Day 1 of the 2026 MLB Draft was supersized, going four full rounds and 135 picks. The first round got off to a somewhat predictable start, but then surprises started piling up around pick 20. For more on how Day 1 unfolded, click here.Below are all of those picks, plus analysis from our live blog and scouting reports. (Note: Scouting grades are on the 20-80 scouting scale.)Round 1Pick 1: Chicago White Sox — Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLALive blog analysis: After all that, all the rumors of interest in other players and nitpicking about the swing and the competition he faced, the White Sox take the obvious guy in Roch Cholowsky. He’s a polished shortstop with power and excellent instincts on both sides of the ball, hitting 44 homers over the last two years at UCLA with very high contact rates, and should move quickly through the low minors. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Cholowsky has been a prospect for some time, as his dad is the Reds’ area scout for the Four Corners, and Cholowsky was No. 23 on my draft board in 2023 when he was a senior in high school. So it’s hardly surprising that he’s become the consensus top prospect in this year’s class, even if the field has gotten closer to him as this spring has progressed. He’s a plus defender at shortstop with a plus arm, showing good instincts and a solid first step to make up for below-average foot speed. He had an outstanding sophomore year for the Bruins, hitting .353/.480/.710 with a hard-hit rate of 60 percent and strikeout rate below 10 percent, though his junior year has been just slightly below that across the board. He has plus power with an average to slightly above-average hit tool. He wrecked Big Ten pitching, but hasn’t seen a lot of premium velocity, and in a limited sample, hasn’t done much with it. Barring injury, I don’t see a world where he’s not at least an everyday MLB shortstop who hits 15-20 homers — his ceiling is 25-30 homers with a high OBP — and he’ll play plus defense in any scenario. One bit of Roch trivia: He struck out looking only three times as a sophomore, but was already at six through May 5.GO DEEPERWhite Sox take UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with No. 1 pick in the 2026 MLB DraftPick 2: Tampa Bay Rays — Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian (North Richland Hills, Texas) Live blog analysis: Tampa takes the top high school player in the draft, high school shortstop Grady Emerson, a strong hitter for contact who is likely to stay at shortstop and should develop enough power to make him an above-average or better regular. He was one of the best hitters on the showcase circuit in 2025, which should give the Rays some confidence that he’ll be able to handle the jump to low A next spring, especially since he faced weak competition this spring while playing for a small high school.I am a little surprised they’d pass on a potential answer to their franchise history-long issues behind the plate in Lackey, so they must really believe in Emerson’s bat. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Emerson is the leading high school position player in the draft, by consensus, and maybe also by default, given the paucity of other candidates at the very top of the draft. His case is much more about his skills rather than plus tools or athleticism, and the descriptions I hear from scouts and execs make it sound like they’re hoping he’s the next Kevin McGonigle. And maybe he is: Emerson does hit, making contact at a reasonably high clip last summer at showcases (13.3 percent strikeout rate, 23.3 percent whiff rate), while showing fringe-average power now that projects to above-average at his peak. He shows good instincts and hands at short and should stick there despite being a below-average runner. He transferred from a large public school to a tiny religious school in part to play for Rusty Greer, the former Rangers outfielder who is now the head coach at Fort Worth Christian.GO DEEPERHow pro connections around top MLB draft prospect Grady Emerson have helped block out the noisePick 3: Minnesota Twins — Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia TechLive blog analysis: Vahn Lackey might be a generational talent, and the long-term answer for the Twins behind the plate. He’s an outstanding athlete who’s played multiple positions and only became a full-time catcher this year, when he also broke out at the plate thanks to some swing adjustments, going from six homers as a sophomore to 20 as a junior. He’s got an excellent approach, should end up with 55-60 grade power, and is even an above-average runner. I think the Twins will end up with the best player in the class, and they have to be ecstatic that it fell this way. