MLB Draft rumors: Chaos reigns at No. 1 overall and a potential Cardinals splash

The men's College World Series is officially underway, and it feels like it's changing the landscape of the 2026 MLB Draft on a daily basis. What seemed like a pretty settled top of the board — starting with UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky — has now been flipped on its head, with several risers and fallers and big names still trying to boost their stock in Omaha.

Which players are being connected to which teams at the moment? Will Cholowsky still go No. 1, or are there multiple other possibilities to consider? And which front offices could be making aggressive moves in the first round? Here are all the latest rumors as the MLB Draft approaches next month.

Vahn Lackey an option at No. 1 overall as Roch Cholowsky's slide continues

• With Cholowsky's UCLA failing to make it out of Regionals, chatter continues about other options at 1.1
• While high school shortstop Grady Emerson remains the most likely non-Cholowsky option, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey has a lot of helium

Roch Cholowsky had been losing his grip on the No. 1 overall pick for a while, but UCLA's shocking exit from their own Regional — a Regional in which Cholowsky struggled at the plate — seems to have the rumor mill working overtime. This week, The Athletic's Keith Law mocked Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey first off the board to the White Sox, while MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo cited one evaluator who handicapped the race for No. 1 at 40 percent Cholowsky, 40 percent prep shortstop Grady Emerson and 20 percent Lackey.

It seems like at this point no one truly knows what Chicago will do, a pretty stunning shift from just a couple of months ago. Cholowsky remains the safest bet, a shortstop with no clear weaknesses in his game who's just about MLB-ready right now. But there are real questions about his ultimate upside, questions that open the door for a two-way catcher like Lackey or a more electric athlete like Emerson — both of whom would likely sign for a smaller bonus that would allow the White Sox to spread their money around a bit more.

The Cardinals could control this year's draft

• Despite not having a pick until No. 13, St. Louis has one of the largest bonus pools of any team — with six picks in the top 100 overall
• The Cardinals could get aggressive and try to lure top prospects who begin to fall a bit with huge bonuses

The Cardinals don't pick until No. 13 overall, and yet they might be the most fascinating team in the entire first round. Per Baseball America, St. Louis enters the draft with the fifth-highest bonus pool of any team, in large part thanks to a whopping six picks within the top 100 overall. (For the uninitiated, each draft pick within the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned bonus number, and each team has a bonus pool of cash that amounts to the sum total of the value of their picks within those rounds. Teams can technically spend over their bonus pool, but doing so comes with stiff penalties.)

With that draft capital comes flexibility. The Cardinals can choose to spread that money around, or they could throw a bunch of money at a big-name prospect who starts to fall down the board a bit. And it also allows them to feel more comfortable taking some risks on high-ceiling, low-floor types, confident that they can target safer players with some of their other picks.

Could Pirates keep super-rotation rolling with Jackson Flora?

• Pittsburgh is already awash in young pitching, but if the best pitcher in the draft falls into their laps at No. 5, can Ben Cherington really say no?

The Pirates aren't exactly hurting for pitching at both the MLB or Minor League levels, with a big-league rotation that features the likes of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Braxton Ashcraft and a farm system highlighted by one of the top pitching prospects in the sport right now in Seth Hernandez. And yet, all three of The Athletic, CBS Sports and MLB.com's recent mock drafts have Pittsburgh taking yet another arm at No. 5 overall, this time UC Santa Barbara's Jackson Flora.

Flora established himself as the no-doubt best pitcher in this year's class with a sensational collegiate season, punctuated by a big showing in the NCAA Tournament. The big four of position-player prospects — Cholowsky, Emerson, Lackey and high school infielder Jacob Lombard — could create a situation in which a slam-dunk prospect falls into the Pirates' lap. If Flora moves as quickly as scouts expect, Pittsburgh could boast a rotation of Skenes, Ashcraft, Keller, Hernandez and Flora as early as late 2027. Not too shabby.

Shoulder injury can't keep Tyler Bell from rocketing up draft boards

• Bell played through pain this season at Kentucky but still raked, including a monster Morgantown Regional
• His skill set has him rumored as high as No. 2 to Tampa Bay, with the top 10 seeming more and more likely

One relatively unheralded name keeps on popping up earlier and earlier in mock drafts of late: Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell. Despite suffering an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that he knew would require surgery at some point, Bell gritted it out for the good of his team, hitting the cover off the ball for the Wildcats, nearly carrying the team all the way to the Super Regionals. That performance understandably caught the attention of scouts around the league, so much so that Law even had him going No. 2 overall to the Rays if Tampa Bay wants to save a little money with its first pick.

Both CBS Sports and MLB.com had Bell going in the top 10 as well, and it feels like that's his floor at this point. Yes, the surgery will keep him off the field until 2027, but it's less concerning than if it were his throwing shoulder, and all he's done since the moment he stepped foot on campus is rake. Combine that with capable shortstop defense, and it's not hard to see why teams are talking themselves into him as a cheaper option.

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