FanGraphs 2026 Day 1 Draft Chat

Eric A Longenhagen: Hello hello from an earsplittingly loud Convention Center in Philadelphia!

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s nearly time for the draft to begin, we just published my final mock.

Eric A Longenhagen: 2026 Mock Draft 2.0: The Day Of | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: I’ll be joined in the chat by other FanGraphs friends throughout the evening. We’re in for the longest first day of the draft ever, and I’ll be here for as long as is possible, which will at least be through the comp rounds.

Eric A Longenhagen: People are filing into chat, tell your friends to come hang out.

Eric A Longenhagen: Reminder that all of our scouting reports are here:

Eric A Longenhagen: The Board | FanGraphs Baseball

manowargs: Tegan Kuhns got connected to the Mariners pretty hard by the Seattle Times yesterday – how would you like that player/team fit

Eric A Longenhagen: I like it a lot. The Mariners don’t necessarily care as much about fastball shape so much as they do about strikes, but Kuhns does that, too.

Eric A Longenhagen: Ben Blair is an interesting name for them, too. Their track record with pitching is so good that whoever they pick we should feel pretty good about.

MattStats5: Thanks for doing this, guys!  Any chance Flora falls to Baltimore at 7?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think something weird would need to happen at 3 for that to occur. Doubt it, though I’d be interested to see what would happen if he slipped because Baltimore just doesn’t want to seem to take pitchers that high.

topanga jeff: Do teams like PIT and CWS, who are having surprisingly successful seasons, let that affect their draft strategy?

Brendan Gawlowski: The Pirates arguably already did yesterday with the trade

canderson20: How’s the energy this year there compared the last few years?

Eric A Longenhagen: Still taking the temperature. Nobody is brawling yet.

Brendan Gawlowski: This is my first year but it can’t be overemphasized how (unnecessarily) loud it is in here

Eric A Longenhagen: It is *full*

branflakes: Who would you take #1 if you were in Getz’ shoes?

Eric A Longenhagen: Vahn or Emerson depending on how I felt meeting with those guys.

Eric A Longenhagen: They’re showing us a Jackson Flora interview where he’s talking about the ranking of fried chicken sandwiches that he keeps on his phone.

Phillip Denny: FWIW Keith Law’s most recent mock yesterday afternoon indicates dope on Grindlinger at 7, Bell at 10, and Hacopian at 11.

Eric A Longenhagen: Valid

Michael Baumann: Bienvenidos, muchcachos. I have been 10 rows back at the Electric Factory and it was quieter there than it is in here now

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s gonna be fun, all it takes is one team doing something weird to topple the jenga tower of predictions

bluejayprospectus: Is Will Brick linked to the Jays in your eyes or is that just a “he’s likely to go in this range so I’ll put him here” selection in the mock draft? Also, with the caveat that they pick super late and there isn’t anyway to know who’s available, do you have any other links to the Jays whether that’s in the first round or beyond?

Eric A Longenhagen: Have him with Jays and Dodgers, specifically.

millvillemeltdown: much cachos? what are cachos?

Michael Baumann: Sorry it’s so loud in here I can’t hear my keyboard

Phillip Denny: Could I get you to write a quick, 2 sentence rebuttal to a friend of mine who feels STRONGLY that Roch is a “can’t miss” prospect?

Brendan Gawlowski: Can we get a two sentence argument from your friend on why he is?

Brendan Gawlowski: Too much hit tool risk is the short answer.

RossN: is Roch still first overall?

Eric A Longenhagen: Me and three sources *think* so but I haven’t gotten an indication that it’s for sure done and happening.

Eric A Longenhagen: Though I think it is

Phillip Denny: What’s going on! Do you see CHW trading for the comp pick as more of a bonus pool move, or do you think there’s a specific player they’re targeting at 34 that they were worried wouldn’t be there at 41?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think it’s just about trying to have a huge class rather than anyone specific.

miratutti: How far off is Condon’s swing from Emerson’s? As far as HS LHB are concerned, are they close to being 1A and 1B?

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s just about how much juice there is, Emerson has some and Condon is more vanilla.

Jewish Pache: Would you have made that deal if you were Cherington? Seems like they were a little too desperate to move the pick. Maybe it pans out and they’ll end up benefitting from a developing infield logjam in Chicago. Just seemed frantic to me and I think I’d rather have the pick. Thoughts?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think it’s fine. They still have a ton of money and they really need to upgrade the bullpen

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know where Gonzalez is going to play but more depth in the infield helps too

lbowman1: How do yall feel about James Clark withdrawing?

Eric A Longenhagen: I thought it made sense. I wasn’t huge on him coming out of last summer but others were and it may have created unrealistic expectations for the player that, when there was a reality check, soured him on going pro right now.

Steve: Burress to O’s? Any other buzz there?

Eric A Longenhagen: That he might come off right in front of them

barrybonds25: who’s your biggest faller? Any chance roch falls to giants?

Eric A Longenhagen: Lombard, and I don’t think so.

Jimmy: Is today the most fun day of the season as a prospect writer?

