{"id":632941,"date":"2026-03-20T04:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/632941\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:06:31","slug":"fantasy-baseball-mock-draft-2-0-12-teams-3-rounds-pick-by-pick-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/632941\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft, 2.0: 12 teams, 3 rounds, pick-by-pick analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

One month ago, Scott Pianowski did his part to start the fantasy baseball mock draft process by detailing the first-round options for 2026<\/a>. I\u2019m going to take things one step further by breaking down the initial three rounds of a 12-team draft.<\/p>\n

Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Round<\/p>\n

Round 1 of Mock Draft, 2.0. (Photo by Henry Russell\/Yahoo Sports)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees<\/p>\n

Judge or Ohtani. Flip a coin. I went with Judge in an effort to keep my utility spots open.<\/p>\n

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2.\u00a0Shohei Ohtani, UT, Dodgers<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t go wrong with a top-two pick this year. Ohtani has had 109 homers, 280 runs and 79 steals over the past two years. Not too shabby.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals<\/p>\n

In a disappointing year, Witt hit .295 with 23 homers and 38 steals. With the fences coming in at Kauffman Stadium, the 25-year-old could have a 35-35 season.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Juan Soto, OF, Mets<\/p>\n

Coming off a 38-steal season, Soto has a sky-high ceiling. And even if the steals dry up, his lifetime .948 OPS shows that he also has an elite floor.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Tarik Skubal, SP, Tigers<\/p>\n

With a massive drop-off after the top three starters, managers should be open to taking a pitcher in Round 1. Skubal offers the best combination of skills, track record and supporting cast.<\/p>\n

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6.\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez, 3B, Guardians<\/p>\n

On skills, career r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and position scarcity, Ram\u00edrez belongs in this spot. Still, the Guardians\u2019 lackluster lineup mates make me worried.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds<\/p>\n

Now that we know about a quad injury that caused De La Cruz to slump last summer, we can return to projecting massive counting stats for an ascending talent who is back to full health.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Kyle Tucker, OF, Dodgers<\/p>\n

Tucker was a second-round option until he signed with the high-scoring Dodgers. His new team and diverse skill set put him back into the top 10 selections.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Julio Rodr\u00edguez, OF, Mariners<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take another slow start if it ends with another 30-30 campaign. At some point, Rodr\u00edguez will come out of the gate quickly and make a run at 40-40.<\/p>\n

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10.\u00a0Paul Skenes, SP, Pirates<\/p>\n

By adding to their lineup, the Pirates have improved Skenes\u2019 win potential. That was the final piece to cement the LSU product as a first-round pick.<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0Garrett Crochet, SP, Red Sox<\/p>\n

Managers who are picking 11th will need to decide if they are willing to roll the dice on Crochet making it through the turn. In this draft, the manager didn\u2019t want to take the chance, given that there will be plenty of hitting options for their second selection.<\/p>\n

12.\u00a0Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., OF, Braves<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a reestablished himself as a great hitter last season (.935 OPS) and is expected to bring back his base-stealing aggressiveness this year. He could return to top-three status by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\"Round<\/p>\n

Round 2 of Mock Draft, 2.0. (Photo by Henry Russell\/Yahoo Sports)<\/p>\n

13.\u00a0Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays<\/p>\n

Team 12 is excited to blend a balanced contributor (Acu\u00f1a) with a pure power hitter. Slugging 45 homers in his first full season was impressive. It will be even more impressive if Caminero can repeat the feat while playing half his games at Tropicana Field.<\/p>\n

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14.\u00a0Gunnar Henderson, SS, Orioles<\/p>\n

Grabbing Henderson after a down year seems like a wise move for Team 11 after they opened with a pitcher. After all, he still swiped 30 bases in 2025 and produced 37 homers and 118 runs the previous year.<\/p>\n

15.\u00a0Fernando Tat\u00eds Jr., OF, Padres<\/p>\n

After selecting Skenes, Team 10 was looking for a balanced contributor with upside. Tat\u00eds fits the bill as a potential 30-30 player who is still trying to recapture the form he showed before missing all of 2022.<\/p>\n

16.\u00a0Jackson Chourio, OF, Brewers<\/p>\n

Chourio\u2019s production leveled off last season, which wasn\u2019t a terrible outcome for a 21-year-old sophomore. He could take the next step and threaten the 30-30 club in his age-22 campaign.<\/p>\n

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17.\u00a0Corbin Carroll, OF, Diamondbacks<\/p>\n

Coming off his initial 30-30 season, Carroll would have been a top-10 pick if not for surgery to repair a broken hamate bone.<\/p>\n

