The 2026 Draft is Saturday

[moonslav59]

AL contenders the CWS, TBR & MIN pick one, two and three, while the Sox draft #20.

The Sox lost their second & fourth rounders by signing Suarez, but added a Comp B pick in the Harrison plus for Durbin plus trade. That pick is #67, and their 3rd round pick is #96.

Some mock drafts have us picking:

LHP Hunter Dietz (MLB.com)

SS Eric Becker (Perfect Game)

3B Bo Lowrance HS (Bleacher Report) Gotta like how both names are spelled "wrongly." LOL.

OF Caden Sorrell (My MLB Draft)

OF Derek Curiel (SI)

LHP Brody Bumila HS (Fansided)

[mvp 78]

We used to joke about the Sox taking a SS every year, but they should probably take one if the right guy is available. I'm sure it'll be 13 pitchers and 7 hitters again though.

[moonslav59]

I'm thinking Brez sees the need to move the focus to hitting.

Hey, the new soxprospects,com rankings are out, and the everyday players have made some big jumps. 

Note: #1 Tolle, #3 Early, #19 Samaniego and #30 Watson all graduated, there were still some big jumps:

Gonzales 8>5 (really just +1, since 2 graduated above him)

Azocar 15>6

Pimera 36>7

Godbout 11>8 & Rivas 18>15(really just +1, too.)

Cespedes 34>14

GRod 29>22 & Heyman 31>23

Winnay NR>25 & Mason White 38>27

Jo Garcia 51>34, Brannon 53>36 & YRod 55>43

Andujar NR>48, JRod NR>54, Brito NR>55

[Larry Cook]

In the 2025 draft, 3 early selections for us were SEC pitchers. 

do we continue that model in 2026? 
 

what if flukey from coastal Carolina falls to us at 20??  
 

bres-slow does not have tobini in the room this year!  How does that dynamic play out???
 

 

[moonslav59]

I think to a large extent Brez will take the best player available- pitcher or everyday player, but the question might be does he place higher value on pitchers?

We've graduated 4 pitchers, this year, and the next guy is Bennett, but all is not doom & gloom for our everyday player pipeline outlook.

Here are the ETAs of our top 16 prospects:

Everyday:

Early/Mid2027: 

#1 Arias

Late 2027 or 2028:

#5 Gonzales

#8 Godbout

#14 Cespedes, #16 Romero

______________

Pitchers

Early/Mid 2027:

#2 Eyanson

Late 2027 or 2028:

#3 Witherspoon

#12 Phillips, #13 Holobetz

[mvp 78]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm thinking Brez sees the need to move the focus to hitting.

Hey, the new soxprospects,com rankings are out, and the everyday players have made some big jumps. 

Note: #1 Tolle, #3 Early, #19 Samaniego and #30 Watson all graduated, there were still some big jumps:

Gonzales 8>5 (really just +1, since 2 graduated above him)

Azocar 15>6

Pimera 36>7

Godbout 11>8 & Rivas 18>15(really just +1, too.)

Cespedes 34>14

GRod 29>22 & Heyman 31>23

Winnay NR>25 & Mason White 38>27

Jo Garcia 51>34, Brannon 53>36 & YRod 55>43

Andujar NR>48, JRod NR>54, Brito NR>55

Wonder how long they'll stick with Soto that high in the rankings. Ramos is down to 28. 

Crazy bump for Primera TBH. 

[mvp 78]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I think to a large extent Brez will take the best player available- pitcher or everyday player, but the question might be does he place higher value on pitchers?

We've graduated 4 pitchers, this year, and the next guy is Bennett, but all is not doom & gloom for our everyday player pipeline outlook.

Here are the ETAs of our top 16 prospects:

Everyday:

Early/Mid2027: 

#1 Arias

Late 2027 or 2028:

#5 Gonzales

#8 Godbout

#14 Cespedes, #16 Romero

______________

Pitchers

Early/Mid 2027:

#2 Eyanson

Late 2027 or 2028:

#3 Witherspoon

#12 Phillips, #13 Holobetz

In terms of doom and gloom:

Arias has been great, no complaints.

Justin Gonzales has a 782 OPS in a league where the offense is out of control. Not really impressive IMO.

Godbout is injured.

Cespedes is a 5'8" DH hitting 815 in the inflated offense league. 

Romero has a 689 OPS in second go around in WOO. 

[moonslav59]

51 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Wonder how long they'll stick with Soto that high in the rankings. Ramos is down to 28. 

Crazy bump for Primera TBH. 

I'm always higher on the farther away prospects than most.

The dropped Soto 2 slots plus the two bt attrition.

Primera does have 150+ sample size, which is small, but not real small. His 30 PAs at SAK have not started well.

They also jumped Delzine from 23 to 10, although 3 prospects graduated above him. The youngest prospects ranking changes:

36>7 Primera (19 y/o)

23>10 Delzine (18)

9>11 Soto (18)

18>15 Rivas (18)

17>28 Ramos (18)

29>26 Silverio (17)

__________________

8>5 Gonzales (19)

15>6 Azocar (19)

( I did not list the many 20 y/o's)