Brendan Gawlowski: Eric has entered another plane

Fangraphs Man: Obviously it’s good that the Getz regime was able to work with Gonzalez to turn into someone with actual value, but it feels like bad process to trade someone who might be able to be a strong lefty bat so you can draft the kid of someone working in your FO (assuming they do go with Thome)

Eric A Longenhagen: Unless you think the changes aren’t really sticky and wanna move him while his stock has rebounded, a thing teams don’t do enough of.

NaimoByte: Is Hacopian the guy who would be the first hitter to majors?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think he, Burress, and Roch are the candidates.

Lucas Seehafer: Taking a catcher top 3 unless they’re Joe Mauer seems like a huge risk, even with how talented Lackey is. Why am I wrong in this specific instance?

Brendan Gawlowski: Because he’s one of the top three talents in the draft.

Eric A Longenhagen: Vahn’s hit tool feels mroe stable than Bart and Davis’

Brendan Gawlowski: You might miss Buster Posey if you’re worried about Joey Bart. There’s risk everywhere, just take the best guy.

Eric A Longenhagen: Hearing Roch at 1 for $9.5 mil, one source with those details. Pretty much jives with my last mock.

magpieball: Are there any players that fell because of make-up concerns?

Eric A Longenhagen: Honestly, I don’t have any info like that this year.

Michael Baumann: College catchers are actually a lot safer than you’d think, which is something I’ve written about a few times over the years. Basically, if you take out Pirates draft picks (Bart, Davis, Tony Sanchez), a top-5 pick on a college catcher in the 21st century usually turns into a decent big league regular at a minimum

DAMellen: I keep hearing the Mariners want a pitcher. Any idea why they’d rather that demographic?

Brendan Gawlowski: They’re extremely good at developing starting pitching prospects

Brendan Gawlowski: And not in a one trick pony way

Eric A Longenhagen: Some “Roch 1, Emerson 2, both done” chatter

bluejayprospectus: Biggest name you think makes it to campus?

Eric A Longenhagen: Potentially Lombard, per buddy Joe Doyle

Hugh Glass: I recall that Eric said in Bobby Witt’s prospect profile that he had 80 grade make up, and I have a hard time seeing how anyone with 30 grade make up could succeed professionally.  How much time do teams put into evaluating this and how do they evaluate it? Many companies in the financial industry, for instance, force prospective employees to take personality or IQ tests

Brendan Gawlowski: Players and teams meet frequently throughout the draft process

Brendan Gawlowski: For potential top picks, the player will meet with a bunch of people from the org

Michael Baumann: Sorry, as a couple people have pointed out the Giants picked and ruined Bart, not the Pirates

dan norman lear: 2. Why is Harold Reynolds still allowed to do this?

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s got great, big energy and enthusiasm. The casuals love him, the kids seem to, too. He’s not for the dorks (non derogatory) in this chat. That’s what we’re for lol.

cdvillard: Saw it’s happening at 1pm, but no picks in yet? Is everyone getting the broadcast and pick times mixed up?

Eric A Longenhagen: Is that what time it is?

rainingmozzarella: What is your top fried chicken sandwich?

Eric A Longenhagen: There’s a spot in Tempe called The Porch that has a pretty good hot chicken sando.

Eric A Longenhagen: it’s more about how thin the cutlet is and the pickle ratio

Michael Baumann: This is by no means the top fried chicken sando anywhere but the new Wendy’s spicy chicken is outstanding for a fast food place

Phillip Denny: assuming Roch at 9.5 and Lombard is indeed sliding and floating going to campus, how galaxy brained would it be for CHW taking Lombard at one of 34 and 41 and trying to sign him way over slot?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not galaxy brained. Whether it’s Lombard or someone else, you make the Gonzalez trade to do this kind of thing.

canderson20: Sounds like there’s a very small chance Burress falls to 8, right?

Eric A Longenhagen: Him at 6 to KC is picking up steam, which would mean Baltimore would scramble and might do something unexpected.

topanga jeff: Do you keep track of how many picks you mock correctly?

Eric A Longenhagen: Of course, with more angst than is necessary. Jordan Schusterman does Mock Wars, you wanna follow him.

magpieball: Speaking of Harold, where’s Mayo??

Eric A Longenhagen: Sitting 100 feet to our left with Sam Dykstra and Klaw

nancy rules: Id love to see a fully locked in Sproat man he can look unhittable for stretches

Eric A Longenhagen: Bro, I’m so happy he’s starting to shove.

Brendan Gawlowski: They’re saying Rooooobert Manfred

rainingmozzarella: I’m in Chandler and only a few miles away from The Porch. I’ve driven by it but never stopped there. I’ll check it out. Thanks!

Eric A Longenhagen: If I’m in there i’m often one of the older ones.

DAMellen: Doesn’t the Mariners being so good at developing pitchers taken later, like Miller and Woo, mean they should take the most talented hitters early?

Eric A Longenhagen: This is sound logic

Michael Baumann: I just found out Hot Chicken Takeover in Columbus, OH, got bought by new owners who ruined and closed it. I’ll be spending the rest of this chat in mourning

rainingmozzarella: Slade Caldwell and Kayson Cunningham have been disappointing in High-A. Please tell me the Dbacks are not taking another short contact hitter at 15.