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Lackey’s surge at the plate in his draft year has lifted him from late first-round territory to the uppermost echelon, thanks to offseason work on his swing to help him get the ball off the ground and further in the air. He was hitting .371/.491/.682 through May 5, ranking in the top 5 percent of all Division I hitters in OBP and slugging, third among catchers playing in major conferences, and he finished the year at .397/.519/.772. He’s extremely athletic with 55 speed and outstanding agility, getting up out of the crouch quickly on blocks or weak groundballs, with an 80 arm that just needs to be more consistent. He’s an excellent hitter for contact, with a 15 percent whiff rate this year, but he doesn’t have the raw power that Roch Cholowsky offers. I think the two are very close as prospects, with Lackey’s appeal in his ability to stay behind the plate and add value at such a scarce position, while Cholowsky has more power upside.2026 MLB DraftDan HayesPick 4: San Francisco Giants — Jackson Flora, RHP, University of California, Santa BarbaraLive blog analysis: Giants fans have been telling me for weeks they wanted Jackson Flora at 4, and they got their wish, as San Francisco takes the best pitcher in the draft class. Flora held that mantle wire to wire, moving into the Friday night role at UC Santa Barbara vacated by last year’s No. 2 pick, Tyler Bremner, dominating hitters with plus control and an out-pitch changeup. He led Division 1 with a 1.06 ERA and finished fifth with 133 strikeouts.There are some concerns about the lack of vert on the fastball, and he didn’t face a lot of great lineups in the Big West. That changeup is going to allow him to get to Double-A fairly quickly and buys him some time to work on trying to get better life on the fastball. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Flora is easily the best pitching prospect in this class, high school or college, because he’s that good and the pitching crop this year is … not that good. Through the end of the Gauchos’ regular season, he’d struck out 115 in 87 1/3 innings (33.2 percent) against just 24 walks, with a 1.03 ERA. He’s been up to 100 and sits 94-98 with his four-seamer, but that’s his least effective pitch thanks to a 70 changeup and plus slider. The changeup is around 86-90 and looks very similar to the fastball out of his hand, with some fading action away from lefties; hitters whiffed on it close to half the time they swung this year, and it’s equally effective against hitters on both sides. His slider is sharp with late downward break, getting a lot of swings that go right over the top of it, and he should probably just use that and ditch his upper-70s curveball. There’s a little effort to the delivery and I don’t think his release point is as consistent as it could be, but he throws strikes, is on time and gets some extra help on the fastball from a low three-quarters slot. He looks like a very likely major-league starter, no worse than mid-rotation, and could end up a No. 1 for someone if he tightens up the fastball command or maybe mixes in a two-seamer.GO DEEPERGiants fill a need with first-round pick Jackson Flora, plus other Day 1 MLB Draft musingsDerek Curiel hit .349 in two seasons at LSU. (Steven Branscombe / Imagn Images)Pick 5: Pittsburgh Pirates — Derek Curiel, OF, LSULive blog analysis: Derek Curiel was one of the safest bats in the draft class; he was an outstanding hitter for contact in high school, showing well at the NHSI tournament in 2024, but didn’t show enough impact for teams to try to buy him out of LSU. He did get stronger, and while it’s not much over-the-fence power, he had a hard-hit rate over 50% this year, while showing exceptional contact rates: He whiffed on pitches in the zone less than 8 percent of the time that he swung. He should be one of the first position players from this class to reach the majors. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Curiel has always been able to hit, even in high school at Orange Lutheran, but between his lack of power at the time and his commitment to LSU, he went undrafted in 2024. Now a draft-eligible sophomore, Curiel has raked for two years in Baton Rouge, not hitting for much power but making enough hard contact to project a plus hit tool, maybe even better. He hit .353/.431/.526 this spring as a draft-eligible sophomore for the Tigers, dipping to .314/.386/.463 in the SEC, but he does show elite exit velocities that might imply some more power down the road. He’s played center and left and should at least start his pro career up the middle, with left field just the more likely option because he may get bumped by a faster player. He’s an extremely safe college position player, with maybe a little power upside, too.Pick 6: Kansas City Royals — Zion Rose, OF, LouisvilleLive blog analysis: We have our first shocker, as the Royals take Louisville outfielder Zion Rose at 6, which I assume will involve a discounted bonus. Rose is one of the best pure bats in the draft, hitting .417/.491/.646 in 36 games this spring after an ankle injury, doing nearly all of that damage in ACC play; the question will be figuring out where he plays. A high school catcher at IMG, Rose moved to the outfield almost immediately on getting to campus, playing mostly left field as the Cardinals had more established defenders in center. Rose is a plus runner, with 24 steals in that limited playing time this year, and should at least get the chance to handle center, although his defense in left has only been fair. Regardless of where he ends up, his bat should make him an above-average regular. