The first four rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft unfolded Saturday in Philadelphia, and the opening round handed out a clear set of early winners and losers.
At the top of the board, the Chicago White Sox made the kind of pick that can change the temperature of an organization fast. With the No. 1 overall selection, the AL Central leaders took UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the top college prospect in the class and one of the most productive players in college baseball over the last three seasons.
ESPN MLB expert Dan Mullen called him a player who “comes with a high floor and an All-Star ceiling,” and the numbers back that up. Cholowsky, the 2026 Big Ten Player of the Year, hit .320/.452/.636 with 21 home runs and 60 runs batted in this season for a Bruins team that went 52-8.
He also walked and struck out 36 times apiece. That kind of bat fits neatly alongside 2021 first-rounder Colson Montgomery, who has become a quality power threat despite entering Saturday with a team-high 116 strikeouts and 23 home runs, the most in the majors among primary shortstops.
Chicago has been one of the biggest surprises of the first half at 49-45, and adding the top college bat in the draft only sharpens the sense that this team may be moving from surprise act to something bigger.
Tampa Bay followed with another strong move at No. 2, taking shortstop Grady Emerson from Fort Worth (Texas) Christian HS. MLB.com had Emerson as the top overall prospect, and the Rays got him after a monster season that earned him 2026 Gatorade National Player of the Year honors. He hit .532/.648/1.013 with seven home runs and 31 stolen bases, and in May he was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, becoming just the second high-school prospect in the last 20 years to get that recognition.
The fit matters too. Even with the best record in the American League, Tampa Bay has had a weak spot at shortstop, where primary starter Taylor Walls is a career .198 hitter and is batting .217 in 74 games this season. Emerson gives them a real long-term answer.
San Francisco also came away looking better than its record suggests. The Giants, sitting at 39-55, used the No. 4 pick on Jackson Flora, the top pitching prospect in the 2026 class.
Flora was dominant last season at UC Santa Barbara, going 12-0 in 16 starts with a 1.06 ERA, 133 strikeouts and 32 walks in 102 innings. Later, with the No. 29 pick, San Francisco added another arm in southpaw Carson Bolemon out of Southside Christian School.
In a division ruled by the Dodgers’ offense, more pitching never hurts, and the Giants left the draft with two chances to help answer that problem.
Pittsburgh kept its LSU connection rolling at No. 5 by taking Tigers outfielder Derek Curiel. The Pirates last dipped into LSU for a first-rounder when they took Paul Skenes No. 1 overall, and that choice turned into the 2025 NL Cy Young winner.
Curiel drew praise from Mullen, who wrote that he “has excellent instincts in center field and should be able to stick there.” If Pittsburgh has found another hit from the same source, that pipeline may not be closing anytime soon.
Not everyone left Philadelphia feeling good.
Rob Manfred landed on the losers side after a simple but embarrassing stumble during the proceedings. The commissioner mispronounced Cholowsky’s name, saying “chuh-LEW-skee” instead of “cha-LAU-skee,” according to UCLA’s media guide. For a player standing at the front of the draft, it was a rough moment, and it set the wrong tone right away.
Cincinnati’s first-round choice also raised eyebrows. The Reds selected former Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron at No. 18, a player who drew mixed reviews because of his tools and his production.
MLB.com and ESPN both pointed to him as a potential value pick, but ESPN also noted that he “struggled at the plate,” and in the field, finishing 2026 with a .277/.386/.534 slash line and 19 errors. That’s a tricky profile for a Cincinnati team that entered Saturday as the NL’s second-worst hitting club, and it could mean a long development path before Lebron is ready for the majors.
The Mets, meanwhile, took a swing on Arkansas right-hander Carson Wiggins at No. 27, and it looked like a risky one. Wiggins ranked 90th in ESPN’s board and had thrown only 14 college innings, with none since 2025. New York did land Texas outfielder Aiden Robbins at No. 92, which was viewed as a steal, but the first-round decision still stood out as a head-scratcher for a franchise that has had enough trouble already.
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