Brendan Gawlowski: You might want to avoid Eric’s mock

Fangraphs Man: Joe Doyle just corrected the Roch money to >10m, you hearing the same?

Eric A Longenhagen: 9.75 to 10 makes the most sense to me based on what Roch’s alternatives were at 3.

Eric A Longenhagen: Continuing to Woj:

1. Roch
2. Emerson

Eric A Longenhagen: Waiting to hear for sure about the Twins

Eric A Longenhagen: How the hell do you not know how to say the first pick’s name?

Phillip Denny: I am constantly astounded at just how bad Manfred is at public speaking, dang.

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s just the first pick of the draft, can’t be expected to get that kid’s name right

Deduno Abides: Manfred didn’t get the job because he was good at public speaking, he got the job because he is good at [what]?

Brendan Gawlowski: Money

Michael Baumann: He is a killer management-side labor attorney

Fangraphs Man: how come it’s always prep players who are talked about when floating guys to later picks with big bonuses? Is it just because they have more leverage to scare off teams that might pick them than college kids do?

springer: Do you think the draft will allow trades anytime soon?

Eric A Longenhagen: I actually don’t know. The owners seem hellbent on removing any kind of nuance that requires human skill and interaction from this process.

Michael Baumann: That’s precisely it. College juniors especially have no leverage

Brendan Gawlowski: There is also going to be a little more variance in how teams view the teenagers than, say, the SEC performers.

Eric A Longenhagen: ESPN barred Kiley from joining our chat fyi

Michael Baumann: Good riddance

Eric A Longenhagen: Lackey 3 to Twins confirmed

Chase Shiflet: What do you think of this pick for the Rays? Why wouldn’t they pick Lackey?

Brendan Gawlowski: They apparently REALLY like Emerson

Eric A Longenhagen: Hearing Flora to SF, multiple sources

Eric A Longenhagen: Then thigns might get weird

Michael Baumann: I feel obliged to mention that Jackson Flora is outrageously charismatic. Almost all of the potential first-round guys who did media scrums at the combine were good enough talkers but Flora held court for like 20 minutes

ericlindberg: DeRosa with the worst comp of the day so far. Says Lackey is “Buster Posey with athleticism”

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s what the Georgia Tech coach told him.

Eric A Longenhagen: Multiple sources telling me Pittsburgh is taking Derek Curiel

Michael Baumann: “the Georgia Tech coach,” btw, is former Cardinals first-rounder James Ramsey, who actually played at Florida State *after* Buster

millvillemeltdown: i will preface this by saying that i believe in the human element of scouting a lot and there’s things that no model, no matter how advanced, will capture. that said: how much data is actually valuable for draft prospects, signal vs noise? how confident would you be in a Magic Machine Numbers Box to munch stuff like hs/college surface and underlying stats and spit out meaningful rankings? it’s not like there’s statcast at “brookwood” in ga

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s helpful but can be difficult to properly contextualize

Brendan Gawlowski: Different equipment a real challenge to account for

Phillip Denny: Curiel is already an OOTP stud and therefore I’m inclined to love that pick

Michael Baumann: I got five years of solid center field play out of Jorvorskie Lane Jr. in my Phillies OOTP save, let’s see if this trend continues

Eric A Longenhagen: Right now my sources are telling my Eric Booth goes 6 to KC, Drew Burress goes 7 to Baltimore. Will alert you if there’s change.

Eric A Longenhagen: now some dissent on KC

Graham Lewis: Curriel a “reach” there?

Brendan Gawlowski: Defensible to take the athlete with hit skill here imo.

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s not exactly drafting for need but PIT’s big OF will lead them to value guys who can go get it out there more than most.

Eric A Longenhagen: More Zion Rose smoke at 6

rainingmozzarella: I miss ESPN’s broadcast of the draft. MLB Network’s is exhausting. I have no idea what they’re talking about half the time.

Michael Baumann: Not to quote Eric back to Eric but he said this in yesterday’s post:
“There’s always a portion of the draft where teams get sufficiently nervous about these sorts of players that they run to safe-feeling college hitters who make a lot of contact, usually in big conferences. This tends to happen in the mid-to-late first round…This year, that might start happening inside the top 10. “

Eric A Longenhagen: Kiley is literally sitting on his couch. Maybe the most mis-used person in sports media.

millvillemeltdown: if you were drafting for post-baseball career success (however you measure that) how would the board change

drplantwrench: lakers -> lose lebron
angels -> get lebron

angels >>> lakers?

Eric A Longenhagen: This would be pretty funny.

