Fantasy Baseball: First mock draft for 2026 sets the market for World Series standouts like Vladimir Guerrero
Yes, the results of our first mock draft for 2026 are just a few scrolls away. No, you’re not going to agree with everything you see there, and I’ll warn you right now that your disagreements will amount to more than mere quibbles. But before you descend into blinding rage, allow me to remind you that these results aren’t so serious. Not yet, anyway. The offseason hasn’t even begun yet, first of all. Fantasy Baseball analysts are still in hibernation mode, with most of their attention either going to football or the two teams in the World Series. “Oh, I forgot about him” was a common refrain in this draft — and for good reason. The draft room is still populated by the 2025 rankings, so those who came without their own rankings in hand were left to fly by the seat of their pants. I’ve spent the past month putting together my initial 2026 rankings, as you’ve hopefully observed, but I imagine not everyone in this draft had that luxury. So take this draft for what it is, a starting point, and not what it’s not, the final word. A group of knowledgeable but ill-prepared Fantasy Baseball enthusiasts came together to feel out the player pool for the first time, and to that end, our curiosity was satisfied. Whatever takeaways come of it should be broad and loose. Which enthusiasts, you ask? Let’s get on with the introductions: 1) Mike Nelson, Fantasy Baseball Now2) Dan Schneier, CBS Sports3) Anthony Kates, SportsEthos (@akfantasybb)4) Sean Snow, former Podcast League participant5) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)6) Cole Claybourn, independent journalist7) Sean Martin, Fantasy Baseball Now (@Sean_Martin77)8) Marty Tallman, TGFBI participant9) Jeremy Heist, Fantistics Fantasy (@heistjm)10) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)11) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)12) Drew Klein, The Dynasty Guru (@dynastyguru)
The format was standard Rotisserie. Here are my biggest takeaways: Not much strange happened at the start of the draft. Shohei Ohtani over Aaron Judge is a mild upset, perhaps. Elly De La Cruz (sixth) went a few picks too early, in my estimation, while Ronald Acuna (ninth) went a few picks too late. Cal Raleigh, Nick Kurtz, Junior Caminero, and Kyle Schwarber were all new additions to Round 2, as expected, though perhaps in a different order than I would have taken them. First basemen Matt Olson, Bryce Harper, and Rafael Devers all went in quick succession at the end of Round 3, which makes sense because the line between them is razor-thin.Chris Towers did something interesting, taking pitchers Garrett Crochet and Paul Skenes with his first two picks, and I was prepared to pair up Tarik Skubal with Skenes if the latter had lasted one more pick. Those three rise so far above the rest of the starting pitcher crop that I’m genuinely enthusiastic about taking them at the Round 1-2 turn, which is not how I usually approach the top pitchers in drafts. For all the debate over who deserves to be SP4, it was Logan Gilbert in this draft, with another prime contender, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, following close behind. Chris Sale, who’s also in the running for SP4, was