18.\u00a0Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics<\/p>\n

Rare power, an emerging lineup and a hitter-friendly park are a trifecta of reasons to grab Kurtz in Round 2, and his power skills are a great compliment to Team 7\u2019s first pick of De La Cruz. Lowering his strikeout rate will be the next step to superstar status.<\/p>\n

19.\u00a0Cal Raleigh, C, Mariners<\/p>\n

Team 6 is deploying the \u201cposition scarcity\u201d plan that was recently detailed in my draft strategies articl<\/a>e<\/a>. By grabbing the top third baseman (Ram\u00edrez) and the best catcher, they have set themselves up to pick from the deeper pools at other positions.<\/p>\n

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20.\u00a0Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B\/3B, Yankees<\/p>\n

After starting with Skubal, Team 5 was looking for a balanced contributor as their first hitter. Enter Chisholm, who offers the bonus of being eligible at two scarce positions.<\/p>\n

21.\u00a0Kyle Schwarber, OF, Phillies<\/p>\n

Team 4 would have preferred more of a balanced contributor to pair with Soto, but they instead opted for the best remaining hitter and will address steals later. Schwarber has remarkably averaged 46.75 homers, 107.25 runs and 108.5 RBI over his four years in Philly.<\/p>\n

22.\u00a0Pete Alonso, 1B, Orioles<\/p>\n

Team 3 reached a bit on Alonso, since his power potential is the perfect complement to Witt\u2019s high batting average and steals total. Alonso shouldn\u2019t skip a beat after moving from the New York Mets to Baltimore.<\/p>\n

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23.\u00a0Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Blue Jays<\/p>\n

Team 2 has a pair of rock-solid hitters. Guerrero\u2019s good-but-not-great power skills are less of an issue when he\u2019s paired with Ohtani, who is coming off consecutive 50-homer seasons.<\/p>\n

24.\u00a0Trea Turner, SS, Phillies<\/p>\n

Turner is quietly productive every year, and Team 1 opted for his consistency over the upside of some younger options.<\/p>\n

\"Round<\/p>\n

Round 3 of Mock Draft, 2.0. (Photo by Henry Russell\/Yahoo Sports)<\/p>\n

25.\u00a0Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, SP, Phillies<\/p>\n

With the long wait from pick 25 to 48, Team 1 decided to jump into the pitcher market. S\u00e1nchez and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have pulled away from the pack to emerge as the popular SP4 and SP5 draft options.<\/p>\n

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26.\u00a0Yoshinobu Yamamoto, SP, Dodgers<\/p>\n

Knowing that Team 1 was unlikely to take two pitchers on the turn, Team 2 waited and took the leftover hurler. That turned out to be Yamamoto, who would rank ahead of S\u00e1nchez on many draft boards if not for concerns of a six-man Dodgers rotation.<\/p>\n

27.\u00a0Yordan Alvarez, OF, Astros<\/p>\n

With a lifetime .961 OPS, Alvarez is one of baseball\u2019s best pure hitters. After starting with a shortstop (Witt) and first baseman (Alonso), Team 3 decided to take a chance that the 28-year-old could bounce back from an injury-plagued 2025 season.<\/p>\n

28.\u00a0Zach Neto, SS, Angels<\/p>\n

Neto fell into the lap of Team 4, who was looking for some speed after starting with Soto and Schwarber. Neto will be selected shortly after Turner in most drafts. His 162-game pace in 2025 included 32 homers, 32 steals and 104 runs scored.<\/p>\n

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29.\u00a0Francisco Lindor, SS, Mets<\/p>\n

Lindor was one 2024 stolen base away from three straight 30-30 seasons. The Mets\u2019 sparkplug lasted a little longer than usual in this draft; though he\u2019s reportedly on track to be ready by Opening Day<\/a>, he\u2019s recovering from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone.<\/p>\n

30.\u00a0Bryan Woo, SP, Mariners<\/p>\n

Team 6 continues to avoid the deeper hitting positions and instead opts to draft their ace. Opinions vary on Woo, with some valuing him as much as S\u00e1nchez and Yamamoto, and others wanting to first see a repeat of his breakout 2025 season (2.94 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 198 SO).<\/p>\n

31.\u00a0Ketel Marte, 2B, Diamondbacks<\/p>\n

Team 7 has adopted a strategy to fill their infield first, as Marte joins Kurtz and De La Cruz. With three outstanding hitters, they can next turn their attention to pitching before plucking from the wide range of outfield options in the later rounds.<\/p>\n