Michael Baumann: Coleman Borthwick told me that if he makes it to campus he’s going to major in something called wildlife enterprise management, which from what he said sounds like running private hunting ranches. I told him that was the most Auburn-ass thing I’d ever heard in my life

Eric A Longenhagen: Sounds like Drew Burress is going 8

Michael Baumann: Burress is listed at 5-foot-9 and I want everyone to know that this is one of the most audacious lies in baseball history

Eric A Longenhagen: 5-ft-7

Michael Baumann: I’d give him the gentleman’s 5-foot-7 just to be polite but he comes up to about the same spot Jose Altuve does

Klubot3000: lol Baumann is the best. Cracking me up

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s good we’re sitting two seats apart so I can work

Michael Baumann: it’s so loud in here we wouldn’t be able to hear each other anyway

SPArn: I was watching the Combine in the background one day, and all I jotted down was “Caden Bogenpohl comically large” – can sources confirm?

Michael Baumann: Caden Bogenpohl is comically large. If you’re interested in reading more he’s in my article on the combine’s most hosslike prospects

Eric A Longenhagen: Multiple sources have AJ Gracia going to Atlanta. Was top 5 on my board entering the year, didn’t hit for as much power as I hoped. Good hitter, though.

Michael Baumann: Gracia is a New Jersey kid, which says good things about his makeup

Eric A Longenhagen: Can’t pump gas tho

Michael Baumann: he went to college out of state I’m sure he learned at some point

Eric A Longenhagen: Tyler Bell going to Rockies

bubbles: Any info on what amount it would take to keep Spangler away from Stanford?

Eric A Longenhagen: I dont know the number but the general sentiment at the Combine was that people considered him signable even though the spring wasn’t as good.

CosmicSparrow: Think Gracia is going under-slot?

Eric A Longenhagen: Yes

Eric A Longenhagen: A fan here just won Derby tickets for answering trivia, pretty good

Charles Bengal Tiger: How far would Lombard have to fall before hitting campus becomes a realistic possibility?

Eric A Longenhagen: Man that’s a good question. Let’s see who has big comp round money

bubbles: why is there a marching band there? Maybe that is why you can’t hear

Brendan Gawlowski: This is the day’s most pleasant musical experience thus far by a longshot

Eric A Longenhagen: I have Chris Hacopian to Nats from multiple places

Eric A Longenhagen: Then some mixed signals on the Angels. Waiting for more info.

Eric A Longenhagen: Jim Callis officialyl kicking peoples’ asses in mock wars

Michael Baumann: Callis is the GOAT. His 2005 mock is more impressive than anything anyone from that class has done in the majors

jaytcannon: Who has the lowest ceiling among the top 10 picks

Brendan Gawlowski: Burress or Curiel for me

Michael Baumann: which, again, won’t bother Burress because he’s little

millvillemeltdown: is there anyone from the combine who struck you as “good future color commentator”

Eric A Longenhagen: Flora

SnakesAlive: 3 black kids in the top 10 is pretty awesome, proof of some of the developmental pushes by MLB or just kinda random this year?

Eric A Longenhagen: The Breakthrough/Develops group, people like Del Matthews and the folks like Marvin Freeman and Marquis Grissom who spend their time working on it… They do a good job.

Eric A Longenhagen: I think LAA is taking Grindlinger but I don’t know for sure

Eric A Longenhagen: I had one person tell me different but multiple Grindlingers

BKhipsterball: In the span of 90 seconds the broadcast compared Gracia to Markakis, Marsh, and Ethier

Michael Baumann: I think these are actually decent comps. Reasonably athletic corner OF with hit tool and medium power is a good outcome for Gracia

Eric A Longenhagen: I have Ty Head and Jacob Lombard connected with Miami, leaning Lombard

Eric A Longenhagen: hold please…

Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah I have Lombard to Miami

Eric A Longenhagen: Working on Arizona

John Church: Would slash-line projections be better than comps?  Or even old school:  “Likely to hit .245 with 18 HRs and decent defense in an outfield corner.”  Comps paint a different picture somehow.

Michael Baumann: This might be a minority opinion in this room of sickos, but I actually think comps on the broadcast are useful. Not to say we should be comparing every third-rounder to a Hall of Famer, but “if this player you don’t know works out, it’ll look like this player you do know” is a useful shorthand for the median fan

Eric A Longenhagen: I think AZ is Helfrick and then Texas seems to be working on getting Gio Rojas done.

Eric A Longenhagen: Don’t have confirmation on Helfrick yet. Miami sure seems like Lombard

canderson20: Grindlinger only being announced as an outfielder?

Brendan Gawlowski: Was told by an Angels source that he’s going to be a TWP

Eric A Longenhagen: Second source AZ Helfrick

sliderinthedirt: Angels took a high schooler???!!??!!

Eric A Longenhagen: Right!?! The dawn of a new day

Eric A Longenhagen: Nice fit, local kid, lotta fun.

Graham Lewis: Gonna be a tough transition to MLB for Grindlinger next season

Eric A Longenhagen: lol’d

Brendan Gawlowski: In all seriousness, LAA has behaved quite a bit differently this year

Josh Jowdy: Was the delay in announcing the Nats’ pick reflective of something going on in their deliberations? or was it just TV production stuff?

Eric A Longenhagen: Probably just event related, the teams are actually a few picks ahead behind the scenes as you can tell from all my Woj’ing

Brendan Gawlowski: That was when the marching band was getting after it

Eric A Longenhagen: When do we get a smoke break?