the eighth pitcher selected this draft, with Cristopher Sanchez and Blake Snell coming off the board in between.The closer rush was slow to arrive, which seems to be a hallmark of CBS drafts, but I think the uncertainty over relief pitcher roles, with all of the offseason activity yet to come, exacerbated it in the first draft. The first to pull the trigger on a reliever was me, actually, at Pick 87, and I opted for Mason Miller, who typifies the role uncertainty surrounding so many relievers right now. My expectation is that he’ll close for the Padres with Robert Suarez departing via free agency, but it’s possible that Suarez comes back or even that the Padres try Miller as a starter. Other likely closers whose less-than-surefire status caused them to slip include Devin Williams (163), Trevor Megill (175, actually behind teammate Abner Uribe), Raisel Iglesias (177), and Daniel Palencia (196).While Vladimir Guerrero’s postseason success seemed to move him up the draft board (going 13th overall, five spots ahead of Nick Kurtz), the same wasn’t true for Yamamoto (32), Trey Yesavage (184), or Roki Sasaki (205), the latter two of whom actually went too late, I think. It’s my observation that whatever postseason bounce shows up in these early mock drafts tends to be short-lived anyway.If you’re curious to see where some of 2025’s biggest surprises ended up going, let me draw your attention to Brice Turang (my own pick at 39), Geraldo Perdomo (50), Hunter Goodman (my own pick at 63), Maikel Garcia (70), Ben Rice (77), Trevor Story (my own pick at 106), Kyle Stowers (110), Kyle Bradish (119), Nick Pivetta (127), Luke Keaschall (134), Andy Pages (146), Jakob Marsee (155), Trent Grisham (159), Nolan McLean (146) and Cameron Schlittler (169). Not a single one was drafted earlier than I personally rank him, but that’s probably because …Too many players were drafted as if 2025 never happened, which, again, is likely a byproduct of the new rankings not being uploaded yet. Some of the clearest examples include Jarren Duran (43), Jackson Merrill (48), Dylan Cease (54), Michael King (61), Christian Walker (78), Steven Kwan (85), Jackson Holliday (103), Ryan Pepiot (120), Matt McLain (126), Dylan Crews (133) and Bryce Miller (139). Maybe as draft season plays out, I’ll come to find out that the average drafter really is willing to extend these players so much grace, but my sense as of now is that they were simply drafted too early in this one. ROUND 1 COLE CLAYBOURN 1 Shohei Ohtani, DH, LAD C Adley Rutschman, BAL 91 2 Aaron Judge, OF, NYY C Logan O’Hoppe, LAA 198 3 Juan Soto, OF, NYM 1B Christian Walker, HOU 78 4 Jose Ramirez, 3B, CLE 2B Matt McLain, CIN 126 5 Bobby Witt, SS, KC 3B Matt Chapman, SF 102 6 Elly De La Cruz, SS, CIN SS Elly De La Cruz, CIN 6 7 Corbin Carroll, OF, ARI MI Gunnar Henderson, BAL 19 8 Kyle Tucker, OF, CHC CI Triston Casas, BOS 150 9 Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, ATL OF Jarren Duran, BOS 43 10 Tarik Skubal, SP, DET OF Oneil Cruz, PIT 67 11 Garrett Crochet, SP, BOS OF Bryan Reynolds, PIT 174 12 Julio Rodriguez, OF, SEA OF Joshua Lowe, TB 235 ROUND 2 OF Tommy Edman, LAD 259 13 Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, TOR U Alec Bohm, PHI 246 14 Paul Skenes, SP, PIT P Logan Gilbert, SEA 30 15 Francisco