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The 2026 MLB Draft is over. The Texas Rangers have made their selections and started signing players. Deals for their top few picks should be announced in the next few days, with the deadline for signing most drafted players being ten days from now, at 4 p.m. on Monday, July 27, 2026.

Its a far cry from the days of old, when first round picks didn’t sign until weeks — sometimes months — after they were drafted, when there were staring matches, games of chickens, where the deadline was when classes started for the school a drafting player would be attending in the fall if he didn’t sign (assuming that the player in question opted to set foot on campus, rather than not going to school and continuing negotiations into the fall and winter). The assumption is that, barring something extraordinary, a team is going to sign the players it picks in the first ten rounds, with the only real question being which players in rounds 11-20 will be inked to deals before the window for negotiations close.

The Rangers’ 2026 draft class is an unusual one, noted by many of the commentariat as being a boom-or-bust type draft, being top heavy, with their first three picks — who will likely consume the vast majority of the team’s draft bonus pool — being of the high-risk, high-reward variety. After years of swinging for the fences in the draft, the Rangers, in 2019, began orienting more towards lower-risk, safer college picks, with a particular focus on landing batters with a track record of success and good contact skills.

In 2025, the Rangers went in a somewhat different direction in the draft, using their first round pick on prep infielder Gavin Fien — the first high schooler they had picked in the first round since Cole Winn in 2018 — and splitting their first six picks, and the bulk of their draft pool, between three prep infielders* and three injured college pitchers. They didn’t take a college hitter until the seventh round, when they popped Penn State outfielder Paxton Kling — and Kling fit more in the toolsy, athletic category than the polished, advanced skills category.

* Or, if you prefer, two prep infielders and Josh Owens, a prep infielder who also pitches, and who was announced, and being used this season, as a two way player.

This past weekend, the Rangers seemingly came full circle, using their first three selections on high school players for the first time since 2018, including high-velocity lefty pitchers with two of their first three picks. As the industry as a whole has shifted more and more towards college players — nine of the first 11 picks in 2026 were from four year schools — and with a particular focus on college hitters with strong contact ability, the Rangers have put their eggs in a three player basket of guys who were attending high school two months ago.

I don’t know, though, if this is inherently a philosophical shift so much as the team seeing opportunities in regards to players that were on the board when they picked that didn’t necessarily fit their usual mode. The reports heading into draft day had the Rangers’ connected with a number of players prior to the draft, with various mock drafts having the Rangers going both position player and pitcher, both prep and college, with their top pick.

Gio Rojas, taken by the Rangers at #16, was the first high school pitcher selected in the draft, and one of only two high school pitchers taken in the “true” first round, versus the competitive balance pick round after the first round. He’s someone who was seen at one point as likely being off the board before the Rangers picked, a tall, athletic lefty who touches 98 and is expected to be able to hit triple digits when he fills out, a high spin guy who also has a quality slider and feel for a changeup. That profile even a few years ago would have him a lock to go in the top 10.

The flameout rate for high school pitchers has resulted in them dropping on draft boards in recent years, and with good reason. One can go back and look at the failure rate for high school pitchers taken high in the draft and see how often they don’t make it.

But while you are going to adjust where you put high school pitchers on your draft board as a result of that, you aren’t going to remove them from your board altogether. You aren’t going to want to take a high school pitcher first overall, sure…and a high school pitcher hasn’t gone first since Brady Aiken infamously was picked #1 in 2014 by the Houston Astros, who then didn’t sign him due to medical concerns. The only other high school pitchers taken first overall in the history of the draft are Brien Taylor, who went first overall in 1991 to the Yankees and never made the majors, and David Clyde, whose story you are all familiar with.

At some point, though, you’re going to reach a point in the draft where the risk of a high school pitcher is outweighed by the potential value that a particular high school pitcher offers at that point. For the Texas Rangers, this year, that point was the 16th pick the draft, with Gio Rojas.

