LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The most-magical place on Earth produced no enchantment for the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers were awarded the No. 16 pick in the 2026 MLB draft at Tuesday night’s draft lottery inside the Signia by Hilton resort at the winter meetings. They had the 11th-best odds (1.3% chance) to land the first overall pick but instead fell five spots.
The Chicago White Sox, who had the best odds at 26.7%, won the lottery and can pick between UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky (the projected top college prospect) and Fort Worth Christian shortstop Grady Emerson (the projected top high school prospect) at July’s draft. The Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates rounded out the top five.
It was the second consecutive year in which the Rangers dropped multiple spots in the draft lottery. They had the eighth-best odds to win the top pick last year but fell to No. 12 and eventually selected high school infielder Gavin Fien with that pick. In 2022, the first year that the league first implemented a lottery system, the Rangers jumped four spots from seventh to third and used that pick on outfielder Wyatt Langford.
Rangers
Former All-Star shortstop and Rangers Sports Network analyst Elvis Andrus represented the team on the lottery stage Tuesday night.
The Rangers have had the No. 16 pick in the first round just once in team history. They selected left-handed pitcher Dan Smith in the 1990 draft. He pitched in parts of two seasons for the major league team.
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