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Rose can flat-out hit, and if he hadn’t missed almost half of the spring with an ankle injury, I think he’d be a top 15 pick. The Louisville junior hit .417/.491/.646 in 36 games — nearly all of it in ACC play — after returning from the injury, moving between center field and left field. He looked better in center than expected, though the corner is still the more likely outcome. He has excellent hand-eye coordination and bat speed, whiffing just 10 percent on fastballs this year, and 23 percent on everything else combined, and rarely chases outside the zone until he gets to two strikes. He does land slightly open and doesn’t pull the ball to the outfield as much as he should, which also means there’s some power upside here (with a 90th percentile EV of 104.6 mph, putting him well above the median) with what appear to be minor adjustments. He was a top 100 prospect out of high school, as a catcher at IMG Academy, but went undrafted due to his strong commitment to Louisville.Pick 7: Baltimore Orioles — Eric Booth Jr., OF, Oak Grove HS (Hattiesburg, Miss.)Live blog analysis: The Orioles have been linked to Eric Booth Jr., for weeks, so this wasn’t much of a surprise. Booth is one of the fastest players in the draft class, an 80 runner who should be a long-term center fielder and has surprising patience at the plate for a player from the Deep South. He’s kind of stiff in the box and will need some help rebuilding, or just building, a more rhythmic swing that takes better advantage of his physical abilities, which might also unlock some more power. He’s more of a high-upside player than the Orioles have typically targeted with their first-round picks in recent years. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Booth is an 80 runner and true center fielder with a leadoff hitter profile, making contact with a short, slashy swing without a lot of power. He’s a disciplined hitter for a high schooler, with modest whiff and chase rates last summer and fall, continuing to show patience this spring. He’s very upright at the plate and doesn’t bend his knees or rotate his hips that well, spinning off his front heel through contact so that his lead foot is pointing towards the pitcher (or further), so while he looks like he should have above-average power, it’s not showing up in games. He’s a supreme athlete who has bat-to-ball skills, which is both rare in the draft and also extremely coveted by teams who want long-term upside, but he needs an organization that can help him find a setup and swing that makes the most of his physical gifts.Pick 8: Athletics — Drew Burress, OF, Georgia TechLive blog analysis: The Athletics land Drew Burress, the fun-sized, power-hitting center fielder from Georgia Tech who hit 19 homers as a sophomore, got a little pull-happy to start his junior year, then settled back in and ended up with 16 homers this spring. He’s a high-contact hitter, as you might expect from his size, but he swings hard and has made a ton of very hard contact, with a hard-hit rate over 55 percent and top-end exit velocities that argue that his power will hold up even with the wood bat. I’m not sure he sticks in center field; he’s fine there but might get pushed to a corner by a plus defender. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Though Burress be but little, he is fierce, although to be completely honest, he was a lot more fierce as a sophomore. The 5-foot-9 outfielder whacked 19 homers in 60 games in 2025, but got off to a slow start in 2026 as he seemed to be trying too hard to lift and pull the ball. He returned to his 2025 approach as the season has progressed, hitting better in conference play than outside of it, with 16 homers through 61 games overall, nine of them in the ACC. Despite his small size, he has easy plus power, with a 90th percentile EV of 109.1 during the regular season that put him in the top 3 percent of all qualifying batters. He swings hard, with excellent bat speed, and is short to the ball but long through it with enough loft in his finish to drive the ball in the air without having to force it. He’s had more walks than strikeouts in all three of his years with the Wreck, with a chase rate just under 20 percent, and his contact rate on strikes is well above the Division I median. He’s a center fielder now, but has a less than even chance to stay there in pro ball. He projects to 20+ homers a year, which would make him a star in center and still a regular even in a corner.Pick 9: Atlanta — AJ Gracia, OF, VirginiaLive blog analysis: Atlanta pivots to a different college outfielder than the one they supposedly wanted in Drew Burress, taking Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia, who has plus power and walked more than he struck out in each of the last two seasons. In a clip of an interview with Gracia that MLB played before the draft began, he said he modeled himself after Cody Bellinger, which totally fits – both guys are left-handed hitters with very uphill swings designed to pull everything in the air. He’s played some center but likely moves to a corner, and there could be more power to come given that he played this spring with some kind of shoulder injury. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Gracia transferred from Duke to UVA this year and emerged as the Hoos’ best power threat, although he hasn’t improved from his breakout 2025 season with the Blue Devils. He has plus power and a good idea of the strike zone, chasing pitches well out of the zone just 13 percent of the time, while making contact at high rates for someone with his power — through May 9 his in-zone whiff rate was just 9 percent. His swing gets kind of uphill, and he might end up hitting more balls to the track than he should given the pure strength here. He’s played center field for the Cavaliers but will end up in right in pro ball. The whole right now is less than the sum of the parts, which points to an opportunity for a team that’s good with finishing off hitters’ development, especially if they can get Gracia’s bat more consistently on plane.Pick 10: Colorado Rockies — Tyler Bell, SS, KentuckyLive blog analysis: Tyler Bell is a steal at pick 10 for the Rockies: He was third on my board, as he absolutely raked this spring despite dislocating his non-throwing shoulder in the weekend’s first season. A second-round pick of the Rays out of high school, Bell might have ended up in the 1-1 conversation with a full, healthy season, and even with one functioning shoulder still hit .343/.510/.608 in 41 games, most of that coming against SEC pitching. He’s also a true switch-hitter with simple swings from both sides of the plate. I don’t think he’s a good enough defender to dislodge Ezequiel Tovar, but there’s a chance he could stick at shortstop if need be, with second base the most obvious place to move him. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Bell was the No. 66 pick in the 2024 draft by the Rays in the second round, and Tampa thought he was going to sign until he announced he was headed to Lexington instead. He’s now a draft-eligible sophomore, as he turned 21 at the end of June, and despite a severe shoulder injury suffered during the first weekend that nearly ended his season, he’s headed for a very high selection at the draft in July. Bell was one of the best hitters in the SEC this year with a .352/.517/.602 line heading into the conference tournament; he’d be leading the conference in OBP if he had enough PA to qualify. He’s a very disciplined hitter, with a chase rate of 13.5 percent during the regular season, and still shows above-average power with plenty of hard contact, including a 90th percentile EV of 105.5 mph that puts him in the top 20 percent of batters. He is a true switch-hitter with simple swings from both sides of the plate, taking a small stride and getting a lot of juice from his hip rotation, with slightly better bat speed from the left side. He projects to high OBPs with 15-20 homer upside at his peak. Given that he’s likely to stay at shortstop, he’s a potential All-Star. His early season injury, a dislocated non-throwing shoulder, may require surgery after the draft, which would push his pro debut to the spring of 2027, though he has played through it all spring rather than miss the entire college season.Pick 11: Washington Nationals — Chris Hacopian, IF, Texas A&MLive blog analysis: The Nats have been linked to Chris Hacopian all spring, and I suppose nothing happened to dislodge them. Hacopian DH’d most of the year for Texas A&M after suffering a lower back injury early in the season that knocked him out for most of a month. I saw the two at-bats he took the first time he tried to play through it, one of which ended in a long home run to left-center.It’s a really good right-handed swing with power and loft, and he’s shown exceptional contact skills, whiffing on pitches in the zone less than 10 percent of the time he’s swung. He was Maryland’s starting shortstop in 2025, but was likely to move to second or third even before the injury. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Hacopian played one game over the span of a month near the start of the season due to a lower back injury, but didn’t miss a weekend after his return, hitting .319/.405/.578 in about two-thirds of a season’s worth of playing time as the Aggies’ DH. He still showed a very good line-drive swing and an excellent contact rate, with an in-zone whiff rate of just 8 percent, even though he wasn’t moving as well as he did prior to the back issue. He’s a transfer from Maryland, where he hit .375/.502/.656 as a sophomore while striking out less than 10 percent of the time. If his medicals don’t hold him back, he’s an easy first-round bat with the potential for power and high contact rates in pro ball.Pick 12: Los Angeles Angels — Jared Grindlinger, OF/LHP, Huntington Beach (Calif.) HSLive blog analysis: The Angels have played it safe in the first round for years, but with the scouting staff now making the picks, they went for one of the highest-beta players in the draft in two-way player Jared Grindlinger, who reclassified into this draft class before the season began and only turned 17 in mid-April.Grindlinger is a lefty who’s up to 96 off the mound, while he’s also a left-handed hitting outfielder with excellent bat-to-ball skills and some projection for power. Scouts differ on how much his narrowish frame might fill out, and on whether he’s a better prospect in the box or as a pitcher. He’s going to take a long time to get there either way — maybe needing two years in the complex, but it’s refreshing to see the Angels aim higher for a change. The Angels announced him as an outfielder. