Thursday is one of the most exciting days in baseball, and not just because we have three elimination games in the Wild Card Series on tap. We also started our Rotoworld Staff and Friends Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft for the 2026 season.

While many places do a “too early” mock draft, we’d argue that it’s not really too early to look ahead to next season. Sometimes, drafting now, when we’ve been dialed into games and stats for so long, is more educational than doing mock drafts in February. Right now, we have the ability to react in a clear-headed way to the results of the 2025 season and think of what we would have done differently. Once we get into spring training, we start to get inundated with narratives about who did what in the offseason, and that can influence our thought process too much.

So we invited our staff and a few of our friends to put together a 19-round mock draft that we’ll complete over the next couple of weeks and continue to break down for you in chunks over on our site. We hope you find it useful.

League Settings

12-team standard 5×5 roto league. It was a one-catcher league with four outfield spots, one UTIL spot, and we did use both Corner Infield and Middle Infield spots. We didn’t draft a bench, and we had just seven pitcher spots, five for starting pitchers, and two for relief pitchers, so we could get a sense of the strategy both both positions.

▶ 2026 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft First Round

1. Shohei Ohtani: UT/P – LAD (Dave Shovein – Rotoworld)
2. Aaron Judge: OF, NYY (James Schiano – Rotoworld)
3. Juan Soto: OF, NYM (Scott Pianowski – Yahoo!)
4. Bobby Witt Jr.: SS, KC (D.J. Short – Rotoworld)
5. Ronald Acuna Jr.: OF, ATL (Matthew Pouliot – Rotoworld)
6. Elly De La Cruz: SS, CIN (Eric Samulski – Rotoworld)
7. Jose Ramirez: 3B, CLE (Jorge Montanez- Rotoworld)
8. Julio Rodriguez: OF, SEA (Justin Mason – Fangraphs)
9. Corbin Carroll: OF, ARI (Frank Ammirante – Rotoballer)
10. Fernando Tatis Jr.: OF, SD (George Bissell – Rotoworld)
11. Tarik Skubal: SP, DET (Chris Crawford- Rotoworld)
12. Jackson Chourio: OF, MIN (Nick Shlain – Rotoworld)

Another year of Shohei Ohtani as the unquestioned top pick? Seems that way from how Dave approached it: “For me, it was a no-brainer. Ohtani is just such an unbelievable talent; the only way that he could fail to return a first-round value would be due to injury. Getting an elite five-category foundation on offense is of paramount importance. Plus, you get the added benefit of his outstanding pitching line if you need to use him there. The only other consideration was Aaron Judge, but I sided with the extra speed and the flexibility to get Ohtani’s pitching numbers over Judge’s advantage in batting average.”

Remember when people were complaining that this was a down year for Juan Soto? Sure, his .263 batting average is not what you were expecting, but he hit a career-high 43 home runs and stole 38 bases. 38! His previous career high was 12 steals. There’s no way to know for sure that that type of speed barrage will continue, but he did it AFTER getting paid a record-breaking amount of money, so why shouldn’t? Even if Soto dropped down to 20 steals and became a 40/20 hitter who was also going to score 120 runs and drive in another 100+ runs, then that makes him the pretty clear third player off the board, and there’s an argument he could go ahead of Aaron Judge.

When I was on the clock with the sixth pick, I was debating between Elly De La Cruz and Jose Ramirez. The debate is pretty simple at its core: we have one of the most consistent fantasy players around at a relatively shallow position who is also going to be 33 years old next season, or we have an ascending player who just posted his highest batting average and lowest strikeout rate and will be 24 years old next year.

I gambled on the upside of Elly, but I can’t tell you for sure that I would do it again. All I can say is that, in that moment, I thought of a young hitter in a great home ballpark who should be in a better lineup next season and has shown an improving plate approach. The increased groundball rate isn’t ideal, but I do think it’s helping his batting average, so maybe Elly is a 25/40 guy next year with a .260 batting average? That would be if he just repeats the skills he showed this year, but what if he gets better?

Justin Mason kicked off a stretch of four outfielders in five picks by selecting Julio Rodriguez. Honestly, there’s a case to be made for taking any of these four guys as the top outfielder in this range, and we know that outfield has fallen off after the first few rounds, so I do like taking an elite outfield bat to anchor a position where you need to start four guys.

We end the first round with our first pitcher off the board, Tarik Skubal. While there are great cases for both Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet, it’s not a surprise to see Skubal go first, and I guess Nick was not scared off by the injury landscape among starting pitchers. He wanted to ensure that he had an anchor with one of the best starting pitchers in the game, and he’ll need to now get to work building his office. Particularly, he’ll really need to work to find speed after who he took to start the second round.

▶ 2026 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Second Round

1 (13). Junior Caminero: 3B, TB (Nick Shlain – Rotoworld)
2 (14). Nick Kurtz: 1B, ATH (Chris Crawford- Rotoworld)
3 (15). Kyle Schwarber: UT, FA (George Bissell – Rotoworld)
4 (16). Paul Skenes: SP, PIT (Frank Ammirante – Rotoballer)
5 (17). Garrett Crochet: SP, BOS (Justin Mason – Fangraphs)
6 (18). Francisco Lindor: SS, NYM (Jorge Montanez- Rotoworld)
7 (19). Kyle Tucker: OF, FA (Eric Samulski – Rotoworld)
8 (20). Gunnar Henderson: SS, BAL (Matthew Pouliot – Rotoworld)
9 (21). Pete Alonso: 1B, FA (D.J. Short – Rotoworld)
10 (22). Trevor Story: SS, BOS (Scott Pianowski – Yahoo!)
11 (23). Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 2B/3B, NYY (James Schiano – Rotoworld)
12 (24). Cal Raleigh: C, SEA (Dave Shovein – Rotoworld)

Coming into the 2025 season, there were questions about how much fantasy value Junior Caminero would have given his lack of stolen base production. While hitting in a minor league ballpark certainly helped him launch 45 home runs this year, there’s also no denying the talent and upside Caminero has, so Nick was happy to take him at the start of the second and was not worried at all about the lack of steals.