Big Fan: At what pick do the options for the Braves at 26 start to come into focus?

Eric A Longenhagen: I’ll let you know when I start hearing

Michael Baumann: At the end of the first round we’re ditching the draft and going to the El Bar to get sloshed on citywides

acann: How good would Erling Haaland be in an MLB outfield?

Eric A Longenhagen: I can only imagine it’d be fun

Eric A Longenhagen: Jake Marisnick energy

Brendan Gawlowski: Meditating before he comes to a full stop on a sliding catch

Michael Baumann: Helfrick is the kind of safe college catcher I was talking about. I feel pretty confident he’ll have a real big league career, but it might be a lot of .190 with 20 homers 2 WAR seasons.

magpieball: When can we see the FanGraphs post-draft analysis article?

Eric A Longenhagen: Tomorrow

smb11488: I’ve got a Drew Stubbs comp on Haaland

Eric A Longenhagen: Same diff

millvillemeltdown: best infielder out of current soccer stars?

Brendan Gawlowski: Enzo

Eric A Longenhagen: Logan Hughes to Houston

Phillip Denny: Michael so you’re saying the Helfrick comp is Zunino? lol

Michael Baumann: Zunino is the ur-college catcher. He wasn’t anywhere near as good as I thought he’d be coming out of Florida, but almost 900 games over 11 years in the majors and 17 WAR is a good return on just about any pick

Eric A Longenhagen: Justin Lebron, Reds, one source

Kenny: Are the PCA-Condon comps from the MLB Network guys actually insane? Asking a Cubs fan, don’t want the Cards to have their own Pete.

Eric A Longenhagen: I mean, PCA’s defense was just so, so special from the jump, he’s kind of a 1-of-1 in that sense. I can’t remember putting a def 7 or 8 on a HS outfielder’s defense.

jonmberra: Card’s fan here, what’s your thoughts on the Condon pick?

Brendan Gawlowski: We were having a talk about whether he’s the least toolsy guy taken so far…

Eric A Longenhagen: Good little athlete, contact oriented, well-rounded, not big loud tools tho

Phillip Denny: Almost half the top picks have been OF, that’s a bit unusual isn’t it?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yeah. It’s light on shortstops/infielders in general this year.

Conor: Logan Hughes – the Kyle Stowers comp makes sense? That much swing and miss risk?

Eric A Longenhagen: Way different guys imo

Eric A Longenhagen: Hughes is more like Josh Naylor but LF

Eric A Longenhagen: Softer body guy, contact, loft, not huge raw but a good hitter who hits for enough power for a corner

Brendan Gawlowski: it might look like what Naylor did in the outfield

Brendan Gawlowski: defensively I mean

Denjix: This feels like a crazy idea but the Astros are so starved for OF help. Is there a chance they rush Hughes up this year?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m hesitant to project anybody moves that quickly but Hughes is really hitterish and mature in the box. Probably doesn’t need a lot of seasoning.

Eric A Longenhagen: Multiple folks have Cleveland with Liam Peterson

springer: What position do you see Hacopian ending up at?

Eric A Longenhagen: You try 2B, if not it’s 1B/LF

Brendan Gawlowski: Cleveland/Boston/Seattle would all be good landing spots for the volatile college pitchers

Phillip Denny: Have we hit the talent tier dropoff yet? Top dudes left on the Board are Lowrance, Carlon, Peterson, Head, Townsend, and Dietz.

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s understandable that all of the volatile arms fell a little bit relative to where we had them but it’s about time for them to go. I wouldn’t say it’s a talent tier drop off yet, more time to prioritize the risky guys

Eric A Longenhagen: Nobody has Boston dope

aviaries: Justin Lebron had top 5 smoke going into the year, did he just fail to impress or are there deeper concerns

Eric A Longenhagen: Always had a volatile hit tool, didn’t improve.

matt: Schaffner underslot, right?

Eric A Longenhagen: I do have one person saying so now, yes.

topanga jeff: Is the Cleveland pick of Peterson similar to when they took Gavin Williams?

Eric A Longenhagen: Different in a sense that Gavin was small school, better strikes. Breaking ball quality similar

Michael Baumann: DJ Shawna is playing Chappell Roan now, I am no longer annoyed by how loud it is in here

Eric A Longenhagen: I hope she’s okay

Eric A Longenhagen: Dont want her to become the Kevin Durant of music

Eric A Longenhagen: More Schaffner to Boston talk

Michael Baumann: She got so famous so quickly she didn’t realize she had to get off social media, but also she can be as mean to her fans as she wants, they’ve earned it

John Church: Does the inside info come from guys in the scouting dept of the team picking, or from other teams on what they are hearing?

Eric A Longenhagen: Yes to both, basically

maxjusttyped: Who was your 1.1 in the NBA draft

Eric A Longenhagen: I wanted the Grizzlies to get Peterson

magpieball: Do you guys miss when the picks were streamed without commentary (just the front offices speaking to the commissioner’s office) on Mlb.com?

Eric A Longenhagen: We aren’t hearing commentary here, we have a stage show between picks, not the broadcast.