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Grindlinger is the draft’s best two-way prospect. He’s a left-handed pitcher whose fastball is up to 96 and outfielder with outstanding bat-to-ball skills, and he only turned 17 in April. He reclassified into this draft just before the season started so he wasn’t seen as much last summer and fall as most of the high schoolers in the class. He’s still almost all projection at this point, and the bat speed isn’t great yet, but the ball carries well already and he’s likely to come into real power as he fills out. He has arm strength with a potentially plus slider but the delivery needs work, as he’s off the rubber very quickly and tends to spin off his front heel after he lands. He has all of the risk of a teenaged arm — more, really, as he’s younger than any other pitching prospect in the class. I think he’s a much better prospect in all respects as a hitter, while he also offers the backup option of putting him on the mound if hitting doesn’t work. (Or vice versa.)Pick 13: St. Louis Cardinals — Trevor Condon, OF, Etowah High School (Woodstock, Ga.)Live blog analysis: The Cardinals hadn’t taken a high school player with their first pick since Jordan Walker in 2020, but they returned to those ranks with Trevor Condon, a Georgia high school outfielder with plus bat speed, above-average foot speed and a chance to stay in center. His ultimate ceiling is going to depend on how much power he ends up with, as he’s shown some juice with metal but less with wood, with a leadoff profile of high on-base percentages and modest power the most likely outcome. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Condon has excellent bat speed and a high probability to stick center field, putting him in top two-rounds territory for this draft. He has a high setup and likes the ball in the upper part of the zone, generating average power thanks to his quick wrists. In the summer and fall of 2025, he made a ton of contact, especially on fastballs, but didn’t drive the ball that well with wood bats, and has just fair projection for power growth. He’s a 55 runner out of the box who shows good instincts and much better closing speed in the outfield. He’s committed to Tennessee.Pick 14: Miami Marlins — Jacob Lombard, SS, Gulliver Prep (Pinecrest, Fla.)Live blog analysis: The Marlins take Jacob Lombard, a local product and the younger brother of Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. By tools alone, Lombard was a top-five talent in the draft, and 20-30 years ago he would have been considered with the first pick; it’s plus power, run, and throw, at the very least.He’s also shown an alarming propensity to swing and miss at showcases and even against high school competition this year, and cutting down on that is a bigger ask than merely adjusting a swing or getting someone to add 10 pounds of muscle. That said, the Marlins aren’t going to sign a player with this kind of upside in free agency at any point, and it makes sense for them to take someone with superstar ceiling even with this high level of risk. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: The younger brother of top Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr., Jacob Lombard has been on the showcase circuit since he was in junior high school. He has some of the best pure tools in the draft class, college or high school. He’s a 70 runner with plus power, working with a quick, direct swing that is geared to pull the ball in the air. His path to the ball is direct and he’s very rotational, getting his lower half involved to help drive the ball, although he can get a little uphill on pitches down. He also whiffed 39 percent of the time at tracked events in 2025, getting destroyed by sliders, but even struggling with better velocity when he saw it. He’s a long-term shortstop, really just lacking the pure arm strength of the typical player there in the majors. He has the swing, strength, speed and athleticism to be a superstar, but can he hit enough to even be a regular?GO DEEPERAfter lifetime around baseball, Jacob Lombard begins his own journey with Miami MarlinsPick 15: Arizona Diamondbacks — Ryder Helfrick, C, ArkansasLive blog analysis: Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick is one of the best defensive players in the draft at any position, grading out for some teams as the best amateur catcher in years, and to his credit, he overhauled his approach this year to go from a very high-whiff hitter to an average one, cutting his in-zone whiff rate by more than a third year over year. He also had to handle some premium stuff while catching the Razorbacks’ staff, including lefty Hunter Dietz, who should go somewhere in the first round today. There’s a high floor here with the defense. