The 2026 Draft is approaching and it's time to take a look at the draftees and where they might find a home. Feel free to chime in and tell me I'm wrong. 1) Seattle Mariners SP Wallace 'Hat' Bannatyne - Belleville, MI The Mariners took CF Trejo with the #1 overall pick last year and he's now the second best prospect in the league. The Mariners might be tempted to take another outfielder here to pair with him, and although their farm system is currently ranked #3 in the league, it is bare with quality arms - more specifically starters. Sabatier is fading has control concerns and is starting to throw meat. Loyo is almost fully developed and is at best a back of the rotation guy. Bannatyne is 21 and starts out with 45/60/40 ratings. The 40 control should help him excel early and progress nicely. After 3-4 years in the minors, he should be able to join the young Mariner rotation and be an ace or #2. 2) Cincinnati Reds RF Homer 'Skins' Hunter - Jersey City, NY With the 25th best minor league system the Reds need to grab the best player available and that is Hunter. The Reds would likely be better served taking a pitcher here as none of the top position players fit their park, which favors RHB. Hunter would be a risk in that regard, but he projects to be a >.300 avg hitter and already has a very developed bat. Speed and defense at the corner is a definite need. 3) Detroit Tigers CF Joe 'Disco' Dale - Pharr, TX After the fire sale in Detroit following the 2025 season, the Tigers were able to re-fill their farm ranks with mild prospects which could come in handy down the road. With plenty of 'okay' pitiching prospects, they could certainly take a risk on a potential ace, or they could take a lefty contact hitting that should hit for ++ average in their park. Dale is young and will need developing, but he is athletic and projects to be a ML lead off hitter. He should immediately boost the Tigers 19th ranked farm system. 4) Kansas City Royals SP John Boyce - Smithville, MS The Royals have the 21st best farm system in the league right now and it is absolutely vacant of respectable pitching talent. At least they were able to get a 3.5 tool SS prospect out of the trade rape that the Padres pulled on them leading into the off-season. The Royals would be smart to start filling their system with arms they can rely on in the future and Boyce fits the bill. At 6'7'' 230 lbs and already decent command of his + fastball and velocity, the 21-year old should be fine in the lower leagues and is a safe bet to progress into the majors sooner rather than later. 5) New York Mets 3B Luis 'Big Thunder' Alvarez - Norristown, PA The Mets have built a top 10 system over the last few disappointing seasons while amassing some elite pitching prospects (Bowling - 9th, Hendrickson - 37th, Barnes - 54th). Alvarez fits a need in the system at the corner infield and fits the ML park with his lefty power. His speed, and possibly more importantly defense, are concerns considering both Citi field's and the Mets' needs. 6) Washington Nationals SS Felipe Macias - Allentown, PA I'm predicting the Nationals to take a solid MIF prospect over another pitcher mainly in hope that GM KnightNoles will avoid killing another elite arm. If Macias can develop some defense, he could be a very serviceable option in the league. A switch hitter, he tore through the high school ranks at the plate and that should carry over into the minors. 7) Los Angeles Angels Walt 'Losing Pitcher' Lee - Las Cruces, NM The Angels have the best farm system in the league and it's stocked with elite pitching and a few solid fielders. This is a hard pick to predict because the Angels could take the approach of taking the best talent available or taking a chance of a lesser prospect that may fit the timelines of their other prospects. I'm guessing they take the best guy available and that is Lee. Walt is a junker and gets lots of groundballs with his already developed movement. His velocity allowed him to rack up almost 9 Ks a game in college on his way to a 13-2 record. 8) Colorado Rockies Bob 'Sliding Billy' Lewis - Maple Valley, WA Colorado is starting to see it's farm system go down the drain and the need to stock it with talent is becoming an organizational priority. Lewis gives them a potential top-end arm with a very good repertoire, good velocity and already semi-developed movement and control. 9) Philadelphia Phillies Adrian 'Iron Duke' Aquino - Ellicott City, MD The Phills get a bit of a gift here as Aquino slides down to the at #9. Adrian has a lot of questions about his personality make-up and whether he has the juice to be an inning-muncher, but the guy has very good stuff and + velocity. A project who, if he pans out, is at worst a feared closer in the bigs. 10) Oakland Athletics Charles 'Maverick' Hobbs - Lake Carmel, NM The Athletics will have some options here at this pick and could risk taking a fielder with less upside, but none Hobbs may be too much to pass up at the ten slot. His fastball is mediocre, but his changeup is very nasty. A splitter will help protect his 4-seamer from being picked up. Lots of concern about his size but a lot of scouts like his compact release which makes it hard to pick the ball up out of his hand. More coming soon.
With as poor as the hitting prospect pool has been, I'm surprised we've slipped to #3 without a hitter being taken yet.
When the cupboard is bare, you take the best available. Unfortunately I don't know enough to distinguish what the best is.
Nice writeup drifter. I am curious to see how close these predictions are to the real draft. I do know guys love their SP prospects so it would not surprise me at all to see 10 SP go off the board in a row.
Drifterbub How'd you miss the 6'7" lefty with the nasty forkball? Needless to say, easily best pitcher in the draft. 13.6 K/9 rate in college? Yes please Don't drown in stars
I had him graded the same as the 7,8,9 and 10th picks in my mock. You can't have a groundball% of 55 and 'easily' be the best pitcher in the draft. Additionally, he is the same star potential as the the rest of the guys in the mock, so not sure what you mean there... Hopefully he turns out for you.
He's probably better off being a fly ball pitcher in Comerica, as long as Fmode11 has some OF with range.
Sorry Drifterbub but you missed the true dark horse of this draft class: Hanus Sekeras. I wouldn't be pointing him out if I was NL. Hell, you could have this guy platooned in the outfield on the days he wasn't pitching.
I wanted his bat for coors. It's a tough call though as I think there were/are 1-2 arms better than him. His bat makes up for that though IMO.