Lindor, SS, NYM P Dylan Cease, SD 54 16 Cal Raleigh, C, SEA P Shota Imanaga, CHC 115 17 Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, SD P Bryce Miller, SEA 139 18 Nick Kurtz, 1B, ATH P Devin Williams, NYY 163 19 Gunnar Henderson, SS, BAL P Ryan Helsley, NYM 187 20 Jackson Chourio, OF, MIL P Andrew Abbott, CIN 211 21 Ketel Marte, 2B, ARI P Joe Musgrove, SD 222 22 Junior Caminero, 3B, TB P Bailey Ober, MIN 270 23 Kyle Schwarber, DH, PHI JEREMY HEIST 24 Trea Turner, SS, PHI C Cal Raleigh, SEA 16 ROUND 3 C Samuel Basallo, BAL 160 25 Jazz Chisholm, 2B, NYY 1B Yandy Diaz, TB 112 26 Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, CHC 2B Jose Altuve, HOU 88 27 Pete Alonso, 1B, NYM 3B Isaac Paredes, HOU 105 28 James Wood, OF, WAS SS Corey Seager, TEX 64 29 Yordan Alvarez, DH, HOU MI Willy Adames, SF 136 30 Logan Gilbert, SP, SEA CI Kyle Manzardo, CLE 256 31 Mookie Betts, SS, LAD OF Ronald Acuna Jr., ATL 9 32 Yoshinobu Yamamoto, SP, LAD OF Byron Buxton, MIN 57 33 Cristopher Sanchez, SP, PHI OF Luis Robert, CHW 153 34 Matt Olson, 1B, ATL OF Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS 225 35 Bryce Harper, 1B, PHI OF TJ Friedl, CIN 249 36 Rafael Devers, 1B, SF U Christian Yelich, MIL 81 ROUND 4 P Cristopher Sanchez, PHI 33 37 Blake Snell, SP, LAD P Chris Sale, ATL 40 38 Manny Machado, 3B, SD P Chase Burns, CIN 129 39 Brice Turang, 2B, MIL P Raisel Iglesias, ATL 177 40 Chris Sale, SP, ATL P Trey Yesavage, TOR 184 41 Hunter Brown, SP, HOU P Aaron Nola, PHI 201 42 Max Fried, SP, NYY P Pete Fairbanks, TB 208 43 Jarren Duran, OF, BOS P Jack Flaherty, DET 232 44 Bryan Woo, SP, SEA P Noah Cameron, KC 273 45 Cody Bellinger, OF, NYY ANTHONY KATES 46 Wyatt Langford, OF, TEX C Dillon Dingler, DET 214 47 Freddie Freeman, 1B, LAD C Carlos Narvaez, BOS 262 48 Jackson Merrill, OF, SD 1B Pete Alonso, NYM 27 ROUND 5 2B Brandon Lowe, TB 118 49 Hunter Greene, SP, CIN 3B Junior Caminero, TB 22 50 Geraldo Perdomo, SS, ARI SS Zachary Neto, LAA 51 51 Zachary Neto, SS, LAA MI Jacob Wilson, ATH 123 52 Brent Rooker, OF, ATH CI Maikel Garcia, KC 70 53 Cole Ragans, SP, KC OF Juan Soto, NYM 3 54 Dylan Cease, SP, SD OF Wyatt Langford, TEX 46 55 Eugenio Suarez, 3B, SEA OF Brandon Nimmo, NYM 142 56 Austin Riley, 3B, ATL OF Sal Frelick, MIL 171 57 Byron Buxton, OF, MIN OF Daulton Varsho, TOR 195 58 Josh Naylor, 1B, SEA U Jake Mangum, TB 267 59 Riley Greene, OF, DET P Logan Webb, SF 75 60 C.J. Abrams, SS, WAS P Joe Ryan, MIN 94 ROUND 6 P Zack Wheeler, PHI 99 61 Michael King, SP, SD P Robbie Ray, SF 147 62 William Contreras, C, MIL P Abner Uribe, MIL 166 63 Hunter Goodman, C, COL P Edward Cabrera, MIA 190 64 Corey Seager, SS, TEX P Ryan Weathers, MIA 219 65 Shea Langeliers, C, ATH P Parker Messick, CLE 238 66 Seiya Suzuki, OF, CHC P Riley O’Brien, STL 243 67 Oneil Cruz, OF, PIT DREW KLEIN 68 Roman Anthony, OF, BOS C Yainer Diaz, HOU 108 69 Framber Valdez, SP, HOU C Alejandro Kirk, TOR 157 70 Maikel Garcia, 3B, KC 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., TOR 13 71 Jacob deGrom, SP, TEX 2B Luis Garcia, WAS 180 72 Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B, KC 3B Alex Bregman, BOS 84 ROUND 7 SS C.J. Abrams, WAS 60 73 Michael Harris, OF, ATL MI Chase Meidroth, CHW 276 74 George Springer, OF, TOR CI Rafael Devers, SF 36 75 Logan Webb, SP, SF