In case you were not already aware, many Atlanta Braves fans had been eagerly awaiting last night’s news of the National League Rookie of the Year Award being awarded to Drake Baldwin since early last spring.
This is not because they cared only about Baldwin getting an award, rather the award comes with an extra first round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft.
This is due to a fairly new rule change to the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, to incentivize teams to promote their talented young players in order to prevent them from keeping them in the minor leagues for six weeks to extend their service time. This rule, called the Prospect Promotion Incentive, is given to players who are Top 100 prospects that make the Opening Day roster. This incentive previously was awarded to the Mariners for Julio Rodriguez winning AL Rookie of the Year as well as the Royals for Bobby Witt Jr. being an AL MVP finalist, and was also this year given to the Astros for Hunter Brown being a Top 3 finalist for the AL Cy Young Award. Note that each player is only eligible to get one pick for his team, so Baldwin will not be able to get the Braves another selection by being named MVP in the future.
This pick itself comes after the first round of the draft, and while the draft order is not set in stone just yet, we can estimate that it will be somewhere around pick 26-30, as the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, and Blue Jays are all set to see their first round picks drop by 10 slots due to exceeding the second CBA threshold – though the Mets do have a minimal chance of hitting the draft lottery and keeping that pick as this rule doesn’t effect Top 6 selections.
With a pick in the 26-30 range the Braves aren’t just adding an extra selection, but will see their bonus pool increase considerably as well. In the 2025 Draft, the slot values for the 26th and 30th picks were $3,492,200 and $3113,300. That’s up from 2024’s values of $3,332,900 to $2971,300. So the Braves could add roughly $3.6M to just under $3.3M with this pick.
The additional roughly $3.5M to go with a likely Top 10 pick and it’s bonus and a high second round pick will give the Braves a high bonus pool, and the ability to potentially float a player they like down to themselves.
With that in mind here is a brief writeup on 10 players who could potentially be available to the Braves with their new first round pick with how draft rankings are set up right now.
Caden Bogenpohl, OF, Missouri State
Bogenpohl is a monstrous 6’6, 240 pound slugger, but also a high end athlete for his size. The power is the calling card, and he has excellent plate discipline – though his contact ability has some questions. If he can hit enough he projects as a prototypical right fielder, with the athleticism, arm, and 30+ homer power with a high on base percentage.
Trevor Condon, OF, Georgia HS
Condon is a Woodstock, Georgia native who is an 80-grade runner most known for his speed, contact, and defense. Players like this have risen in recent drafts, as he profiles as a top of the order bat who plays strong defense in center field.
Daniel Cuvet, 3B/1B, Miami
Cuvet is a powerful college third baseman who was highly thought of in the draft out of high school but ended up going to school after being drafted late by the Pirates. He has has two very strong years at Miami, blasting 42 homers for his career, though there are still some questions about his contact ability and whether he can stick at third defensively.
Brady Harris, OF, Florida HS
Harris was actually an early candidate for the 1.1 selection, but he struggled a bit over the summer with his hit tool. Beyond the hit tool he has a chance for every tool to be a plus tool, and he has shown better with his hit tool in the past. His spring will very likely push him up or down from this area, as a guy with five tool potential, but for right now he is in this range.
Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
Lackey broke out last spring and had a solid summer with the US National Team to get himself into first round consideration. He’s a glove first catcher who broke out with the bat last year, though the power is still more to the gaps than over the fence. Still he is an excellent defender with above average athleticism for the position (he stole 18 bases in 21 attempts last year) and growing into being a good enough hitter to be a regular starter at the position.
Trey Rangel, RHP, Texas HS
Rangel is an older for the prep class right-handed pitcher with electric stuff. His fastball is up to 98 MPH and he’s got a devastating slider, giving him two potentially plus pitches. His changeup is still a work in progress, which isn’t a surprise for a guy with his stuff, but the command is going to need significant improvement for him to remain a starter.
Kevin Roberts, OF/RHP, Mississippi HS
Roberts is in the dreaded Mississippi prep bat demographic, but he’s also a two-way player. And we can’t forget the last time the Braves took a Mississippi two-way guy as a bat, when they selected Austin Riley. Roberts is a former prep teammate of Konnor Griffin who has potential five tool potential as a bat. The power and speed are the calling cards, though he may need to improve his hit tool after struggling there at times over the summer – an area where he made strides last spring already. Roberts, who will still be age-17 on draft day, also provides some upside as a pitcher who can get up to 94 MPH.
Aiden Ruiz, SS, New York HS
Ruiz is a smaller (5’10, 165) switch hitting shortstop committed to Vanderbilt. He’s got a very mature approach and a lock to stick at short defensively, where he projects as a potential plus defender. His offensive game is more hit over power, but he does a good job of hitting line drives all over the field. He’s consistently produced against top competition, but it is worth noting that he is older for the class.
Savion Sims, RHP, Texas HS
Sims is a big 6’8, 205-pound arm that has already touched 100 MPH with his fastball and has considerable projection remaining on his large frame. His slider is a second pitch he has that he can miss bats with, and his change is a bit ahead of where most power arms are. The biggest things against him are that he will need to continue improving his command, which isn’t unusual for tall prep arms with long limbs, and the fact he will already be 19 on draft day.
Kaden Waechter, RHP, Florida HS
The son of former big leaguer Doug Waechter, Kaden is a projectable young arm up to 96 MPH with a promising slider. His change is a still developing third pitch, but one he has shown some feel for already.
