MLB mock draft: 2026 late college season update

[Sean McCormack]

The first edition of the 2026 MLB mock draft has arrived. As the college baseball regular season nears its conclusion, my board of top draft-eligible prospects has fallen in place. The Marlins select 14th in the first round. 

Pick #	Team	Player	Position	School	Slot Value
1	Chicago White Sox	Roch Cholowsky	SS	UCLA	$11,350,600
2	Tampa Bay Rays	Grady Emerson	SS	High School	$10,507,000
3	Minnesota Twins	Vahn Lackey	C	Georgia Tech	$9,740,100
4	San Francisco Giants	Jackson Flora	RHP	UC Santa Barbara	$8,988,400
5	Pittsburgh Pirates	AJ Gracia	OF	Virginia	$8,336,500
6	Kansas City Royals	Jared Grindlinger	LHP/OF	High School	$7,746,100
7	Baltimore Orioles	Drew Burress	OF	Georgia Tech	$7,327,200
8	Athletics	Logan Reddemann	RHP	UCLA	$6,982,600
9	Atlanta Braves	Cameron Flukey	RHP	Coastal Carolina	$6,675,300
10	Colorado Rockies	Jacob Lombard	SS	High School	$6,393,100
11	Washington Nationals	Ryder Helfrick	C	Arkansas	$6,133,500
12	Los Angeles Angels	Derek Curiel	OF	LSU	$5,889,300
13	St. Louis Cardinals	Chris Hacopian	INF	Texas A&M	$5,661,300
14	Miami Marlins	Ace Reese	3B/1B	Mississippi State	$5,444,900
15	Arizona Diamondbacks	Eric Booth Jr.	OF	High School	$5,241,000
16	Texas Rangers	Sawyer Strosnider	OF	TCU	$5,051,900
17	Houston Astros	Aiden Robbins	OF	Texas	$4,868,600
18	Cincinnati Reds	Gio Rojas	LHP/OF	High School	$4,696,500
19	Cleveland Guardians	Tyler Bell	SS	Kentucky	$4,530,500
20	Boston Red Sx	Logan Hughes	OF	Texas Tech	$4,373,900
21	San Diego Padres	Tyler Spangler	SS	High School	$4,224,700
22	Detroit Tigers	Logan Schmidt	LHP	High School	$4,082,700
23	Chicago Cubs	James Clark	SS	High School	$3,947,600
24	Seattle Mariners	Cole Carlon	LHP	Arizona State	$3,818,700
25	Milwaukee Brewers	Daniel Jackson	C	Georgia	$3,696,000
26	Atlanta Braves*	Justin Lebron	SS	Alabama	$3,578,800
27	New York Mets	Cole Prosek	C/SS	High School	$3,466,500
28	Houston Astros*	Aiden Ruiz	SS	High School	$3,363,600
29	Cleveland Guardians^	Mason Edwards	LHP	USC	$3,270,200
30	Kansas City Royals^	Coleman Borthwick	RHP	High School	$3,190,500
31	Arizona Diamondbacks^	Tegan Kuhns	RHP	Tennessee	$3,118,300
32	St. Louis Cardinals^	Cade Townsend	RHP	Ole Miss	$3,044,600
33	Tampa Bay Rays^	Jarren Advincula	2B	Georgia Tech	$2,980,200
34	Pittsburgh Pirates^	Liam Peterson	RHP	Florida	$2,897,400
35	New York Yankees	Bo Lowrance	3B	High School	$2,826,700
36	Philadelphia Phillies	Connor Comeau	SS/C	High School	$2,758,800
37	Colorado Rockies^	Brody Bumila	LHP	High School	$2,696,700

* = Prospect Promotion Incentive

^ = Competitive Balance Round A

 

Marlins first-round pick: Ace Reese, 3B/1B, Mississippi State

Ace Reese is one of the best power-hitting prospects in the 2026 MLB Draft class. He’s also one of the most consistent hitters in this class and continues to show growth after every season.

The Mississippi State product has had an extremely successful college career to date. Through 49 games as a junior, Reese has a .317/.420/.688 slash line, with a .463 wOBA, and 17 home runs. 

Power is the name of the game for Reese, flashing elite exit velocities for a college bat, and staggering barrel rates. Reese's approach is slightly aggressive, although he makes strong contact and whiff numbers for a power bat. 

Reese slips down draft boards a bit due to lack of a positional home. He has spent most of his time at third base and the corner outfield spots during college, but may be best at first base as he grows older. On many fronts, he resembles 2025 Brewers first-round pick Andrew Fischer, who made waves for himself in the World Baseball Classic (Italy) and has built upon that in High-A. 

Reese will not add much on the base paths, but would add much needed pop to the Marlins farm system if selected. He'd cost slightly less than half of Miami's total draft bonus pool of $11,960,100.

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