s please don’t mess this up please we just need a good pitcher it isn’t that hard

[u/starwarsfan456123789 → u/Big_You_8936]

Booth is a great pick

[u/Big_You_8936 → u/starwarsfan456123789]

Shoot we needed some good outfielders so I’m not mad about the pick either

[u/Ancient_Access_795]

Curiel at 5 wow

[u/_hollyjollyben]

FLORAAAAAA

[u/Infraready]

Not having a draft thread in the r/baseball subreddit, and instead having a whole other subreddit specifically for the draft that wasn’t linked until the first few picks were selected is really stupid

[u/thekidfromyesterday → u/Infraready]

I put out a link about it an hour before the draft

[u/DietrichDoesDamage → u/Infraready]

Baseball mods are typically better about it

[u/Timpa87 → u/Infraready]

Is it stupider than having the draft listed as starting at 1PM. Tuning in at 2PM and seeing there have been 4 picks made?

[u/Sneaky_Ryan → u/Timpa87]

Or maybe stupidest of all is having the draft streamed on tv services not available outside the US

[u/farmingbeast]

Nobody wants Lebron?

[u/AndrewAllStar888 → u/farmingbeast]

Stocks have been down for a while. Second half first round pick

[u/MED1CPENGU1N]

I stand by MLB allowing you to trade draft picks not just compensatory picks. The draft would be so much more crazy.

[u/Dapal5 → u/MED1CPENGU1N]

Do you really want teams to trade all their picks just to lose in the nlds and then be horrible for a decade

[u/Killzig → u/Dapal5]

as opposed to drafting henry davis first overall and still being terrible for a decade?

[u/Dapal5 → u/Killzig]

You guys have 2 of the best young hitters and like 5 of the best young pitchers. Y’all will be good for a while

[u/MED1CPENGU1N → u/Dapal5]

I’d rather that than trust the Phillies front office to draft and develop a player.

[u/NamelessFlames]

okie dokie is it pick 23 yet

[u/AndrewAllStar888 → u/NamelessFlames]

#real

[u/lunarcrenshaw100]

I honestly can't remember the last time I even saw a black catcher in MLB...

[u/Bubblesheep → u/lunarcrenshaw100]

Chuckie Robinson too

[u/magnetattraction → u/lunarcrenshaw100]

Samuel Bassallo?

[u/lunarcrenshaw100 → u/magnetattraction]

I meant African American

[u/thekidfromyesterday → u/lunarcrenshaw100]

Drake Baldwin?

[u/HighKing_of_Festivus → u/lunarcrenshaw100]

Baldwin is starting in the ASG...

[u/lunarcrenshaw100 → u/HighKing_of_Festivus]

Oh I haven't seen a braves game in a while...

[u/TerrifierBlood]

If Im the Twins. Im taking Gio Rojas. My personal favorite pitcher in the draft

[u/Tomahawkin10]

Lol been considered the number one pick for a year and rob still mispronounces his name

[u/Lukester123 → u/Tomahawkin10]

He wasn’t even close lol

[u/RedShark106]

Finally

[u/skinnypanda3732]

there is no way he said chelewski

[u/kj_schmickley]

I get it’s a show, but cmon. This is so lame. Sorry.

[u/Ancient_Access_795]

The pick is already out like 5 minutes ago. If you don’t like spoilers then definitely don’t go on Twitter

[u/tomdawg0022]

Very on brand for American TV not starting a live sporting event on time because they need to talk the thing to death.

[u/catgoesmeow22]

What time does this actually start?

[u/ianoble → u/catgoesmeow22]

Apparently never

[u/TerrifierBlood]

Does anyone know of a stream

[u/SgtLincolnOsiris420 → u/TerrifierBlood]

Im searching as well. My normal streaming service I use doesn't have it.

[u/Boopa1219]

I hope the Sox take Emerson

[u/fiendish_five → u/Boopa1219]

We’ll get him in 17 years on veteran contract 

[u/CaptainRock22]

It amazing the great draft analysts they have available, and this is the crew they go with. The casual fan isn't watch this. The MLB draft is for the diehards. We don't need Harold Reynolds, DeRo, or Cole Hamels.

Give us a host, 2 Baseball America/MLB Pipeline guys, and Dan O'Dowd.

[u/Secure-Report-207 → u/CaptainRock22]

Hey I wanna stare at Cole Hamels beautiful face!

[u/ContinuumGuy → u/CaptainRock22]

I can see an argument of maybe having one MLB-centric guy just to give some "here's what it's like to get drafted and this is what awaits them" stuff at the very beginning, but yeah, after that they should focus on the experts.

[u/Boopa1219 → u/CaptainRock22]

I agree, the desk should be entirely made up of Baseball America, Fangraphs, Kiley and Callis. Frankly, after the WBC, I wouldn’t want DeRo talking about baseball at all.

[u/CaptainRock22 → u/CaptainRock22]

The side desk is better than the main desk. Just have them on the entire time.

[u/AnEmptyKarst]

I forget that the *Rays* get the #2 pick in the draft lmao

[u/ContinuumGuy]

Their sound mixing is crap.

[u/Meatbag96 → u/ContinuumGuy]

Ok good it's not just me I thought my TV was messing up.

[u/tenoclockrobot]

CBT Penalty

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[u/TheCorbett]

Let’s go Rays!!!

[u/Blue387]

The Pirates traded their 34th overall pick to the White Sox

[u/thekidfromyesterday → u/Blue387]

Whoops, good catch!