Rojas, though, wasn’t necessarily the only prep pitcher the Rangers viewed as worthy of snagging with the 16th overall pick. They also were linked with Brody Bumila, a huge lefty out of Massachusetts who throws 100 with great extension, but who has a lot of work to do with his secondaries. The notion of taking Bumila at #16 went out the window when the pre-draft medicals showed that Bumila — who underwent internal brace surgery on his elbow 14 months ago — had a damaged UCL, likely necessitating another surgery.

The injury knocked Bumila out of the first round, and saw him drop all the way to the third round…where the Rangers grabbed him, reportedly with an agreement to pay him first round money. Going way over slot to get a first round talent in the later rounds isn’t unusual. Doing it for a high schooler who may not be ready to step on a mound until the end of 2027 because of a second elbow surgery is, however. Its the organization betting, not just on Bumila’s upside, but on his, and the team’s medical staff, being able to get him back to full strength.

If Bumila does, he’s a steal in the third round. If he doesn’t, well, you’ll be hearing comparisons to Michael Matuella.

In between Rojas and Bumila, the Rangers went prep hitter with Connor Comeau. Like last year’s first rounder, Gavin Fien, Comeau is a high school shortstop with an advanced hit tool who will almost certainly have to move off of shortstop. Unlike Fien, Comeau is one of the youngest players in his draft class, not turning 18 until August, and is a tall, gangly fellow who lacks speed and athleticism, but whose swing, approach and build allows him to be projected as a potential impact hitter as he fills out.

None of the Rangers’ top three picks are cheap signs. Texas isn’t going underslot with them to sign guys who slid to the later rounds. The team said after the draft that Bumila unexpectedly reaching them in the third round scrambled their draft board, as signing him would necessitate them devoting most of their excess bonus pool money to him.

And so in the fourth round, took a junior reliever out of Ole Miss in Hudson Calhoun, who may be below slot, and almost certainly won’t be above slot. In the fifth, they took Michael Anderson out of Penn State, who has already signed for $172,500, significantly below slot. The team’s sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth rounders have all signed for nominal $2500 bonuses, providing savings that will go to Bumila. Their eighth rounder, Georgia shortstop Kolby Branch, is a senior, and a good enough prospect he will likely not sign for $2500, but who will not cost a lot to lock up.

We don’t know yet how much the guys taken in the top 10 rounds will cost to sign, how much pool money will be left over to apply to potential above-$150,000 bonuses for players taken after round 10. There are interesting players the Rangers picked in that range, guys who have the potential to be legitimate prospects as they develop. We will have a fuller picture of the entire draft class in ten days.

But the big bets were in the first three rounds, when the Rangers were opportunistic in grabbing high risk, high reward guys who fell in their laps.

The Guardians welcome one of the few teams they will see post-All-Star break who enter the schedule with a record better than .500 in the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates are 50-47 with a +44 run differential, second in team wRC+ at 111, second in baserunning runs above average at 6.3, 26th in Defense at -27.5, 11th in starting pitcher ERA at 4.20 (3.72 FIP),

The Guardians are 51-46 with a -2 run differential, 23rd in team wRC+ at 92, seventh in baserunning runs above average at 5.2, ninth in Defense at -2.6, seventh in starting pitcher ERA at 3.69 (4.04 FIP), and eighth in bullpen ERA at 3.74 (3.85 FIP).

The Pirates are good at everything… except defense. They are horrific at defense. So, please, Guardians, put the ball in play.

