One wrinkle that the last round of labor negotiations brought to MLB was the establishment of the MLB Draft Lottery. Essentially, the draft order is not dictated solely by where a team finished the previous season, but instead by a random-ish lottery that is weighted based on where teams finished. Established as a way to combat tanking, this randomness makes it much less profitable (at least in terms of the draft) to lose season after to season in order to stockpile top draft talent.
However, with that sort of randomness comes some...unexpected results and teams picking higher or lower than you would think. It also makes us wonder, now that the 2026 MLB Draft order is essentially set (qualifying offer free agents notwithstanding), who we could see this collection of teams pick next year in the draft itself.
MLB Draft lottery results are in and they were interesting to say the least
Well, that was certainly not how almost anyone expected the draft lottery to go. Yes, the White Sox did end up with the first overall pick, but there was a lot of shuffling up and down during the lottery this year.
Draft Pick | Team | Top Pick Lottery Odds |
|---|---|---|
1 | White Sox | 27.7% |
2 | Rays | 3.03% |
3 | Twins | 22.2% |
4 | Giants | 1.0% |
5 | Pirates | 16.8% |
6 | Royals | 0.8% |
The news was decidedly less good for some teams. The Orioles, A's, and Braves all went down multiple spots to towards the back of the top 10 while the Cardinals, Marlins, and Diamondbacks all saw their draft fortunes take a bit of a dive during the lottery as well. The draft lottery giveth, the draft lottery taketh away.
MLB Mock Draft now that 2026 lottery picks have been assigned
There is little point in talking about individual team needs when it comes to a mock draft this early. There is still a lot of offseason left that could change organizational needs and wants in a hurry. Moreover, drafting at the top means you should be picking the best player on your board regardless of position and the talent in this draft class justifies that same general treatment.
Team | Player |
|---|---|
1. White Sox | Roch Cholowsky, SS (UCLA) |
2. Rays | Justin Lebron, SS (Alabama) |
3. Twins | Jacob Lombard, SS (Gulliver Prep, FL) |
4. Giants | Drew Burress, OF (Georgia Tech) |
5. Pirates | Grady Emerson, SS (Fort Worth Christian HS, TX) |
6. Royals | Carson Bolemon, LHP (Southside Christian School, SC) |
The easiest pick to make for this mock was Roch Cholowsky at first overall and it wasn't particularly close. An advanced college bat with big-time power to his pull side who is also a plus defender at shortstop, Cholowsky is the best college shortstop prospect in years and it will be an upset if he doesn't get taken first overall unless there are some money/bonus pool shenanigans in the background.
This is the year to be picking near the top of the draft if you need shortstop help for sure. The next three shortstops that are likely to be taken next will very likely be top 5-10 picks and others could sneak into that range as well. College bats generally rise on draft day, so we went with Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron and his exciting upside on both sides of the ball next over prep shortstop Jacob Lombard who comes from quite the baseball family.
After that, an outfielder sneaks in the form of Drew Burress from Georgia Tech, who has a lot more power than his small frame would suggest. We go back to the high school shortstop ranks in Grady Emerson who just has a strong, well-rounded skill set including some intriguing power potential.
Finally, a pitcher makes an appearance in prep lefty Carson Bolemon who might already have four plus pitches at his disposal right now. Arms are where we could see some big changes between this mock draft and the actual draft results as teams always need pitching, and it is likely that at least a couple college arms will break out and be in consideration in the lottery picks as well.
Biggest takeaways from the MLB Draft Lottery
Well, Giants and Royals fans have to be thrilled with the results, as they parlayed miniscule odds to end up with lottery picks in the 2026 MLB Draft. As for the Orioles, A's, and Braves, they are significantly sadder as they were the unfortunate teams to get leapfrogged and pushed to the fringes of the top 10.
That said, one plus was the pace of the broadcast for the MLB Draft Lottery. MLB has an unfortunate tendency of dragging productions out too long. However, this one was crisp and to the point. For such a straight-forward, but important, event, the pacing was perfect.