It may have gone a bit under the radar that the MLB Draft was moved up a couple of days this year. Rather than being a part of the All-Star Break, the draft will start on Saturday at 1:00, with all television coverage being posted on mlb.com
Day 1: Saturday, July 11 (Rounds 1-4)
- 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET – Preview show + Picks 1-10 (NBC/Peacock)
- 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET – Picks 11-40 (MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
- 4:30-7:45 p.m. ET – Picks 41-135 (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20)
- 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
I mean, what better way to maximize ratings than on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of the summer, while MLB games are actively being played?
The Red Sox hold the 20th pick in the 2026
draft. They technically do not have a second-round pick as a result of the signing of Ranger Suarez, who had a Qualifying Offer attached. However, they did acquire the 67th pick from the Brewers, a Competitive Balance pick at the end of the second round, in the Kyle Harrison / Caleb Durbin trade.
Last season was the first time since 2017 (Tanner Houck) that the Red Sox drafted a pitcher in the first round, selecting Kyson Witherspoon from Oklahoma. However, in the two drafts that Craig Breslow has overseen, he has loaded up on pitchers, specifically college ones. 15 of their 21 picks were pitchers in 2025, and 14 of the 20 in 2024.
With the major league pitching staff in good shape with young arms, and the minor league pipeline heavy with pitching as well, it will be interesting to see if Boston has a more balanced approach to the draft in 2026. There are a ton of informative mock drafts out there, if you want to get familiar:
- Carlos Collazo of Baseball America ($) projected Taylor Rabe, a righthanded pitcher from Ole Miss. He stated that “the Red Sox have been linked to just about every college pitcher on the board in this range.”
- Kylie McDaniel of ESPN went with Ace Reese, a third baseman from Mississippi State. He mentions that Jared Grindlinger (RF/LHP) from Huntington Beach HS (CA) was most linked to Boston throughout the spring, but his stock has likely risen enough to go earlier.
- Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs is also of the mind that the Sox will want a college pitcher in the first round, selecting Cameron Flukey, a RHP from Coastal Carolina. Arizona State lefty Cole Carlon is also on his radar, but “Flukey’s strike-throwing track record with his fastball is much better, which is something last year’s Sox picks have struggled with.”
If you’re more of a podcast fan, Sox Prospects interviewed Collazo this week with a Red Sox focus. James Anderson’s Rotowire Prospect Podcast had Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline as a guest. And a shameless plug for our Red Seat Podcast, which focused on the draft in the second half of this week’s show.
Personally, I’d like to see the Sox grab a couple of bats early on. If that means that they go with an under-slot college bat at pick #20 to have enough bonus money to make a home run pick at #67 and sway a high upside bat away from college, that’s good with me. Think, Mikey Romero at 24, Roman Anthony at 79 in 2022, for example:
Discuss in the comments what you want to see the Red Sox get out of the draft this weekend, and be good to each other.
