MLB: First Fantasy Baseball Draft of 2026

James Anderson participated in the first high-stakes fantasy baseball draft of 2026, and he provides the full draft board plus the player rankings by position!

Updated on August 21, 2025 11:35AM EST

MLB: First Fantasy Baseball Draft of 2026

By:

James Anderson

Updated on August 21, 2025 11:35AM EST

Wednesday, Aug. 20 marked the fourth annual Too Early Meatball Draft hosted by Rob DiPietro in which 15 high-stakes fantasy baseball players, including myself, draft the first 11 rounds of a NFBC Draft Champions league. This is a real 50-round draft-and-hold standard roto league with and we'll draft the final 39 rounds early in the offseason.

Bubba won the first year of the league and Steve Weimer is poised to win for a second year in a row this year.

We did KDS based on the standings last Saturday and I had the sixth choice of where to draft, and I could have picked as high as fifth, or slotted myself in the middle, but I opted to draft 15th because I thought it would be fun to see who falls and there's a competitive edge to consider, as I will get the first pick when we start round 12 and there will obviously be some players rising in value between now and then.

I previewed the draft with Dominic Rello a few hours before the draft:

Here's the draft board:

I am currently working on next week's big update to the top 400 prospect rankings, so I won't be able to provide a full break down of the draft, but I provided the positional ranks and projected positional eligibility for each player. What stands out? Who were the most surprising picks? Which of my picks do you like/dislike? Who do you think has the best team? Let me

Bubba won the first year of the league and Steve Weimer is poised to win for a second year in a row this year.

I previewed the draft with Dominic Rello a few hours before the draft:

Here's the draft board:

Catcher

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Cal Raleigh	C	SEA	22
2	William Contreras	C	MIL	42
3	Shea Langeliers	C	ATH	63
4	Agustin Ramirez	C	MIA	68
5	Will Smith	C	LAD	89
6	Salvador Perez	C/1B	KC	91
7	Ben Rice	C/1B	NYY	93
8	Hunter Goodman	C	COL	115
9	Yainer Diaz	C	HOU	116
10	Drake Baldwin	C	ATL	124
11	Adley Rutschman	C	BAL	125
12	Alejandro Kirk	C	TOR	131
13	Samuel Basallo	C	BAL	154

First Base

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Vladimir Guerrero	1B	TOR	16
2	Nick Kurtz	1B	ATH	17
3	Pete Alonso	1B	NYM	27
4	Rafael Devers	1B	SF	38
5	Bryce Harper	1B	PHI	41
6	Freddie Freeman	1B	LAD	43
7	Matt Olson	1B	ATL	66
8	Josh Naylor	1B	FA	70
9	Vinnie Pasquantino	1B	KC	72
10	Willson Contreras	1B	STL	88
11	Salvador Perez	1B/C	KC	91
12	Ben Rice	1B/C	NYY	93
13	Tyler Soderstrom	1B/OF	ATH	97
14	Spencer Torkelson	1B	DET	136
15	Jonathan Aranda	1B	TB	138
16	Yandy Diaz	1B	TB	150
17	Lenyn Sosa	1B/2B	CHW	158

Second Base

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Ketel Marte	2B	ARI	25
2	Jazz Chisholm	2B/3B	NYY	28
3	Jose Altuve	2B/OF	HOU	64
4	Ceddanne Rafaela	2B/OF	BOS	105
5	Xavier Edwards	2B/SS	MIA	133
6	Brice Turang	2B	MIL	135
7	Jackson Holliday	2B	BAL	137
8	Luke Keaschall	2B	MIN	142
9	Ozzie Albies	2B	ATL	155
10	Lenyn Sosa	2B/1B	CHW	158

Third Base

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Jose Ramirez	3B	CLE	4
2	Junior Caminero	3B	TB	12
3	Jazz Chisholm	3B/2B	NYY	28
4	Manny Machado	3B	SD	29
5	Austin Riley	3B	ATL	65
6	Alex Bregman	3B	BOS	67
7	Jordan Westburg	3B	BAL	73
8	Maikel Garcia	3B	KC	109
9	Eugenio Suarez	3B	FA	113
10	Noelvi Marte	3B/OF	CIN	126
11	Matt Chapman	3B	SF	129
12	Addison Barger	3B/OF	TOR	153

Shortstop

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Bobby Witt	SS	KC	3
2	Elly De La Cruz	SS	CIN	5
3	Gunnar Henderson	SS	BAL	15
4	Francisco Lindor	SS	NYM	19
5	Trea Turner	SS	PHI	23
6	Zach Neto	SS	LAA	24
7	CJ Abrams	SS	WAS	32
8	Mookie Betts	SS	LAD	46
9	Jeremy Pena	SS	HOU	55
10	Corey Seager	SS	TEX	71
11	Willy Adames	SS	SF	120
12	Bo Bichette	SS	TOR	127
13	Xavier Edwards	SS/2B	MIA	133
14	Dansby Swanson	SS	CHC	149
15	Geraldo Perdomo	SS	ARI	156
16	Jacob Wilson	SS	ATH	159
17	Ezequiel Tovar	SS	COL	160

