The long Independence Day weekend will soon be upon us, and this year’s edition is especially festive. Not only does Fourth of July fall on a Saturday this year, but it’s also America’s 250th birthday. That means most people won’t be working on Friday July 3rd, or for that matter, Thursday July 2nd. So we have to do The Sports Bank 2026 MLB Mock Draft Version 5.0 today, on Tuesday, June 30. Honestly, a whole lot of people are going to be skipping work tomorrow too!
USA 250 is going to be a massive party, to say the least!
As for the 2026 Major League Baseball draft itself, it will commence on July 11–13 in Philadelphia, PA, which is coincidentally where America was “born” as the Declaration of Independence was signed there on July 4th, 1776. So let’s get into “The National Pasttime.”
Sure, the NFL is much more popular, and has been for a very long time, but hey, American football doesn’t have a nickname as catchy as the moniker for American baseball.
As far as we know, we’re the only independently-owned, mom and pop shop website to publish a mock draft in all four of the major North American sports, and the most popular professional women’s sport.
Past MLB Mock Drafts, final editions: 2025 2024 2021 2020 2017 2016 2015 2014 2011 2010
The final 2026 NFL mock draft that we did can be found here. Our latest NBA mock draft update can be found at this link.
For our final WNBA mock draft go here. And finally, here’s the link to our final 2026 NHL mock draft update.
More player descriptions will be coming along with future updates. Happy 2026 MLB mock draft everyone!
1.Chicago White Sox, Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
UCLA were ranked #1 this regular season, wire to wire, and deservedly so awarded the #1 overall seed in the tournament. However, they were eliminated from the tournament short of the College World Series. Well, at least the Bruins still have the top draft prospect in all of baseball.
Roch Cholowsky is reportedly is good with the idea of joining the White Sox. And it is understood that the White Sox want him as well.
So everything here tracks perfectly.
To quote Homer Simpson “oh, I see, everything wraps up into a neat little package.”
Why not? This club has shown some life in their rebuild now, as they’ll actually be in first place entering July.
2. Tampa Bay Rays, Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama
3. Minnesota Twins, Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian School (TX)
4. San Francisco Giants, Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
5. Pittsburgh Pirates, Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
6. Kansas City Royals, Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State
7. Baltimore Orioles, Jacob Lombard, Gulliver Prep HS (FL)
8. Athletics, Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina
9. Atlanta Braves, AJ Gracia, OF Virginia
10. Colorado Rockies, Gio Rojas, LHP, Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS (FL)
11. Washington Nationals, Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU
12. Los Angeles Angels, Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky
13. St. Louis Cardinals, Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
14. Miami Marlins, Chris Hacopian, SS, Texas A&M
15. Arizona Diamondbacks, Eric Becker, SS, Virginia
16. Texas Rangers, Derek Curiel, OF, LSU
17. Houston Astros, Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida
18. Cincinnati Reds, Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas
19. Cleveland Guardians, Carson Bolemon, LHP, Southside Christian HS (SC)
20. Boston Red Sox, Tegan Kuhns, RHP, Tennessee
21. San Diego Padres, Logan Reddemann, RHP, UCLA
The Bruins were the only 50 win team in college baseball this season, and Reddemann is a big reason why.
22. Detroit Tigers, Gabe Gaeckle, RHP, Arkansas
23. Chicago Cubs, Cole Carlon, LHP, Arizona State
Jed Hoyer will need to go out and add some starting pitching ASAP, given the current injury crisis in the starting rotation. And on top of that, they’ll have to rebuild the rotation long-term, via the draft as well.
24. Seattle Mariners, Mason Edwards, LHP, USC
25. Milwaukee Brewers, Logan Schmidt, LHP, Ganesha HS (CA)
Prospect Promotion Incentive Picks
Whenver a selection has a description, of the stipulations and qualifications for it, it comes from the MLB.com listing.
If a player who was rated as a preseason Top 100 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and/or ESPN (at least two of the three) and was on his team’s Opening Day roster and goes on to win the Rookie of the Year Award or place in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting prior to qualifying for arbitration, the club is awarded a Prospect Promotion Incentive pick after the first round.
26. Atlanta Braves, Chris Rembert, 2B, Auburn
Received for Drake Baldwin winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
27. New York Mets, Zion Rose, OF, Louisville
The Mets received a 10-pick penalty on their first pick (No. 17) for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.
28. Houston Astros, James Clark, SS, St. John Bosco HS (CA)
Received for Hunter Brown finishing in the top three for the American League Cy Young Award.
Compensation picks
Competitive Balance Round A
If a team that loses a qualifying free agent is a revenue-sharing recipient and the free agent signs for at least $50 million, the team will be awarded a pick between the first round and Competitive Balance Round A. All teams that have either one of the 10 smallest markets or 10 smallest revenue pools receive an additional pick at the end of the first or second round.
The groups of teams alternate between the two rounds each year. Competitive Balance picks may be traded and are not subject to forfeiture.
However, Competitive Balance picks acquired by another club in a trade are subject to forfeiture.
29. San Francisco Giants, Blake Bowen, OF, JSerra Catholic HS (CA)
Acquired from the Guardians in the trade for Patrick Bailey.
30. Kansas City Royals, Brody Bumila, LHP, Bishop Feehan HS (TX)
31. Arizona Diamondbacks, Cade Townsend, RHP, Ole Miss
32. St. Louis Cardinals, Joey Volchko, C, Georgia
33. Tampa Bay Rays, Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas
Acquired from the Orioles in the trade for Shane Baz.
34. Pittsburgh Pirates, Kaden Waechter, RHP, Tampa Jesuit HS (FL)
35. New York Yankees, Landon Thome, OF, Nazareth Academy HS (IL)
He’s the son of MLB Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who hit his 500th career homer as a member of the White Sox, a franchise that is obviously not far away from this private school located in La Grange, IL. Jim Thome serves as an assistant coach for the team. Landon Thome is among the best all around hitters in this draft class.
The Yankees received a 10-pick penalty on their first pick (No. 25) for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.
36. Philadelphia Phillies, Jared Grindlinger, Huntington Beach HS (CA)
The Phillies received a 10-pick penalty on their first pick (No. 26) for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.
37. Colorado Rockies,Tyler Spangler, SS, De La Salle HS (CA)
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.” He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG.
His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.