MLB Draft week is here again, and this year’s version comes with a few changes worth keeping an eye on. The 2026 draft will be spread across Saturday, July 11th and Sunday, July 12th in Philadelphia, PA as part of All-Star Week, with coverage starting at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET both days on NBC and Peacock. MLB Network and MLB.com will also carry live coverage throughout the draft.
The first broadcast event of the week arrives before the draft itself. The Historically Black College/University Swingman Classic Game is set for Friday, July 10th at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET on MLB Network and MLB.com. The MLB Futures Game follows on Sunday at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET on NBC, and it may run into draft coverage, though MLB’s website does not make it completely clear how that overlap will be handled.
For Seattle, the draft board starts at 24th overall, which leaves the Mariners second-to-last in the first round ahead of only the Milwaukee Brewers because of their run to the ALCS a season ago. Their next two picks are 65th and 101st overall, with the third selection coming at the end of Saturday’s action.
Seattle also had a Competitive Balance Round B pick at 68th overall, but that selection went to the St. Louis Cardinals in the Brendan Donovan trade this winter.
After that, the Mariners are set to pick 129th in the fourth round and then every 30 picks after that for the rest of the draft, except in rounds five and six, where the Dodgers forfeited their picks as compensation for signing players who had declined a qualifying offer.
Seattle’s spending room is limited this year. The Mariners have an $8,218,200 bonus pool, which ranks 24th in MLB.
That is a long way from the Pirates and Rays, who each can spend more than $19 million. A year ago, Seattle used the third overall pick on LHP Kade Anderson and signed him for an $8.8 million bonus, a deal made possible by the club’s jump to third in the lottery after missing the playoffs in 2024.
Bonus pools are tied to the first 10 rounds, and teams can move unused money around later in the draft as long as they sign those early picks. Seattle has done well with its recent draft classes, but this year is more likely to bring a less flashy haul than some of the club’s recent drafts.
As for who can be drafted, the pool includes players living in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories who have never signed a previous MLB or MiLB contract and meet one of three requirements: they are a high school graduate, they are attending a junior or community college, or they are attending a four-year college or university and have been there for at least three years or have reached their 21st birthday, whichever comes first.
Players born and raised elsewhere are not part of the draft. Those players can sign with any big league club after turning 16 through each team’s capped bonus pool, or become true free agents at 25. The source points to players such as Julio Rodríguez, Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jose Abreu, and Jung Hoo Lee as examples.
There are also fresh concerns around where MLB ownership wants to take the draft next. The number of rounds has already been cut in recent bargaining agreements, dropping from 40 to 20 rounds in 2019 and from 50 to 40 in 2011, and the draft now lasts two days instead of three.
Owners have floated the idea of shrinking it further to just 12 rounds, excluding high school players entirely and raising the age of eligibility to 20. The source frames that push as a labor-cost move, one that would narrow player leverage and potentially change the paths of players such as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodríguez, Colt Emerson, and Ryan Sloan.
In Other News...
Mariners Suddenly Revisit A Familiar Outfield Option At The Right Time
Stuart Fairchild is back in the Mariners organization, and the move adds a familiar name to the upper-minors mix at a time when Seattle is always looking for useful outfield depth. The club assigned the Seattle native to Triple-A Tacoma after signing him, bringing in a player it already knows from his brief stint with the team in 2022 and one who has bounced around the big leagues since his debut in 2021.
For the Mariners, the appeal is straightforward: Fairchild brings speed, defensive versatility and a right-handed bat, all traits that can matter quickly over a long season. His path to this point has included a recent stop with Cleveland before he reached free agency, and the next question is whether this latest return to Seattle becomes more than just a depth move. [Read more 🡒]
Former Mariners Infielder Just Put Colt Emerson Hype Into Words
Ben Williamsons move out of the Mariners organization has not severed the ties that made him part of Seattles infield conversation for so long. On the Refuse to Lose Territory podcast, the former Mariners infielder talked about his career path and what it has been like to stay connected with old teammates, including Colt Emerson and Cole Young, even after being traded to Tampa Bay in the winter deal that brought Brendan Donovan to Seattle.
Williamsons comments landed because they came with real familiarity, not just standard prospect praise, and they added another layer to the buzz around Emersons rise. For Mariners fans, it is another reminder that the organizations young talent is being noticed by people who have seen it up close, and that the relationships built in the system are still very much alive as Williamson tries to settle in with the Rays, where he is hitting .235 with two home runs and 21 RBIs. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Deadline Idea Feels Risky Enough To Split The Fanbase
With the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaching, the Mariners are being linked to a familiar type of move: adding a veteran bat who could help right away but would also force some uncomfortable roster math. Jorge Polanco is back from the injured list and under contract through 2027, which is the sort of detail that makes any discussion around him more than a rental conversation. For Seattle, the appeal is easy to see, but so is the hesitation, because a move like this would not come cheap in either payroll or playing time.
The fit is where the debate starts to get messy. Second base is already occupied by Cole Young, while designated hitter has effectively been tied to Dominic Canzone, so Polanco would arrive with no obvious lane and plenty of questions attached to his role. Add in the fact that he is in Year 1 of a two-year, $40 million deal and still owed $29.9 million, and it is clear why this idea has enough upside to intrigue the front office but enough risk to split the fanbase. [Read more 🡒]