OF Julio Rodriguez, SEA 12 76 Tyler Soderstrom, OF, ATH OF Steven Kwan, CLE 85 77 Ben Rice, C, NYY OF Dylan Crews, WAS 133 78 Christian Walker, 1B, HOU OF Ian Happ, CHC 156 79 Spencer Strider, SP, ATL OF Wilyer Abreu, BOS 204 80 Freddy Peralta, SP, MIL U Connor Norby, MIA 252 81 Christian Yelich, DH, MIL P Blake Snell, LAD 37 82 Randy Arozarena, OF, SEA P Michael King, SD 61 83 Bo Bichette, SS, TOR P Robert Suarez, SD 109 84 Alex Bregman, 3B, BOS P Tanner Bibee, CLE 132 ROUND 8 P Will Vest, DET 181 85 Steven Kwan, OF, CLE P Roki Sasaki, LAD 205 86 Nico Hoerner, 2B, CHC P Shane Smith, CHW 228 87 Mason Miller, RP, SD P Shane McClanahan, TB 229 88 Jose Altuve, 2B, HOU P Zebby Matthews, MIN 253 89 Andres Munoz, RP, SEA SEAN MARTIN 90 Will Smith, C, LAD C Will Smith, LAD 90 91 Adley Rutschman, C, BAL C J.T. Realmuto, PHI 210 92 Jeremy Pena, SS, HOU 1B Nick Kurtz, ATH 18 93 Salvador Perez, C, KC 2B Jackson Holliday, BAL 103 94 Joe Ryan, SP, MIN 3B Eugenio Suarez, SEA 55 95 Spencer Schwellenbach, SP, ATL SS Mookie Betts, LAD 31 96 Jordan Westburg, 3B, BAL MI Xander Bogaerts, SD 223 ROUND 9 CI Ryan McMahon, NYY 247 97 Jesus Luzardo, SP, PHI OF Corbin Carroll, ARI 7 98 Edwin Diaz, RP, NYM OF Seiya Suzuki, CHC 66 99 Zack Wheeler, SP, PHI OF Teoscar Hernandez, LAD 114 100 Josh Hader, RP, HOU OF Lawrence Butler, ATH 151 101 George Kirby, SP, SEA OF Chandler Simpson, TB 186 102 Matt Chapman, 3B, SF U Marcell Ozuna, ATL 199 103 Jackson Holliday, 2B, BAL P Max Fried, NYY 42 104 Bryson Stott, 2B, PHI P Spencer Strider, ATL 79 105 Isaac Paredes, 3B, HOU P Nick Pivetta, SD 127 106 Trevor Story, SS, BOS P Sandy Alcantara, MIA 138 107 Jhoan Duran, RP, PHI P Carlos Rodon, NYY 162 108 Yainer Diaz, C, HOU P Trevor Megill, MIL 175 ROUND 10 P Kyle Finnegan, DET 234 109 Robert Suarez, RP, SD P Jameson Taillon, CHC 258 110 Kyle Stowers, OF, MIA P Jacob Lopez, ATH 271 111 Tyler Glasnow, SP, LAD MIKE NELSON 112 Yandy Diaz, 1B, TB C Drake Baldwin, ATL 144 113 Dansby Swanson, SS, CHC C Tyler Stephenson, CIN 241 114 Teoscar Hernandez, OF, LAD 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, KC 72 115 Shota Imanaga, SP, CHC 2B Jazz Chisholm, NYY 25 116 Ozzie Albies, 2B, ATL 3B Jordan Westburg, BAL 96 117 Cade Smith, RP, CLE SS Trea Turner, PHI 24 118 Brandon Lowe, 2B, TB MI Marcus Semien, TEX 240 119 Kyle Bradish, SP, BAL CI Spencer Steer, CIN 192 120 Ryan Pepiot, SP, TB OF Jackson Merrill, SD 48 ROUND 11 OF Michael Harris, ATL 73 121 David Bednar, RP, NYY OF Jo Adell, LAA 145 122 Aroldis Chapman, RP, BOS OF Dylan Beavers, BAL 193 123 Jacob Wilson, SS, ATH OF Jac Caglianone, KC 264 124 Eury Perez, SP, MIA U Shohei Ohtani, LAD 1 125 Jeff Hoffman, RP, TOR P Hunter Greene, CIN 49 126 Matt McLain, 2B, CIN P Jesus Luzardo, PHI 97 127 Nick Pivetta, SP, SD P Ryan Pepiot, TB 120 128 Pablo Lopez, SP, MIN P David Bednar, NYY 121 129 Chase Burns, SP, CIN P Cade Horton, CHC 168 130 Brandon Woodruff, SP, MIL P Cameron Schlittler, NYY 169 131 Agustin Ramirez, C, MIA P Jack Leiter, TEX 216 132 Tanner Bibee, SP, CLE P Zac Gallen, ARI 217 ROUND 12 P Grant Taylor, CHW 265 133 Dylan Crews, OF, WAS DAN SCHNEIER 134 Luke Keaschall, 2B, MIN C Francisco Alvarez, NYM 239 135 Trevor Rogers, SP, BAL C Austin Wells, NYY 242 136 Willy Adames, SS, SF 1B Freddie Freeman, LAD 47 137 Spencer Torkelson, 