The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep.

Advertisement

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. In this piece, we’ll be drafting from the No. 8 overall pick.

Here, we went with a ZeroSP approach, waiting until the later rounds before drafting our first starter.

More Mock Drafts

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: Shea Langeliers, Athletics
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B: Brice Turang, Brewers
SS: CJ Abrams, Nationals
3B: Alex Bregman, Cubs
OF: Kyle Tucker, Dodgers
OF: Brent Rooker, Athletics
OF: Roman Anthony, Red Sox
UTIL: Jakob Marsee, Marlins
UTIL: Munetaka Murakami, White Sox
SP: MacKenzie Gore, Rangers
SP: Zack Wheeler, Phillies
RP: Jeff Hoffman, Blue Jays
RP: Trevor Megill, Brewers
P: Gavin Williams, Guardians
P: Andrew Abbott, Reds
P: Shane Smith, White Sox
P: Roki Sasaki, Dodgers
Bench: Jonathan Aranda, Rays
Bench: Caleb Durbin, Red Sox
Bench: Will Warren, Yankees
Bench: Ryan Jeffers, Twins
Bench: Brandon Pfaadt, Diamondbacks

Advertisement

Strategy overview: Based on projections, it still feels like a very wise decision to wait on starting pitching based on value. Even the top pitchers aren’t going to outscore the vast majority of bats in the first 4-5 rounds. Then the SP market thins out, so there won’t be too much difference in projected points once you get past the top 24 pitchers. Even if you’re not employing an extreme strategy like this one, you can target a few SPs in each range and focus more of your attention on bats.

Let’s look at the team.

Wheels Up: I didn’t draft a SP until the 10th round, ultimately taking MacKenzie Gore. He’s a popular breakout candidate among our Yahoo analysts and I trust them with my life (if fantasy baseball were my life, which it is, of course). He would be the first of a run of six straight pitcher selections, including Wheeler, who feels like a high-risk, high-reward option that late in your draft. Expect his ADP to creep up over the next few weeks. We’ve gotten a lot of positive updates on his rehab from thoracic outlet decompression surgery. He’ll likely miss the start of the season, but if he comes back sooner rather than later, we know what his upside is: one of the best SPs in fantasy.

Advertisement

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

‘Give the Bat to Tucker’: That’s a deep-cut 90s cartoon reference for all of you playing at home. Anyway, I opted for Tucker in the first round over Julio Rodríguez and Ronald Acuña Jr., among others. If Tucker is healthy, he should mash in Dodger Stadium in a lineup sandwiched between multiple MVPs. A big theme with this mocked team overall is risk versus reward. Tucker has the potential for a career year.

The Roman Empire: I made Red Sox budding star Roman Anthony a priority in this draft. He’s being overdrafted but I think you also need to buy into the hype after what he did in a small sample last season. He was the top prospect in baseball for a reason and posted a 3.1 WAR in not even half a season’s worth of games. If you roughly project that over the course of an entire season, Anthony would have finished around the top 15 in WAR. If that were the case, where would you take Anthony? The late-first round? Second round? I got him in the fourth round, which doesn’t feel like a stretch. He’s also been pretty good in the World Baseball Classic, FWIW.

No need to fade players on bad teams: Speaking of players coming off decent rookie seasons in a small sample, Marsee feels like he’s being overlooked because he’s on the Marlins. Don’t shy away from selecting players on potentially bad teams. Again, Marsee is only 24 years old and had a 1.9 WAR over just 55 games. He had 14 SBs in that stretch and 42.6% of his hits went for extra bases. I was able to grab Marsee in the ninth round; outfield remains super deep.

Advertisement

Looking for upside: For the rest of the pitching staff, I used the “ascending” players strategy highlighted by Fred Zinkie here. Williams, Abbott and Smith are all ascending young starters who may not have reached their ceilings yet. I was able to grab all three in the 12th round later. You could even throw Warren and Pfaadt into that group as well; both are in their mid-to-late 20s and still have some potential.

Takeaways from the 8th pick: I feel like I’m saying this with each mock but this is another team I really liked on paper. If things go sideways with the pitching staff, I have enough depth among my bats to make a deal if need be. If Anthony and Marsee step up, I could explore offloading Tucker or, if Murakami is legit, could look to move Vlad Jr. or Bregman for a pitcher.

Advertisement

This team feels like more of a “project” but isn’t that the fun of fantasy baseball? It’s a long season, we’re trying to keep things fresh and exciting.