Eric A Longenhagen: One source says Coleman Borthwick to Padres

Michael Baumann: The Padres do love an Ent-shaped high school two-way guy

Michael Baumann: time to see how much money there really is in wildlife enterprise management

Eric A Longenhagen: I’ve got Cameron Flukey going to Detroit

themjs: Just checked The Board, why so low on the hit tool for Lombard?

Eric A Longenhagen: Because he had a 61% contact rate in high school

Michael Baumann: Whoever asked which players from this class would be good in the booth earlier: Borthwick sauntered into our suite at the combine and announced that he was a good talker, if he has any kind of career and TV exists that far in the future he’s gonna end up as a color guy

Eric A Longenhagen: Here is the reverse leaderboard for contact in the big leagues right now Major League Leaderboards – 2026 – Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: Getting Cade Townsend to Cubs buzz

Phillip Denny: Flukey was the dude ripping 24 IVB 4S at Coastal Carolina right?

Michael Baumann: Flukey is *incredibly* vertical. I don’t know if it’s gonna work but he’s a really fun pitcher

rfilla: Do the inside sources risk anything by sharing info? Angry glare from the boss?

Brendan Gawlowski: Sometimes the source is the boss

Eric A Longenhagen: No because everything I learn I’m telling them before I tell you

Michael Baumann: Flukey: also a South Jersey guy so much higher on my board

Eric A Longenhagen: So cade Townsend here to Cubs then Ace Reese to Seattle

lmb2020: BG how much have you learned about Philly/Jersey against your will today?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’ve been bothering Baumann with questions all week

Brendan Gawlowski: Better to ask him if he’s tired of me yet

war2d2: What’s the tl;dr on Townsend? Not a lot of data on his FG page. Thanks!

Eric A Longenhagen: Click the clipboard here: The Board | FanGraphs Baseball

Michael Baumann: I got to tell him about Joey Merlino yesterday I’m still having fun

docgooden85: What is the dividing line of south Jersey vs north Jersey? Does it seem like 75% of the state is the “south” half?

Michael Baumann: The Quakerbridge Mall or Exit 7A on the turnpike

jmo1984: are most of these recent college guys gonna go underslot?

Eric A Longenhagen: I don’t think so.

Steven: Is Ace Reese BPA? Are the Mariners drafting away from college pitching because they don’t have a need?

Eric A Longenhagen: If by “P” you mean “Power” yeah I think so. I have Bo Lowarance as the bets available.

aiyer917: You think red sox underslotted schaffner to go rocco later?

Eric A Longenhagen: This one I do think was under slot

Eric A Longenhagen: Their next target idk, I wouldn’t guess Rocco tho. Hit tool too scary

shakersamman: You guys spend a lot of time with prospects, both in person and while digging into their backgrounds. How often are you like “oh I bet we could be buds” when reading up on a guy

Michael Baumann: Almost never. I find many if not most of the ballplayers I talk to intelligent and friendly, but the ones I’d want to hang out with outside of work are vanishingly few

Michael Baumann: put another way: I used to ask draft prospects what they like to do outside of baseball and school, but I stopped because they all said some combination of hunting, fishing and golf

Eric A Longenhagen: Have some Ty Head smoke in Milwaukee but feels like they’re still working…

Michael Baumann: time was you had to go to Madison to get Ty Head smoke

war2d2: Thanks for the head up on Townsend! This may be a reach, but the profile seems like it might be a guy that could come up and be a bullpen arm in a pennant race?

Brendan Gawlowski: If you’re thinking 2026, I don’t know if he throws quite enough strikes to push that quickly

war2d2: What’s up with Logan Reddemann? KLaw had him as a top-10 talent, but seems like nobody else did

Michael Baumann: He got hurt and UCLA faceplanted so bad it made everyone question how good the B1G was

Big Fan: Scouting report on Ace Reece?

Eric A Longenhagen: Reports are over on The Board: The Board | FanGraphs Baseball

Michael Baumann: I was at the Rutgers game where Reddeman struck out 18 and he absolutely looked top-10 good, but many events have unfolded since then

Eric A Longenhagen: Now hearing Ebel for Milwaukee

Eric A Longenhagen: So they got both Ebels lol

docgooden85: Is Mike Trout (Toms River I think?) the south Jersey GOAT?

Michael Baumann: Trout is Millville. Todd Frazier and Jerry Dipoto are Toms River

Michael Baumann: but Trout is at the pinnacle of the Pyramid of South Jersey Excellence, alongside Walt Whitman and Bruce Willis. Carli Lloyd was on that level when she retired, but she’s talked her way down to Tier 2 during her second career as a TV analyst

Brendan Gawlowski: One other thought on Reddeman: In a draft where there are a lot of guys with a very modern, developed look to them, Reddeman looks like more of a traditional no. 3/4 starter.

Brendan Gawlowski: Can we trade a bunch of decibels for a few degrees in here?

