The draft is just three days away. There have been several new mock drafts published over the last two or three weeks. In my last article I made a consensus of the mock drafts to try and see who might be available in the range that the Texas Rangers first picks falls into. The Rangers have the 16th pick.
This time I want to look at the latest draft boards that various outlets have published over the past 2 weeks or so. The boards differ from the mock drafts in that they are not based on which players they think teams would take. These draft boards put the players in order of how good of a prospect they think each player will be without regard to how they think any of the teams feel about the players.
I looked at nine different draft boards that have been recently released and created a consensus board from those nine boards. The following outlets' draft boards were used when making this consensus:
Baseball America
MLB Pipeline
Perfect Game
Prospects 1500
Overslot.com
The Athletic
Just Baseball
Matt Powers
Prep Baseball Report
If you analyze those nine draft boards and give a point total to each draft prospect, depending on where each board has that prospect ranked, you can come up with a consensus 2026 MLB Draft Board. Here is the consensus board I came up with.
1. Roch Cholowski, SS, UCLA
2. Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
3. Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian (TX)
4. Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
5. Eric Booth Jr., OF, Oak Grove (MS)
6. Jacob Lombard, SS, Gulliver Prep (FL)
7. Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
8. Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky
9. Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas
10. Chris Hacopian, 2B, Texas A&M
11. Gio Rojas, LHP, Stoneman Douglas (FL)
12. Derek Curiel, OF, LSU
13. Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina
14. Jared Grindlinger, LHF/OF, Huntington Beach, CA
15. Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama
16. Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU
17. A J Gracia, OF, Virginia
18. Trevor Condon, OF, Etowah, Georgia
19. Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State
20. Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida
21. Cole Carlon, LHP, Arizona State
22. Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas
23. Carson Boleman, LHP, Southside Christian, (SC)
24. Daniel Jackson, C, Georgia
25. Bo Lowrance, 3B, Christ Church Episcopal (SC)
26. Mason Edwards, LHP, USC
27. Zion Rose, OF, Louisville
28. Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas
29. Eric Becker, SS, Virginia
30. Tegan Kuhns, RHP, Tennessee
It is almost certainly a given that those top 10 players will be off the board when the Rangers have their turn to pick at #16. Other than that, there are no givens in this draft. Besides those top 10 prospects, 5 more will be gone when the Rangers turn comes, but which 5 is anybody's guess. Having a team or two in the top 15 pick a player who is not listed here is certainly a possibility.
The Rangers are most likely going to get a really good player when they pick in the first round at #16. There are a lot of really good prospects on this list. Personally, the more I look at which players will be available for the Rangers, the more I like three of those guys in the twenties on this list. Give me Daniel Jackson, Bo Lowrance or Mason Edwards.
