The 2026 MLB Draft is only four weeks away. The mock drafts are starting to be released more often as we get closer to the draft. If you are trying to decide who the Texas Rangers might select at pick #16, studying the mock drafts can give you a little insight. This year the emphasis of that last sentence might ought to be on the word "little" as much or more than the word "insight."
This year, more than in recent memory, the mock drafts and the draft boards seem to be all over the place. By studying the boards and the mocks for insight leaves you with the idea that the possibilities are wide open. When studying those, the top five picks in this draft almost always involve the same guys, although with some slight variation as to which particular order those five guys will be selected. After that it gets a whole lot less stable. I have seen guys mocked in the top ten in one mock who was not even included in other mock draft's first 30 picks.
It is worth studying the mocks, I believe. By doing so you can at least get a feel for which guys seem to be possibilities for the Rangers at #16. It is impossible to narrow that list down to even a half dozen at this point, though.
I recently looked at twelve different mock drafts and in those twelve mocks only two of the names were repeated. Here is a list of those ten names that were mocked to the Rangers with the #16 pick.
C Ryder Helfrick
SS Justin Lebron
SS Chris Hacopian
OF/LHP Jared Grindlinger
RHP Liam Peterson
OF Aiden Robbins
OF Sawyer Strosnider
RHP Cameron Flukey
SS Tyler Bell
RHP Logan Reddeman
The only two of those draft prospects who showed up on two different mock drafts, as being picked by the Rangers at #16, are Liam Peterson and Chris Hacopian.
I decided to do a consensus mock draft based on the twelve mock drafts that I looked at. I basically used a point system where the top picks in each mock draft got 30 points, and then as I moved away from the top pick toward the 30th pick I gave each pick one less point, until the 30th pick received 1 point. Then I put them in order by how many points each draft prospect received, in total. This is certainly not a perfect tool, but it does give some insight into how each draft prospect is valued in those twelve mock drafts.
1. Chicago White Sox SS Roch Cholowsky
2. Tampa Bay Rays SS Grady Emerson
3. Minnesota Twins C Vahn Lackey
4. San Francisco Giants RHP Jackson Flora
5. Pittsburgh Pirates SS Jacob Lombard
6. Kansas City Royals OF Eric Booth Jr.
7. Baltimore Orioles OF Drew Burress
8. Athletics SS Chris Hacopian
9. Atlanta Braves C Ryder Helfrick
10. Colorado Rockies LHP Gio Rojas
11. Washington Nationals SS Tyler Bell
12. Los Angeles Angels SS Justin Lebron
13. St. Louis Cardinals OF Sawyer Strosnider
14. Miami Marlins OF/LHP Jared Grindlinger
15. Arizona Diamondbacks RHP Liam Peterson
16. Texas Rangers OF Derek Curiel
17. Houston Astros OF AJ Gracia
18. Cincinnati Reds OF Trevor Condon
19. Cleveland Guardians LHP Brody Bumila
20. Boston Red Sox LHP Hunter Dietz
21. San Diego Padres RHP Cade Townsend
22. Detroit Tigers 3B Ace Reese
23. Chicago Cubs RHP Logan Reddemann
24. Seattle Mariners OF Aiden Robbins
25. Milwaukee Brewers 3B Bo Lowrance
26. Atlanta Braves LHP Cole Carlon
27. New York Mets OF Zion Rose
28. Houston Astros LHP Mason Edwards
29. San Francisco Giants RHP Teagan Kuhns
30. Kansas City Royals RHP Logan Schmidt
At the end of this exercise I was delighted to find out that this shows the Rangers drafting Derek Curiel at #16. It would be fantastic if a hitter like Curiel actually falls to the Rangers. MLB Pipeline gives him an overall scouting grade of 55. This season at LSU he slashed .353/.431/526/.957. He is a center-fielder who is expected to be able to stay in CF in the big leagues and his hit tool grades out at a 60. Of those draft prospects who seem to be possibilities to be available when the Rangers select at #16, my personal favorites are the following guys:
OF Sawyer Strosnider
OF Derek Curiel
OF AJ Gracia
LHP Brody Bumila
3B Ace Reese
OF Aiden Robbins
3B Bo Lowrance
LHP Mason Edwards
Of course, I would love to have most of those guys in the top 10, but they are almost certain to not be available. There are also some guys not on this consensus mock draft list, who could go in the first round, that I like as well. Those include RHP Cameron Flukey, C Daniel Jackson, and LHP Carson Boleman.
