Day One Reactions: A Team-by-Team Look at Day One

Day one is in the books, and the top of the 2026 class played out with about as much drama as the sport allows — a question at 1-1 wound up being the one we expected all along, a run on college bats early, and a handful of names sliding further than anyone expected. Here’s a quick take on every team’s day, alphabetical, first pick and beyond.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Ryder Helfrick’s profile still comes back to the hit tool question that has followed him, but the defensive value alone makes this pick.

Athletics

Drew Burress is about as clean a fit as the draft offered, and everything after him plays as pure value — Roman Martin in the fourth round profiles as a potential big league shortstop.

Atlanta Braves

AJ Gracia headlines a class with a couple of reaches in Carter Beck and Cole Dennis, but Jensen Hirschkorn is good value and Kaiden McCarthy brings massive upside.

Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore mined Mississippi prep talent at the top, landing EJ Booth at seven and Kevin Roberts Jr. at 110.

Boston Red Sox

Jack Schaffner going 20th after sitting 81 on our board was a surprise, and it fits the trend toward pure contact skills near the top of this class. What the first two picks save them will decide how much upside they can chase with the rest of day two.

Chicago Cubs

Dylan Marionneaux was the only player unranked on our board to come off the board on day one, going 126th, while Myles Bailey carries first-round talent that fell almost entirely because of injury.

Chicago White Sox

Roch Cholowsky going first overall turned out to be far less dramatic than the pre-draft noise suggested. Landon Thome was close to the least surprising pick of the day, and Cole Prosek gives them a bat that can really hit to go with a couple of solid college arms.

Cincinnati Reds

Justin Lebron looked like a true 1-1 candidate not long ago, and the Reds land him at 18 instead.

Cleveland Guardians

The question with Liam Peterson has always been production more than ability — the stuff is already elite, it just hasn’t shown up consistently, and that’s exactly the kind of gap Cleveland has a track record of closing. Logan Schmidt had been sliding into the day, and getting him represents real value.

Colorado Rockies

An all-college day one gives Colorado a high floor top to bottom. Tyler Bell fits that mold, Daniel Jackson was the best player in college baseball, and Logan Reddemann would be a clear first-rounder if not for a late injury scare — as complete a day one as anyone put together.

Detroit Tigers

Cam Flukey was one of the better value plays of round one, ranked 10th on our board before falling all the way to 22.

Houston Astros

Nearly every pick was a reach against our rankings, but the mix of floor and upside balances out. Logan Hughes is a player who splits opinion across the industry, and where his signing bonus lands will tell the real story.

Kansas City Royals

Zion Rose at six was the shock of the entire draft — a player who’s easy to like, just not typically in that range.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels usually move fast toward college performers, but not this year. Jared Grindlinger, a high school player expected to go as a left-hander or two-way piece, instead comes off the board as an outfielder, before the quick-moving college bats arrive later in Jaren Advincula, Gavin Grahovac, and Rylan Lujo.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Only two picks on day one, but the Dodgers land real upside in Bo Lowrance with the first of them at 40.

Miami Marlins

The player with the highest ceiling in this class is Jacob Lombard, and he falls all the way to 14. That says plenty on its own.

Milwaukee Brewers

For the second straight year the Brewers grab an Ebel, with Trey Ebel going 25th. Sawyer Strosnider sliding to them at 66 is a legitimate coup — a player we had rated 19th on tools alone, with buzz building all week about a slide that played out exactly as advertised on Saturday.

Minnesota Twins

Back-to-back catchers at the top in Vahn Lackey and Carson Tinney is an interesting build, and adding the big arm of Ethan Wachsmann in the third round rounds out a distinctive day.

New York Mets

Carson Wiggins threw only a handful of college innings before going 27th overall — a significant bet on a small sample.

New York Yankees

A strong mix of arms headlines their first two picks, from Hunter Dietz out of Arkansas at 35 to a high-ceiling play in Sean Duncan at 63.

Philadelphia Phillies

Tyler Spangler going 36th undersells where he’d have gone with a healthy year — some had him in the teens. Caden Bogenpohl impressed at the combine and in a Phillies pre-draft workout before landing at 64, and Ruger Riojas goes 100th overall, a number that roughly matches the arm slots he can already work from.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Derek Curiel was a surprise on paper but lines up cleanly with organizational needs, and he profiles as a quick mover who could sit near the top of a lineup soon. From there the Pirates leaned into upside with Aiden Ruiz, the best defender in the class, college junior Jason DeCaro, and Andrew Giles.

San Diego Padres

Most expected a big lefty here; instead the Padres go with a big right-hander in Coleman Borthwick, and the fit still makes plenty of sense.

San Francisco Giants

Jackson Flora at five was as safe a call as the draft offered. Carson Bolemon and Kaden Waechter bring serious upside, and Peyton Bonds adds another familiar last name to the Giants family.

Seattle Mariners

There wasn’t an obvious home for Ace Reese heading into the day, and he lands with the Mariners as good value in a spot nobody quite called.

St. Louis Cardinals

Trevor Condon is exactly the kind of player Cardinals fans will latch onto, and Rocco Maniscalco is about as young as a draft pick gets. Add in Tegan Kuhns, Andrew Williamson, Dawson Montesa, Caden Ferraro, and Dee Kennedy, and this might be the most complete day one of any team — though having the most picks on the board certainly didn’t hurt.

Tampa Bay Rays

Grady Emerson had long been the pick for Tampa Bay, and it played out exactly that way. Taj Marchand adds another prep shortstop at 33 before an underrated college arm in Ben Blair.

Texas Rangers

Gio Rojas was the top prep arm in this class on our board, and he falls all the way to 16. Brody Bumila slides to 89 amid fresh word of a UCL issue, giving Texas two front-of-the-rotation caliber lefties with real risk attached.

Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto didn’t pick until 39 and still landed our 18th-ranked player in Cole Carlon, then found Will Brick waiting at 131 despite a ranking of 67 on our board.

Washington Nationals

Chris Hacopian’s ultimate defensive home is still unsettled, but the bat is not in question — a strong value pick at 11.

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