The group over at Overslot Baseball has come out with an interesting and fun new tool ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft, giving us a mock draft simulator to play with, just like there is for the NFL and NBA drafts. I would recommend giving it a try for yourself if you have a few minutes.
This will be the second official mock draft of the season, and likely the final Braves specific one as the players involved are going to remain similar for the next week. I am planning on a full first round mock draft to come ahead of the draft as well based on the information that I am hearing.
The mock draft lasts 10 rounds, and the bonuses listed are their best estimates at what bonuses could look like for some of these prospects. While not perfect, they are mostly pretty reasonable. I will note ahead of time that the player database is not quite the full list of players you will find eligible for the actual draft, and senior signs aren’t going to be as cheap as they will come for the Braves – but this should give you some idea.
In case you missed the first one it can be found here.
Pick 1.9 – Gio Rojas, LHP, Florida HS
This took about 3-4 restarts to get this right. As in guys like Grady Emerson, Jackson Flora, and Eric Booth Jr. fell to this pick. I don’t see that actually happening in the draft, so I didn’t want to pick someone who there is a sub 5% chance the Braves actually select – even if it would be fun to draft one of them.
This draft started out Grady Emerson, Roch Cholowsky, Drew Burress, Jacob Lombard, Jackson Flora, Eric Booth Jr., Vahn Lackey, and Ryder Helfrick as the first eight picks. That gave me a whole list of guys that have been linked to the Braves, namely Chris Hacopian, Tyler Bell, and Gio Rojas. With Burress and Helfrick gone this becomes an easy choice to go underslot to grab Rojas for $5.5M – compared to $6M for both Hacopian and Bell. In reality I would expect Rojas about $500k to $1M cheaper, but that still saves $1.2M on the $6.7M slot. I also like the upside of Rojas more than the other two, so to me this is a win.
Pick 1.26 – Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas
This pick has a $3.6M slot value. The best players on the board are Jared Grindlinger ($5.5M), Cole Carlon, Hunter Dietz, Cade Townsend, and Brody Bumila as pitchers and Ace Reese, Bo Lowrance, and Taj Marchand as the hitters. That’s the group I’m considering here. Dietz is the pick here, even if his $3.8M is $200k over, as he is the best player available – I had him 15th on my board. I had Grindlinger higher, 10th overall – but going $1.7M over would hurt the ability to spend throughout this draft.
Pick 2.48 – Caden Bogenpohl, OF, Missouri State
This pick has a $2.1M slot value. Bumila is there, but his $3.5M asking price is too high. Same for Tyler Spangler and his $4M price tag. That leaves Caden Bogenpohl, Caden Sorrell, Tyson LeBlanc, and more affordable overslot preps like Blake Bowen, Cole Prosek, and James Clark as my best options. Bogenpohl in the choice as a big, athletic, toolsy outfielder with massive power in the tank. I wanted to get him all along and I didn’t think he would be there for the next pick, so taking him now at $1.6M saves $500k. I have saved a total of $1.5M through three picks, as Rojas and Bogenpohl saved $1.7M and Dietz was $200k over.
Pick 3.84 – Jason DeCaro, RHP, North Carolina
This pick has a $974k slot value. Crossing off all of the preps over $2.5M and focusing on Will Adams ($2.2M), Martin Shelar, Andruw Giles, Tyler Putnam, and Ethan Bass ($2M each), and college players like Peyton Bonds and pitchers Jake McCoy, Tommy LaPour, and Jason DeCaro. I really like Adams, but with his price tag I have decided to try to float him down, and grab Carolina’s DeCaro as an arm that I believe might have a little more to gain. He costs just $443k, meaning I am $2M underslot.
Pick 4.112 – Deiten Lachance, C, Oklahoma
This pick has a slot value of $698k. Adams is still there, but the way the draft board looks now looks like there is about to be a run on catchers and I believe the Braves are likely to draft one in this draft. I don’t even consider the options here and right to College World Series star Deiten Lachance, a player who I rank the highest of the group and came away impressed with how he adjusted to the SEC after coming from JUCO this year. Best of all he costs $396k, so we are now $2.3M underslot.
Pick 5.144 – Ryne Barker, 3B, Arizona HS
Slot here is $511k. It’s time to start spending money and I’m targeting an infielder that I like a good amount in projectable Arizona prep shortstop Ryne Barker. I consider him more of a third baseman, and he’s only $1.2M. That means we still have $1.6M to work with.
Pick 6.173 – Will Adams, OF, Alabama HS
Slot here is $390k. I finally grab Adams and end his slide. His price was $2.2M, putting us $200k overslot. However his bat has a chance to be special with the ability to hit for both average and power, just that there are some defensive questions.
Pick 7.202 – Josh McDevitt, RHP, Missouri
Slot is $307k. McDevitt has risen this spring and is a guy I wanted to grab. Getting him for $204k helps, and we are now just $100k overslot.
Pick 8.232 – Connor Shouse, 3B, Texas Tech
Slot is $245k. Shouse is a guy with some upside and at $197k will save about half of that overage.
Pick 9.262 – Lorenzo Carrier, OF, Pitt
Slot is $212k. Carrier is a senior but will cost more than a true senior sign, though his $160k bonus puts us back under. I’ve always been a huge fan of his tool set, it’s just that he struggled to hit. However the strides he has made this spring with the hit tool give some hope that maybe he has some chance – and at this point, with this money, that is all you can ask for. Without true $5k senior signs, this was the best I was able to do with this pick.
Pick 10.292 – Blake Morningstar, RHP, Wake Forest
Slot is $198k. Morningstar is a $150k signing and a relief arm that I like. Without cheap senior signs I wanted ti target a guy the Braves could potentially target in rounds 11-20. Morningstar is that type of pitcher.
Money situation
If this wasn’t a machine where I didn’t have full control, the final 3-4 picks would not have happened. Those are guys I do like, but if I was able to draft four senior signs for $5k each, $20k would have been cheaper than $660k. That’s a savings of $640k when you take that $660k and subtract the $20k to sign the senior signs, so instead of that $11k, the Braves would have $651k for the “Day 3” picks in rounds 11-15.
I do like those players, but pushing them into rounds 11-20 would only cost $60k over the pool limits, so I would potentially be able to get those same players and still have $591k to play with.
Overall Thoughts
This is about as solid of a draft as the Braves could hope for, short of a Booth, Flora, or Lombard sliding to the ninth pick. With no clear cut Top 10 guy available, taking the savings and spreading it around in order to draft seven strong pieces seems like a no brainer to me. Especially when there is potentially more money to work with in the final 10 rounds.
The Braves help restock their pitching with my #11 (Rojas) and #15 (Dietz) players in this draft, and also end up with my #61 (Bogenpohl), #69 (Adams), #93 (Lachance), #103 (DeCaro), and #174 (Barker) ranked players in this draft. If you want to count the other guys, McDevitt was #187, Carrier #261, Morningstar #274, and Shouse #310.
The pitching got a boost, but prep pitcher wasn’t a spot that was hit on, so it would be a target in the final 10 rounds. The catcher spot got a powerful catcher who is arguably the best catcher down on the farm. There is a talented pair of outfielders, a prep shortstop who is likely going to move to third base, and some other pieces with value if you count the rounds 7-10 picks.