Michael Baumann: I will leap across this table and throttle you, man, it is so hot outside I can’t stand it

Eric A Longenhagen: This one is the first wowzer crazy off the board pick, Carter Beck from Indiana State. The Braves will almost certainly have more over slot picks to come

Eric A Longenhagen: Beck is tooled up, super physical Canadian high schooler who went to a small school in North Dakota before Indiana State. Risky because he has little exposure to large conference pitching, tough to say how he’ll adjust to it, but toolsy enough that he has big ceiling if it turns out to work.

Brendan Gawlowski: Worth noting that Atlanta’s farm has a few arrow-up success stories in this realm

Brendan Gawlowski: Hartman and Carey are both cold weather guys, Southisene isn’t but he was taken ahead of where most folks had him

Eric A Longenhagen: Added Wiggins to the board, was a 40+ for me in January, stuff was a little down at the Combine but not so much to be scared off him entirely

Eric A Longenhagen: Three kids with ties to North Dakota have now gone in the top 40

Dan Labriola: Thoughts on Mets pick of Wiggins?

Eric A Longenhagen: Fits with their style: Might be a reliever, but it’s huge stuff.

Eric A Longenhagen: Not necessarily any riskier than some of the other big stuff RP risk arms left

Conor: No Wiggins scouting report on the board – is this a huge reach or a sneaky upside play?

Eric A Longenhagen: It was a goof on my part

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s on there now

FGM: Fun thing about Beck: he played two years for the WCBL’s Saskatoon Berries, one of the best team identities in all of baseball

millvillemeltdown: does “game iq” ever come up with scouting stuff? i’m recalling soto and naylor suddenly stealing a ton, despite being well-below average runners. is this something where if someone’s results are above where their tools or stuff appear to be, you chalk it up to “good iq” or “good sequencing” etc?

Brendan Gawlowski: All the time. Instincts/feel for the game/etc.

CT: Both Astros picks feel like a reach. Is this reasonable or am I missing something?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think they’re reasonable picks. Radel has been arrow up down the stretch, Hughes is a hitterish college bat. Fine in those spaces, imo.

ericlindberg: do the Braves just really like Beck or is Gracia going to cost more than expected?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think they cut big with both picks, Beck was shopping for an underslot deal in the second round.

Eric A Longenhagen: I like Blake Bryant. Vert fastball/breaking ball combo.

Brendan Gawlowski: Every high school player is from ___ Christian (Academy/School)

Eric A Longenhagen: Cardinals are taking Tegan Kuhns

magpieball: Which pick so far is the least likely to sign?

Eric A Longenhagen: They almost all sign

Michael Baumann: Maybe this is my Jersey bias showing but the Protestant prep schools have much more sinister-sounding names than the Catholic ones. “Citizens Christian Academy” gave me actual chills

Eric A Longenhagen: If someone’s medical gets popped after the fact that might be the undoing

bubbles: Kuhns report links to Reddeman for the write up

Eric A Longenhagen: Have you had the same page open for several days? We caught that issue and fixed it…Thursday? Strange.

Brendan Gawlowski: We’ll be updating shortly

Brendan Gawlowski: For now, here’s what I wrote: “After a brief, dominant stint on the Cape in 2025, Kuhns had a big junior season as the Volunteers Friday guy. He posted a 3.56 ERA with 12 SO/9 and a tiny walk rate across 81 innings. He’s a projectable righty, a good athlete with a shooting guard’s frame. He hasn’t filled out yet and could have a little more velo coming as he matures, particularly in his lower half. His delivery is complicated, herky jerky at the outset with pronounced spinal tilt and head movement throughout, which makes his ability to not just throw strikes but move the ball around as impressive as it is surprising. ”

Eric A Longenhagen: Kinda surprised the Rays took Marchand. Tooled up, scary contact.

Brendan Gawlowski: Needed to give us another Carson Williams to write up

bubbles: Re-Kuhns – Possible but I thought I refreshed before the draft. Maybe not though. I’m a nerd with BA, MLB, FG boards all up the past few days and parsing them as picks come in

Eric A Longenhagen: It was hilarious to see it in chat

Eric A Longenhagen: and also Meg and I thought we’d gone crazy

Eric A Longenhagen: Because I caught it and she fixed it, we swore

ADoctolero: Curious where you guys think the Giants should start Flora.

Eric A Longenhagen: Not crazy if he goes right to Eugene

Phillip Denny: Ok what are the odds the the trade for 34 was literally just to ensure they got Thome?

Eric A Longenhagen: Lol ya know, that’s maybe correct

Antonio Bananas: Trying this one more time.  Missouri State doesnt drop the ball developing batters (Baldwin, Burger), how much of a red flag is Caden Bogenpohl going from a hugh CF with 20 HR to just 6 last year?  Would have went top 20 a couple years ago and now he probabaly wont even go today.

Michael Baumann: Bogenpohl figures in my big man draft prospect story. He put up the best power numbers of the combine and I asked about his game power going dark. He said it was an intentional decision to cut down on strikeouts, which seems to have been extremely not worth it

ja1145: What’s going on with Bo?