Matchups:

Game One, Friday 7:10PM ET, Gavin Williams, RHP 3.81 ERA (3.74 FIP) vs. Jared Jones, RHP 4.37 ERA (3.67 FIP)

Game Two, Saturday, 4:10PM ET, Joey Cantillo, LHP 3.56 ERA (4.08 FIP) vs. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP 3.49 ERA (3.32 FIP)

Game Three, Sunday, 1:40PM ET, Tanner Bibee, RHP 3.90 (4.82 FIP) vs. Paul Skenes, RHP 3.57 ERA (2.88 FIP)

The Pirates are led by Esmeryn Valdez 186 wRC+, Bryan Reynolds 143 wRC+, Endy Rodriguez 138 wRC+, Ryan O’Hearn 128 wRC+, Brandon Lowe 115 wRC+, Nick Gonzalez 113 wRC+, Tyler Callihan 110 wRC+, and Jake Mangum 109 wRC+. Spencer Horwitz, Oneil Cruz and Konnor Griffin are on the IL.

The Guardians are led by Chase DeLauter 123 wRC+, Austin Hedges 116 wRC+, Brayan Rocchio 113 wRC+, and Travis Bazzana 103 wRC+.

Let’s get the second half started off with a series win!

“Gentleman. American. Sportsman. Through whose vision and courage this imposing edifice, destined to become the home of champions, was erected and dedicated to the American game of baseball.”

So reads the second plaque erected at the old Yankee Stadium to recognize a figure of organizational significance. The plaque predates Monument Park itself, having been installed upon the center field bleacher fence in 1940, the year after the death of the man it honors.

While the ballpark was informally christened “The House that Ruth Built,” of course the Yankees’ ownership was directly responsible for its construction. The plaque in question honors Jacob Ruppert, the renaissance man who owned the Yankees for 24 years. He’s received the lion’s share of the credit for shepherding the Yankees’ franchise from afterthought to behemoth, with Yankee Stadium serving as the physical embodiment of this ascent.

But it was not Ruppert who oversaw construction at East 161st Street and River Avenue. It was his co-owner, a civil engineer by trade whose attention to detail led him to spend two weeks deciding on the perfect seats for the grandstand and whose legacy as one of the most pivotal figures in Yankees history has been largely papered over.

Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston
Born: July 17, 1867 (Buffalo, NY)
Died: March 29, 1938 (Darien, GA)
Yankees Tenure: 1914-23 (co-owner)

Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio as a diehard Reds fan. He followed in the footsteps of his father, a civil engineer from Ireland, with the two working together on the Louisville and Nashville railroads. The younger Huston joined the Army during the Spanish American War, serving as a captain in the 16th Regiment of Engineers in Cuba. He stuck around for 15 years after hostilities ended, building his fortune developing infrastructure for the fledgling nation.

Despite his physical distance from his homeland, Huston remained connected to the game he loved as a child, getting American newspapers so he could follow box scores. “Neither tropic heat nor tropic rain could drive thoughts of the old game from my head,” he’d say years later of this period.

Upon his return, he hatched a plan to purchase the Chicago Cubs in 1914 and install his good friend John McGraw as manager. While McGraw was keen on the idea, he had to back out after being unable to withdraw from his contract with the Giants. A few months later, Huston linked up with Ruppert to purchase a moribund Yankees franchise. The two split the roughly $460,000 cost evenly, with Ruppert serving as team president and Huston as secretary and treasurer.

Turning the Yankees around would be no small task. The new co-owners employed a strategy familiar to more recent owners of the club: spend early and often. Ruppert and Huston reportedly told their staff to “go to the limit” in procuring talent, later relaying to manager Bill Donovan that “no sum of money would stand in the way” of whatever acquisitions he requested. Their resulting bounty, which included Hall of Famer Home Run Baker and Bob Shawkey, who’d win 168 games in 13 years in New York, served notice to the rest of the league and helped the Yankees start climbing up in the standings.

The crowning achievement of this talent influx came in December 1919. Fresh off their best finish since they were known as the Highlanders in 1910, the Yankees purchased Babe Ruth’s contract from the Red Sox. By 1921, they’d be playing in their first World Series.