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Helfrick is the best defensive catcher in the class, with a 70 arm, excellent blocking skills and apparently good framing (for whatever that’s worth). He came into the year as a very questionable pro prospect after he whiffed on over 30 percent of his swings as a sophomore, putting him in the bottom 5 percent of all qualifying hitters in that category. He cut that way down to 25 percent this year, swinging less often on all pitches while also making much more contact on sliders. The improvement was mostly just a matter of better swing decisions, while he’s also moved a little further away from the plate. He hit a career-high 18 homers this year, thanks, in part, to more playing time, and has enough juice to project to 15-20 in the majors. You don’t have to hit a ton to be an everyday catcher in the big leagues, and even if Helfrick gives back some of his gains at the plate, he could still end up a low-OBP regular. If they stick, the improvements this year give him a chance to be an All-Star.Pick 16: Texas Rangers — Gio Rojas, LHP, Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS (Parkland, Fla.)Live blog analysis: The Rangers go for upside, taking the first (pure) high school pitcher of the day in Miami-area lefty Gio Rojas, who was easily the consensus No. 1 prep pitcher in this class. He’s been up to 97-98 and lives in the low 90s from a lower slot that adds deception and helps make his sweeper a true out pitch, while he has a changeup that looks good but that he hasn’t used much. He’s already 19, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a young pitcher, and should be ready to handle Low A to start next year. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Rojas is the top high school pitching prospect in this class, and will also most likely be the first one taken. His fastball is low 90s, up to 97-98, with life from a lower three-quarters slot, while his best pitch is a high-spin sweeper/slider that batters whiffed on two-thirds of the time they swung at it at tracked events in 2025-26. He does lower his arm slot for the slider, which can cause it to flatten out a little and could give better hitters a clue what’s coming (although they might just miss it by less). He has a promising changeup he hasn’t used much, as he hasn’t needed it. He turned 19 in late June, and is committed to Miami.GO DEEPERGio Rojas' foundation as a Texas Rangers first-round pick came from Stoneman Douglas programPick 17: Houston Astros — Logan Hughes, OF, Texas TechLive blog analysis: Outfielder Logan Hughes was one of the best-performing hitters in Division 1 this year, with a .375/.510/.735 line for Texas Tech that put him among the leaders in OBP and SLG for the major conferences. He has power thanks to excellent bat speed, meeting the ball out front when his bat has fully sped up. He’s not much of a runner or defender, with left field the best-case scenario, so the Astros must really believe in his bat. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Hughes has raked for the Red Raiders for two years now, walking more than he’s struck out in both seasons and hitting 37 homers in that span, with a .375/.510/.735 line this spring that ranked him fourth among major-conference hitters in OBP and 12th in slugging. He makes a ton of contact and has shown he can hit all pitch types, including catching up to good velocity, with batted-ball data to back up the plus power output. It’s a quiet swing that benefits from his tendency to meet the ball out front, so he’s getting to better bat speed by the time he makes contact. He’s not a runner and is limited to left field or maybe first base, so there’s pressure on the bat. It looks like he’ll hit enough to be a regular regardless of his position.Pick 18: Cincinnati Reds — Justin Lebron, SS, AlabamaLive blog analysis: For pure tools, Justin Lebron might be the top prospect in the class — he at least rivals Jacob Lombard, and has the benefit of three years of playing in the SEC. He’s a plus defender and above-average runner who hits the ball pretty hard already, with room to add strength as he gets older. He’s also struggled to hit good pitching, especially against decent breaking stuff, and his performance this year was way better in non-conference games. There’s All-Star upside here for sure, but he isn’t going to be a quick mover until and unless he learns to pick up spin. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Lebron has the tools to be the top pick, and if this were 1993, he’d probably be the obvious 1-1 pick. I’m increasingly concerned that he’s not going to hit, as he didn’t hit well this spring, especially once the opposing pitching got better in SEC play. Lebron is a gifted athlete who’s a 55 runner out of the box, maybe 60 underway, and a plus defender at shortstop. He has plenty of bat speed and projects to 70 raw power once he’s filled out. He did have a hard-hit rate over 50 percent this spring, and his batted-ball quality was excellent, with a 90th percentile EV of 105.8 mph that puts him in the top 15 percent of all Division I hitters. He fattened up early against some weak competition, but in conference, he hit .229/.328/.413 with a 21.6 percent strikeout rate, striking out three times as often as he walked, and he only managed an OBP over .300 because he was hit by eight pitches. Over the whole season, he whiffed on pitches in the zone 21 percent of the time (50 percent above the D1 median) and particularly struggled with breaking stuff of any sort. He is the sort of athlete on whom you bet, as he at least has the physical ability to make adjustments, but teaching a hitter who doesn’t recognize or hit spin to do those things is a difficult task for player development. He has real superstar upside, a 25-homer, 40-steal shortstop with plus defense, but too much risk for where I’ve heard him discussed this spring.Pick 19: Cleveland Guardians — Liam Peterson, RHP, FloridaLive blog analysis: The Guardians love to take pitchers with command and good offspeed stuff but who need to add velocity; Liam Peterson is kind of the opposite, as he already has plus velocity but needs help with command. He’s 93-98 with two above-average breaking pitches, including a plus slider, and has an average changeup that I think could be a fourth above-average pitch with a little tweak to his grip.He gives up way too much hard contact for this kind of stuff, surrendering a hit an inning with 11 homers this year, because he leaves way too much stuff in the middle of the zone. There’s pretty high upside here, at least No. 2, and I’ll be fascinated to see how the Guardians develop him given how he plays against type. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Peterson is stuff over performance, not that the performance has been bad, but he has frontline stuff that you’d think would produce better results. He has one of the best arsenals of any starter in the class, sitting 93-98 with a plus slider, above-average curveball and a straight changeup that’s average now, but I think points to the potential for a better changeup option down the road. His issue remains command and control, although the latter improved as the season went on, with three walks in his last four starts (24 2/3 innings) and 11 in his last 39 1/3 innings, bringing his walk rate for the season under 10 percent. There’s just too much hard contact for this kind of arsenal, including four homers allowed in his final outing against Troy in the NCAA Regionals, all on pitches just above the hitters’ belts. If he can locate better, he already has the pitches to be a No. 2 starter.Pick 20: Boston Red Sox — Jake Schaffner, SS, North CarolinaLive blog analysis: The Red Sox take Jake Schaffner, the UNC shortstop who transferred to Chapel Hill from North Dakota State and actually improved his performance. He’s a plus runner and has excellent bat-to-ball skills, with one of the lowest in-zone whiff rates in D1 this year (under 6 percent), with an all-fields approach and below-average power. I don’t think he’s a shortstop, but would love to see him in centerfield, where his speed will play up. He’s a bottom-of-the-order bat as is; I’ll be curious to see if the Red Sox try to get him to pull the ball in the air more, which they’ve tried with several hitters, to see if they can get some more game power from him. Otherwise, this seems like a low-upside pick for Boston. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Schaffner transferred from North Dakota State to North Carolina this spring and hit .356/.467/.552 for the Tar Heels, showing plus speed and extreme contact skills. He finished the year with a 9.4 percent strikeout rate, 14.3 percent in the ACC. He makes hard enough contact to project to keep hitting for average with some doubles power in pro ball, although his slugging percentage for UNC was elevated by his speed on doubles and triples. He’s not a shortstop but his speed could make him an above-average or better defender in center. There’s a little Jacob Wilson in the bat, but from the left side, maybe with a touch more extra-base power.Pick 21: San Diego Padres — Coleman Borthwick, RHP, South Walton HS (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.)Live blog analysis: The Padres do what they do, taking a high school pitcher with their first pick for the third year in a row, although this one’s a righty: Coleman Borthwick, a big-bodied pitcher from the Florida Panhandle who saw his velocity increase as the year progressed. He was up to 98 mph in the state playoffs, getting good riding life on the four-seamer, and even though he’s 6 feet 6, he comes from a low three-quarter-slot that gets some more sweeping action to his slider. He has to keep tightening that pitch up and will have to add/develop a changeup, while he also will need to maintain his conditioning as he matures. He could be a mid-rotation starter but will need time. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Borthwick struggled out of the gate, showing up with a thicker body and less velocity early in the spring, but he continued to improve as the season progressed, sitting more 94-95 later in the year and hitting 98 in the playoffs while filling up the zone with the fastball. He works primarily with that pitch, getting good ride on it thanks to a high spin rate, with a promising slider as his main secondary weapon, throwing everything from a low three-quarters slot and hiding the ball well. It’s a big frame, reminiscent of Jeff Juden physically. He’ll need to keep working on the slider, which is average when he finishes it out front, and develop a changeup to project as a starter. He’s committed to Auburn.Pick 22: Detroit Tigers — Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal CarolinaLive blog analysis: The Tigers make an opportunistic pick with Cameron Flukey, who missed three months this spring with a fractured rib, but came into the spring with some top-10 buzz and still had the same stuff upon his return. He has a very high slot, getting up to 97 with a lot of depth on a 12/6 curveball, without a changeup or split for lefties and only a short slider to help him work more east/west. He has above-average control but fringy command. I think he can be a mid-rotation starter, probably not more than that with his present stuff. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Flukey missed three months with a fractured rib, but returned in time to make six starts for the Chanticleers, getting up to 69 pitches in his penultimate start, with the same stuff he’d shown prior to the injury but not quite the command. He comes from a high slot and gets up to 97 with a flat four-seamer, getting a ton of whiffs on a plus 12/6 curveball, with a short slider as his third pitch. He doesn’t use a changeup or splitter; he had a sizable platoon split in 2025, giving up five of his six homers to lefties, but basically none in a small sample this year. He projects as a mid-rotation starter, but perhaps needs a more effective fastball and/or a real change-of-pace pitch to be more than that.Pick 23: Chicago Cubs — Cade Townsend, RHP, MississippiLive blog analysis: Cade Townsend was in my top 10 at one point this spring, when his stuff was at its peak: up to 98 with huge carry atop a five-pitch mix that arguably had two more plusses in the splitter and cutter. He’s a little undersized and faded as the season progressed, getting hit harder in SEC play (and still getting worked hard, throwing 115 pitches in five innings in the regional, because college baseball is all about winning today), which led to him dropping to the back of the first round. If healthy, it’s premium stuff in a lower innings total, which adds up to more of a mid-rotation guy who might look like a top-of-the-rotation guy in his best outings. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Townsend’s been up to 98 with big carry, along with a splitter and cutter that flash plus and a slider and curve with good spin rates. He throws strikes, with a 7.2 percent walk rate on the season heading into the Super Regionals, although it’s more control than command. Townsend is undersized, listed at 6-1, and not that physical. He wasn’t as sharp or as effective in his last couple of starts as he was earlier in the season. He did struggle more with hard contact as the season progressed, giving up nine homers in 40 1/3 innings in SEC play while his strikeout rate dipped to 27.7 percent. I also don’t love him going 115 pitches, 24 over his season high, in just five innings in the NCAA Regional. It’s mid-rotation upside given the potential for three above-average pitches, but there’s reliever risk here even with the elite stuff.GO DEEPERIn need of pitching, Cubs draft Mississippi’s Cade Townsend with first-round pickPick 24: Seattle Mariners — Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi StateLive blog analysis: Ace Reese has some of the best exit-velocity data in the class and backed it up with 45 homers in his two years at Mississippi State, while his swing decisions are poor, and he’s primarily a fastball hitter who is vulnerable to all kinds of offspeed stuff. He’s a mediocre defender at third, at best, and probably ends up at first base, although he could try right field first. I had him in the second round on my board because of all of those limitations. — Keith LawKeith Law scouting report: Reese hit 45 homers in two years after transferring to Mississippi State for the start of the 2025 season, posting elite top-end exit velocities, although he doesn’t project to show top-end power in pro ball because of his swing decisions. He’s very strong and is swinging to do damage, but he expands the zone too easily, with a 29 percent chase rate overall and 19 percent on pitches well out of the strike zone. He’s also pretty susceptible to breaking stuff from lefties and changeups from righties. He’s 50/50 to stick at third base and might just end up at first, although he did play some corner outfield on the Cape.