“Caminero played in 43 games in 2024, costing him his rookie status for 2025. Still, he hit the second most home runs in a season for a 21-year-old ever, with 45 (Eddie Matthews hit 47). While Caminero certainly benefited some from playing half of his games at a spring training park, the young third baseman isn’t selling out to get to his power. He hit .264 with a 19% strikeout rate. This is a growth stock I want to invest in. Though if we were closer to the start of the 2026 season, I might have also considered Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet here.”

Two picks into the second round and we have our first really big potential discussion point with Nick Kurtz being not only the first first baseman off the board, but the 14th overall pick in the draft.

On one hand, it’s jarring to see a 22-year-old with 33 career minor league games who was drafted in 2024 already be a top 15 pick in fantasy baseball. On the other hand, Kurtz hit .290/.383/.619 this season with 36 home runs, 90 runs scored, and 86 RBI in 117 games. So, yeah, he was really good. He’s going to play yet another season in that bandbox in Sacramento, so there’s no reason to believe he can’t produce these kinds of numbers again. With a bunch of other young hitters in the lineup around him, there’s a chance this Athletics offense gets even better next season, and he easily passes 100 runs scored and 100 RBI as well. So maybe that does make him the clear-cut top first baseman in fantasy.

We saw Tarik Skubal be selected as the first pitcher off the board in the last round, so now Garrett Crochet and Paul Skenes both go. It feels like a lock that these will be the top three starters off the board in all drafts next season, and all three of them are likely to be gone after the first 15-20 picks. There really isn’t a bad choice among the three.

Speaking of bad choices, it has been a terrible choice for your mental health to draft Kyle Tucker in each of the last two seasons, as the outfielder has missed extended periods of time in both seasons. However, he has also been a pretty clear first-round value when he is on the field. I don’t believe that Tucker’s injuries over the last two years (fractured fibula, fractured hand, calf strain) present any trend of him being injury-prone. He has simply run into a string of bad luck on the health front. If I bank on him playing 140+ healthy games next season, then he is a great value at this spot, no matter which team he signs with in free agency.

The 20th overall pick in the draft is where the Gunnar Henderson fall ends. The Orioles’ shortstop was a top 5-7 pick in drafts this season and, at 24 years old, seemed like a lock to remain in the first round for years to come. However, he hit .274/.349/.438 with 17 home runs, 68 RBI, and 30 steals in 154 games this year, and drafters seemed to no longer feel as confident with Gunnar as the foundation of their fantasy lineups. However, Matthew was happy to scoop him up in the second.

“I understand being somewhat down on Henderson. His slow start this year could be explained by the strained intercostal muscle he suffered in spring training, but after he bounced back really nicely in June and July (.319/.395/.497), he lost that momentum and came in at .251/.338/.387 over the final two months. That said, he’s still just 24. He hit 37 homers in 2024, and his exit velocity numbers weren’t much worse this year. He’s gone from 10 steals as a rookie to 21 last year to 30 this year. His strikeout rate improved for the second year in a row. I don’t know that he’ll bounce all of the way back to where he was in 2024, but since the entire Baltimore offense has to be somewhat better, he wouldn’t necessarily need to in order to justify a top-15 or top-20 pick.”

So it was Pete Alonso who became the second first baseman off the board, and not Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Yes, D.J. Short is a Mets fan, and, yes, it seems likely that Pete will re-sign with the Mets in the off-season, but this wasn’t just a homer pick as D.J. “wanted the bankable power to balance out Witt.” That’s a solid roster-building strategy.

Bobby Witt Jr. is an elite fantasy asset and gives you a great batting average floor, but he hit just 23 home runs this season and plays in a poor ballpark for power production. Vlad Jr. hit just 23 home runs this year as well and only has two seasons with over 30 home runs, none of which have come in the last three years. Meanwhile, Alonso has hit at least 37 home runs in four of his last five seasons and hasn’t hit under 34 in any full MLB season. If you’re looking for power to balance out Witt, Alonso is the clear choice.

We had another surprise towards the end of the second round with Scott Pianowski taking Trevor Story with the 22nd overall pick. The 32-year-old Story has been banged up over the last few seasons, unable to play in over 94 games since 2021. However, he did stay healthy this season and was tremendous, with a .255/.340/.394 slash line plus 25 home runs, 31 steals, 91 runs scored, and 96 RBI in 157 games. He showed himself to be exactly the player the Red Sox thought he could be when they signed him in 2022. But can he do it again?

Dave Shovein then ended the second round by taking Cal Raleigh, which may not be a huge surprise, but then you remember that this is a one-catcher league. Normally, in this format, fantasy managers tend to wait on a catcher and see who falls into the middle rounds. Yet, after Raleigh’s historic season, perhaps that strategy will no longer apply: “Even in a one-catcher league, I prioritize elite production at the catcher position and didn’t think that he’d be there at the end of Round 3. Getting 35 homers and 10 steals on the conservative side with elite runs/RBI and a neutral average at the catcher position is a game-changer and affords me more flexibility with how I construct the rest of my roster.”

The draft is continuing for 19 total rounds, so we’ll update you on the middle rounds and then take you through the entire draft when it’s complete.