Outfield

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall Pick
1	Aaron Judge	OF	NYY	2
2	Corbin Carroll	OF	ARI	7
3	Juan Soto	OF	NYM	8
4	Julio Rodriguez	OF	SEA	10
5	Jackson Chourio	OF	MIL	11
6	Kyle Tucker	OF	FA	18
7	Pete Crow-Armstrong	OF	CHC	20
8	Fernando Tatis	OF	SD	21
9	Ronald Acuna	OF	ATL	26
10	Oneil Cruz	OF	PIT	30
11	James Wood	OF	WAS	33
12	Riley Greene	OF	DET	44
13	Roman Anthony	OF	BOS	45
14	Brent Rooker	OF	ATH	47
15	Jarren Duran	OF	BOS	59
16	Jose Altuve	OF/2B	HOU	64
17	Seiya Suzuki	OF	CHC	77
18	Randy Arozarena	OF	SEA	82
19	Cody Bellinger	OF	NYY	84
20	Wyatt Langford	OF	TEX	85
21	Michael Harris	OF	ATL	87
22	Luis Robert	OF	CWS	90
23	Teoscar Hernandez	OF	LAD	92
24	Christian Yelich	OF	MIL	98
25	Chandler Simpson	OF	TB	99
26	Byron Buxton	OF	MIN	100
27	Ceddanne Rafaela	OF/2B	BOS	105
28	Jackson Merrill	OF	SD	108
29	Noelvi Marte	OF/3B	CIN	126
30	Brenton Doyle	OF	COL	132
31	Kyle Stowers	OF	MIA	134
32	Andy Pages	OF	LAD	141
33	Lawrence Butler	OF	ATH	143
34	Dylan Crews	OF	WAS	146
35	Jakob Marsee	OF	MIA	148
36	Addison Barger	OF/3B	TOR	153
37	Jac Caglianone	OF	KC	161
38	Kerry Carpenter	OF	DET	163

UT

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Shohei Ohtani	UT/SP	LAD	1
2	Kyle Schwarber	UT	FA	9
3	Yordan Alvarez	UT	HOU	54

SP

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall Pick
1	Tarik Skubal	SP	DET	6
2	Paul Skenes	SP	PIT	13
3	Garrett Crochet	SP	BOS	14
4	Chris Sale	SP	ATL	31
5	Logan Gilbert	SP	SEA	34
6	Joe Ryan	SP	MIN	35
7	Hunter Brown	SP	HOU	36
8	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	SP	LAD	37
9	Cristopher Sanchez	SP	PHI	39
10	Jacob deGrom	SP	TEX	40
11	Zack Wheeler	SP	PHI	49
12	Logan Webb	SP	SF	51
13	Freddy Peralta	SP	MIL	52
14	Blake Snell	SP	LAD	56
15	Hunter Greene	SP	CIN	57
16	Bryan Woo	SP	SEA	58
17	Dylan Cease	SP	FA	60
18	George Kirby	SP	SEA	62
19	Spencer Schwellenbach	SP	ATL	69
20	Framber Valdez	SP	FA	75
21	Spencer Strider	SP	ATL	78
22	Michael King	SP	SD	80
23	Robbie Ray	SP	SF	83
24	Carlos Rodon	SP	NYY	86
25	Pablo Lopez	SP	MIN	94
26	Brandon Woodruff	SP	FA	96
27	Eury Perez	SP	MIA	101
28	Nathan Eovaldi	SP	TEX	102
29	Cole Ragans	SP	KC	103
30	Max Fried	SP	NYY	104
31	Nick Pivetta	SP	SD	106
32	Tyler Glasnow	SP	LAD	110
33	Nick Lodolo	SP	CIN	111
34	Drew Rasmussen	SP	TB	112
35	Chase Burns	SP	CIN	118
36	Shota Imanaga	SP	CHC	119
37	Sonny Gray	SP	STL	121
38	Edward Cabrera	SP	MIA	123
39	Jesus Luzardo	SP	PHI	130
40	Ryan Pepiot	SP	TB	139
41	Shane Bieber	SP	FA	140
42	Jack Flaherty	SP	FA	144
43	Jacob Misiorowski	SP	MIL	147
44	Luis Castillo	SP	SEA	152
45	Zebby Matthews	SP	MIN	157
46	Hurston Waldrep	SP	ATL	162
47	Gavin Williams	SP	CLE	164
48	Kyle Bradish	SP	BAL	165

RP

	Player	Pos	Team	Overall pick
1	Jhoan Duran	RP	PHI	48
2	Edwin Diaz	RP	NYM	50
3	Andres Munoz	RP	SEA	53
4	Jeff Hoffman	RP	TOR	61
5	Josh Hader	RP	HOU	74
6	Mason Miller	RP	SD	76
7	Trevor Megill	RP	MIL	79
8	David Bednar	RP	NYY	81
9	Aroldis Chapman	RP	FA	95
10	Robert Suarez	RP	FA	107
11	Devin Williams	RP	FA	114
12	Randy Rodriguez	RP	SF	117
13	Raisel Iglesias	RP	FA	122
14	Cade Smith	RP	CLE	128
15	Tanner Scott	RP	LAD	145
16	Ryan Helsley	RP	STL	151