With the MLB Draft only about two months away I thought it would be good to examine the history of the players selected with the picks the Atlanta Braves have in the 2026 MLB Draft. With the Braves picking 26th overall for their second first round selection, I decided to start by looking at the history of the 26th pick in the draft in the modern era – or since 1987.
Every player and the team selecting them are being listed, as well as their bWAR. At the end I will run down the hit to bust rate, and what
the median WAR produced is – excluding players drafted after 2020.
Note that with the WAR, a N/A indicates that the player never made it to the big leagues, while a player listed at 0.0 is for players that did appear in a big league game and just had a neutral WAR.
Picks
1987.Red Sox-Reggie Harris, RHP, -0.1 WAR
1988.Tigers-Rico Brogna, 1B, -1.1
1989.Mariners-Scott Burrell, RHP, Did Not Sign (NBA)
1990.A’s-Don Peters, RHP, N/A
1991.A’s-Brent Gates, SS, 5.5
1992.Twins-Dan Serafini, LHP, -0.8
1993.Brewers-Kelly Wunsch, LHP, 3.1
1994.White Sox-Mark Johnson, C, 1.9
1995.Braves-Chad Hutchinson, RHP, Did Not Sign (Football)
1996.Red Sox-Josh Garrett, RHP, N/A
1997.Orioles-Darnell McDonald, OF, 0.9
1998.Orioles-Rick Elder, OF, N/A
1999.Cubs-Ben Christensen, RHP, N/A
2000.Indians-Corey Smith, SS, N/A
2001.A’s-Jeremy Bonderman, RHP, 4.9
2002.A’s-John McCurdy, SS, N/A
2003.A’s-Brian Snyder, 3B, N/A
2004.A’s-Richie Robnett, OF, N/A
2005.Red Sox-Craig Hansen, RHP, -1.9
2006.Dodgers-Bryan Morris, RHP, 2.7
2007.A’s-James Simmons, RHP, N/A
2008.Diamondbacks-Daniel Schlereth, LHP, 0.0
2009.Brewers-Eric Arnett, RHP, N/A
2010.Rockies-Kyle Parker, OF, -1.7
2011.Red Sox-Blake Swihart, C, -0.6
2012.Diamondbacks-Stryker Trahan, C, N/A
2013.Yankees-Eric Jagielo, 3B, N/A
2014.Red Sox-Michael Chavis, SS, 0.1
2015.Angels-Taylor Ward, C, 10.9
2016.White Sox-Zack Burdi, RHP, -0.8
2017.Rangers-Bubba Thompson, OF, -0.6
2018.Red Sox-Triston Casas, 3B, 2.2
2019.Diamondbacks-Blake Walston, LHP, -0.1
2020.A’s-Tyler Soderstrom, C, 3.7
2021.Twins-Chase Petty, RHP, -0.7
2022.White Sox-Noah Schultz, LHP, 0.2
2023.Yankees-George Lombard Jr., SS, N/A
2024.Yankees-Ben Hess, RHP, N/A
2025.Phillies-Gage Wood, RHP, N/A
Breakdown
Total Players Drafted and Signed 1987-2019: 31
Total WAR: 24.4
Average WAR: 0.8
Five Best Players: Taylor Ward (114 career HR), Brent Gates (.685 OPS), Jeremy Bonderman (200 starts), Tyler Soderstrom, Triston Casas
Total 20+ WAR: 0
Total 10+ WAR: 1
Total Who Failed to Reach MLB: 12 (Excluding Burrell, who didn’t sign due to the NBA)
Thoughts
The 26th pick has been pretty awful over the last nearly 40 years. The fact that Taylor Ward is by far the best player to come out of that pick, says everything. It’s also telling that the rest of the Top 5 players to be drafted with this pick include a guy with a sub-.700 OPS, a pitcher who was more about volume (200 starts) than production (89 ERA+), a 24-year-old, and a player who despite only being 26 hasn’t done anything for the past two years due to injury.
Things could really change in the next few years though. Tyler Soderstrom is a talented young slugger, Noah Schultz and George Lombard Jr. are among the top prospects in the game, and Chase Petty, Ben Hess, and Gage Wood are all prospects with potential. You could also add that Triston Casas and Blake Walston are still young, and if they are able to return to health, could still make an impact.
The odds aren’t in the Braves favor, with nearly 40% of the guys picked 26th failing to reach the big leagues, and there really only being one player in almost 40 years who became even a solid starter.