1B, DET 2B Jorge Polanco, SEA 194 138 Sandy Alcantara, SP, MIA 3B Matt Shaw, CHC 218 139 Bryce Miller, SP, SEA SS Geraldo Perdomo, ARI 50 140 Michael Busch, 1B, CHC MI Xavier Edwards, MIA 215 141 Kevin Gausman, SP, TOR CI Alec Burleson, STL 263 142 Brandon Nimmo, OF, NYM OF Aaron Judge, NYY 2 143 Shane Bieber, SP, TOR OF Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC 26 144 Drake Baldwin, C, ATL OF George Springer, TOR 74 ROUND 13 OF Andy Pages, LAD 146 145 Jo Adell, OF, LAA OF Taylor Ward, LAA 167 146 Andy Pages, OF, LAD U Kyle Schwarber, PHI 23 147 Robbie Ray, SP, SF P Jacob deGrom, TEX 71 148 Gavin Williams, SP, CLE P Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL 95 149 Noelvi Marte, OF, CIN P Edwin Diaz, NYM 98 150 Triston Casas, 1B, BOS P Kyle Bradish, BAL 119 151 Lawrence Butler, OF, ATH P Aroldis Chapman, BOS 122 152 Nathan Eovaldi, SP, TEX P Shane Bieber, TOR 143 153 Luis Robert, OF, CHW P Emmet Sheehan, LAD 170 154 Max Muncy, 3B, LAD P Bubba Chandler, PIT 191 155 Jakob Marsee, OF, MIA P Justin Steele, CHC 266 156 Ian Happ, OF, CHC SEAN SNOW ROUND 14 C Salvador Perez, KC 93 157 Alejandro Kirk, C, TOR C Kyle Teel, CHW 213 158 Mike Trout, OF, LAA 1B Jonathan Aranda, TB 165 159 Trent Grisham, OF, NYY 2B Ketel Marte, ARI 21 160 Samuel Basallo, C, BAL 3B Jose Ramirez, CLE 4 161 Kerry Carpenter, OF, DET SS Colson Montgomery, CHW 189 162 Carlos Rodon, SP, NYY MI Gleyber Torres, DET 237 163 Devin Williams, RP, NYY CI Mark Vientos, NYM 261 164 Nolan McLean, SP, NYM OF James Wood, WAS 28 165 Jonathan Aranda, 1B, TB OF Cody Bellinger, NYY 45 166 Abner Uribe, RP, MIL OF Brent Rooker, ATH 52 167 Taylor Ward, OF, LAA OF Tyler Soderstrom, ATH 76 168 Cade Horton, SP, CHC OF Jurickson Profar, ATL 172 ROUND 15 U Adolis Garcia, TEX 268 169 Cameron Schlittler, SP, NYY P Framber Valdez, HOU 69 170 Emmet Sheehan, SP, LAD P Josh Hader, HOU 100 171 Sal Frelick, OF, MIL P Cade Smith, CLE 117 172 Jurickson Profar, OF, ATL P Eury Perez, MIA 124 173 Royce Lewis, 3B, MIN P Kevin Gausman, TOR 141 174 Bryan Reynolds, OF, PIT P Gavin Williams, CLE 148 175 Trevor Megill, RP, MIL P Daniel Palencia, CHC 196 176 Jasson Dominguez, OF, NYY P Matthew Boyd, CHC 220 177 Raisel Iglesias, RP, ATL P Tanner Scott, LAD 244 178 Carlos Estevez, RP, KC FRANK STAMPFL 179 Kris Bubic, SP, KC C Ben Rice, NYY 77 180 Luis Garcia, 2B, WAS C Gabriel Moreno, ARI 197 ROUND 16 1B Michael Busch, CHC 140 181 Will Vest, RP, DET 2B Ozzie Albies, ATL 116 182 Jacob Misiorowski, SP, MIL 3B Royce Lewis, MIN 173 183 Ranger Suarez, SP, PHI SS Bobby Witt, KC 5 184 Trey Yesavage, SP, TOR MI Jeremy Pena, HOU 92 185 Sonny Gray, SP, STL CI Addison Barger, TOR 236 186 Chandler Simpson, OF, TB OF Jackson Chourio, MIL 20 187 Ryan Helsley, RP, NYM OF Roman Anthony, BOS 68 188 Nick Lodolo, SP, CIN OF Noelvi Marte, CIN 149 189 Colson Montgomery, SS, CHW OF Brenton Doyle, COL 212 190 Edward Cabrera, SP, MIA OF Giancarlo Stanton, NYY 245 191 Bubba Chandler, SP, PIT U Yordan Alvarez, HOU 29 192 Spencer Steer, 1B, CIN P Bryan Woo, SEA 44 ROUND 17 P Cole Ragans, KC 53 193 Dylan Beavers, OF, BAL P George Kirby, SEA 101 194 Jorge Polanco, 2B, SEA P Jeff Hoffman, TOR 125 195 Daulton Varsho, OF, TOR P Nolan McLean, NYM 164 196
প্রকাশিত: 2025-10-30 18:28:00
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