Eric A Longenhagen: His range has been 20-30 or so, I’ mjust high on him personally

Michael Baumann: I’m a little more bearish (hahaha) on MOST’s hitter development, I think Bogenpohl’s going to go today and a professional coaching staff will get him to find a happy medium where he can live with the strikeouts without giving up so much of the raw power

Eric A Longenhagen: Between the Combine and this week I have now seen Thome, Abreu, Bourn, Rollins, and Hamels in person.

topanga jeff: I attended a UCLA game earlier this year and Jim Thome was there as well

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s around.

Eric A Longenhagen: Met him on the Rangers backfields 3 years ago or so. Nice guy

Eric A Longenhagen: Sounds like the Phils are taking Tyler Spangler

Eric A Longenhagen: Lol and Placido Polanco just walked past us

ja1145: Another shortstop with a back issue?

Eric A Longenhagen: Was top 15 for lots of folks coming out of last summer.

Eric A Longenhagen: But yeah the optics of it are weird given the Aidan Miller of it all

Fangraphs Man: if you had told me the day of the draft lottery the Sox would take Roch and Thome with their first two picks… I would not have been surprised in the slight st

magpieball: Still seeing Will Brick go to Toronto at 39?

Eric A Longenhagen: The dope has stopped flowing

BKhipsterball: What have we learned about the Rockies 3 picks in?

Brendan Gawlowski: Reddemann’s an interesting fit there. One of the things he does well is sell the changeup, and that feels like one of the more Coors-neutral attributes you could target.

ajexpress: what do you guys think of dietz?

Brendan Gawlowski: We liked him plenty. Really scary injury history, more big and powerful than loose and twitchy

Joey Caltrain: I’m reading Callis’ 2005 mock draft that Baumann mentioned earlier, and it’s got specifics like the day that front offices decided to go with a particular guy. I don’t feel like we hear that kind of inside info these days. Have front offices gotten more secretive over the last two decades? Changes in draft rules bringing negotiations down to the wire? Something else?

Eric A Longenhagen: There’s an Observer Effect where they realized the stakes of telling us have changed and it impacts what they want to tell us

Eric A Longenhagen: Bo Lowrance is a Dodger, sounds like.

Josh Jowdy: Bo Lowrance to the Dodgers also scares the crap out of me

Phillip Denny: The spice dope must flow!

magpieball: Carlon good pick there?

Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah, enough upside to merit the risk that he’s injury prone

Eric A Longenhagen: Remember when Spenny Miles was injured all the time?

Phillip Denny: Holy crap I spoke it into existence.

Charles Bengal Tiger: Will the 3 draftees Eric gave 55s, and 50 Flora be the only additions to the top 100 from today’s selections?

Brendan Gawlowski: For our next update

Brendan Gawlowski: May add more later this summer

lmb2020: That pirates-white sox trade still confuses me. Isn’t that 34th pick like, really valuable compared to a middle reliever and a utility infielder? And they sent away a decent prospect too? But then it was just so the Sox could do a nepotism (probably unwarranted dig at Thome but still)

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s slightly more complicated than that, and we’ve seen comp picks in that area traded straight up for Alex Claudio in the past. Proximity is really important to the way you value players and assets, and all the picks are almost by default 3 or more years away

Eric A Longenhagen: This place is clearing out now, let’s see how thigns progress from here in the room. The last two years it goes totally silent and the picks are shown on a video board and not announced at all

Phillip Denny: Wishcasting one of Lowrance, Comeau, Ruiz, Marchand, Maniscalco, or Spangler to the Dodgers at 40.

Eric A Longenhagen: I love experiencing this feeling as a sports fan, when I’m like “I want Karim Lopez” and it happens, truly the best

Josh Jowdy: I imagine the hardest Intel to get right now is who underslot targets might be?

Eric A Longenhagen: Actually the toughest is “How far under do you think you are, Braves (or whoever)?” because it can be dangerous for other teams to know the math of it.

grover: Has there been a previous draft where the 2nd round starts before teams have finished making their 1st round selections?

Michael Baumann: It’s a weird quirk of the CBT penalty system moving picks . I get why they call it this way but it’s annoying to follow

sliderinthedirt: Question about what prospects like to do outside of baseball. If a guy’s answer was “Nothing. My sole purpose in life is to play baseball. If I could not play baseball I think I would just wither away and die.” Would it raise or lower your opinion of him as a prospect?

Michael Baumann: That’s a good question. I’d be inclined to say it’d make me think the guy is either a psycho or a liar and yet: Wouldn’t Shohei Ohtani give this answer?

Brendan Gawlowski: Sounds like Ichiro

Sam Forman: Curious: Is it interesting that the Twins took Lackey and Tinney, or just a case of them taking a guy they liked without position being important?

Michael Baumann: It’s not not interesting, but if they both get near the majors and are still nailed-on catchers the Twins can trade one. If it becomes a problem it’ll be a good one to have

Brendan Gawlowski: Hang on everybody

Brendan Gawlowski: We are getting the boot from the media space

Meg Rowley: I think that’s our sign to conclude, since we don’t really know where we’re being relocated exactly. Thanks so much for hanging out everyone!

Meg Rowley: We’ll have a recap of today’s activity up either tonight or tomorrow, with more bits and bobs to come in the days ahead.