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32.\u00a0Logan Gilbert, SP, Mariners<\/p>\n

Gilbert could be undervalued, as his strikeout rate jumped in an injury-impacted 2025 season. He thrives at his pitcher-friendly home park and should be good enough on the road to give Team 8 a mid-level ace.<\/p>\n

33.\u00a0Chris Sale, SP, Braves<\/p>\n

Sale remains as skilled as nearly any pitcher, but his injury history and age make him a boom-or-bust option for his age-37 season. After drafting two five-category stars (Rodr\u00edguez, Chourio), Team 9 takes their first risk.<\/p>\n

34.\u00a0Manny Machado, 3B, Padres<\/p>\n

Team 10 is borrowing from a fantasy football strategy, by stacking their top-two hitters from the same team. If Tat\u00eds has a terrific season, Machado will benefit from more RBI opportunities.<\/p>\n

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35.\u00a0Bryce Harper, 1B, Phillies<\/p>\n

Would you rather roster Crochet and Harper or Acu\u00f1a and Hunter Brown? That is the debate that will keep Team 11 up at night, as their Round 1 decision to draft Crochet forced them to pass on the remaining aces in Round 3.<\/p>\n

36.\u00a0Hunter Brown, SP, Astros<\/p>\n

Who says that you can\u2019t build a great roster with the last pick? Team 12 has a pair of potential superstars in Acu\u00f1a and Caminero, and Brown could be a top-five starter.<\/p>\n

Team-by-team results: Which one do you like best?<\/p>\n

Team 1: Aaron Judge-Trea Turner-Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/p>\n

Team 2: Shohei Ohtani-Vladimir Guerrero Jr.-Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/p>\n

Team 3: Bobby Witt Jr.-Pete Alonso-Yordan Alvarez<\/p>\n

Team 4: Juan Soto-Kyle Schwarber-Zach Neto<\/p>\n

Team 5: Tarik Skubal-Jazz Chisholm Jr.-Francisco Lindor<\/p>\n

Team 6: Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez-Cal Raleigh-Bryan Woo<\/p>\n

Team 7: Elly De La Cruz-Nick Kurtz-Ketel Marte<\/p>\n

Team 8: Kyle Tucker-Corbin Carroll-Logan Gilbert<\/p>\n

Team 9: Julio Rodr\u00edguez-Jackson Chourio-Chris Sale<\/p>\n

Team 10: Paul Skenes-Fernando Tat\u00eds Jr.-Manny Machado<\/p>\n

Team 11: Garrett Crochet-Gunnar Henderson-Bryce Harper<\/p>\n

Team 12: Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.-Junior Caminero-Hunter Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One month ago, Scott Pianowski did his part to start the fantasy baseball mock draft process by detailing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2276],"tags":[106,143,5,136,5340,1207,3297,919,1538,7320,38,39,1177,920,227,922,916,1328,3875,1824,865,134,3992,4682,729,81,29,466,2291,1527,620,101,4,1586,459,1258,125,877,74,40,297,89,921,215,382,1713,93,142,2264,313,2052],"class_list":{"0":"post-632941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-brewers","12":"tag-bryan","13":"tag-bryce-harper","14":"tag-cal-raleigh","15":"tag-chris-sale","16":"tag-corbin-carroll","17":"tag-de-la-cruz","18":"tag-diamondbacks","19":"tag-dodgers","20":"tag-elly-de-la-cruz","21":"tag-fernando-tatis-jr","22":"tag-francisco-lindor","23":"tag-garrett-crochet","24":"tag-gunnar-henderson","25":"tag-hunter-brown","26":"tag-jackson-chourio","27":"tag-jazz-chisholm","28":"tag-jose-ramirez","29":"tag-juan-soto","30":"tag-julio-rodriguez","31":"tag-junior-caminero","32":"tag-ketel-marte","33":"tag-kyle-schwarber","34":"tag-kyle-tucker","35":"tag-logan-gilbert","36":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","37":"tag-manny-machado","38":"tag-mariners","39":"tag-mets","40":"tag-mlb","41":"tag-mlb-draft","42":"tag-nick-kurtz","43":"tag-ohtani","44":"tag-orioles","45":"tag-paul-skenes","46":"tag-pete-alonso","47":"tag-phillies","48":"tag-rays","49":"tag-red-sox","50":"tag-ronald-acuna-jr","51":"tag-sp","52":"tag-tarik-skubal","53":"tag-trea-turner","54":"tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr","55":"tag-yankees","56":"tag-yordan-alvarez","57":"tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto","58":"tag-zach-neto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}