Throughout this period, there was one snag in the Yankees’ rise. Since 1913, they had had played second fiddle at the Giants’ Polo Grounds in Manhattan. As the Yankees’ fortunes improved, they began to wear out their welcome. The Giants first attempted to evict them, then settled on vastly increasing their rent. Huston, leveraging his civil engineering background, led the search for a new site, surveying plots of land across Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. He and Ruppert settled on a 10-acre plot of land just across the Macombs Dam Bridge from the Polo Grounds in the Bronx.

Work began in 1922, with Huston a regular presence at the site. As construction drew to a close, he expressed his desire to sell his half of the club to Ruppert. “I’m old and tired,” he said of the decision. “The Yankees are a good team and the stadium is nearly finished. It looks as if my work is about done.” In reality, the move to sell was also sparked by years of tension between the two co-owners, chiefly over the hiring of eventual Hall of Famer Miller Huggins as manager.

Huston sold his stake in the team in May 1923, weeks after his beloved stadium first opened its doors. He left the team he helped purchase less than 10 years earlier with a new ballpark of its own and on the doorstep of its first of 27 world championships and counting. Huston moved to Georgia after his retirement from baseball before making one last attempt to buy back in. In the mid-1930s, he made an offer to purchase the Brooklyn Dodgers with a plan to install Ruth as manager, though his bid was not accepted.

Huston died of natural causes in Darien, GA at the age of 70. Unlike Ruppert, he has yet to receive enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame or much of a formal acknowledgement at the stadium he helped built. But through the conviviality, connections, expertise, and purse he brought to the New York Yankees, he deserves no less credit for the team’s historic turnaround.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Major League Baseball introduced a new innovation for the 2026 season by implementing the ABS Challenge System. The All-Star break provided an opportunity to reflect on how the Automatic ball-strike system has changed the game and overall, the reception has been positive. 

It is impossible to discuss the ABS system without talking about the technology behind it. T-Mobile has played a huge role in the system. Go to a baseball game or watch one from home and you will instantly see all of the T-Mobile branding throughout the ballpark. However, it is important to point out that T-Mobile’s partnership with Major League Baseball simply isn’t branding. They are powering the technology behind the ABS system. 

“We have been a partner with Major League Baseball for over a decade now and I think one of the things and the reasons it’s worked so well is we’ve kept innovating together,” T-Mobile Vice President of Sponsorships Amy Azzi said during All-Star festivities at Citizens Bank Park. 

Major League Baseball began testing the ABS system back in 2022 in the minor leagues. A priority was of course that it needed to be accurate but it also had to be fast so that it wouldn’t take away from the game experience. The system is powered by Hawkeye Cameras that have been installed in every Major League park. The data is transferred over a private 5G network that is provided by T-Mobile. That leads to an almost instantaneous result.  

“All of that data is transmitted into a software system that we’ve developed via the T-Mobile network,” said Morgan Sword who is the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations at MLB. “That software system determines whether the trajectory of the ball matches with the strike zone we’ve loaded in. Then if it’s challenged, that produces a call.” 

“That’s the call you see on the big board and then also on the broadcast. It’s a lot of technology that has to happen very quickly to keep that pace and rhythm going in the game.” 

So far there have been over 6,000 challenges during the first half of the regular season. Teams start with two challenges each and lose one for every unsuccessful attempt. Sword said that the number of challenges was something that the league had tested in the minors and listened to feedback from fans. Two felt like the sweet spot. 

“We decided on two challenges per team because that was the overwhelming fan feedback in the minor leagues that we started out at three. Fans told us that, you know, ABS challenges are great and exciting to a point. If you have games where there’s 12, 15 challenges, then it starts to feel a little like it’s disrupting the game a little bit. So we dialed it back to two and that’s produced about four challenges per game, which we think is kind of right on the money and fans have responded well to that.”

The overwhelming reaction to ABS from fans has been positive, but what about the players? Brewers’ Cy Young candidate Jacob Misiorowski talked about the ABS system at T-Mobile’s Club Magenta. Misiorowski said that he thinks that the system gives an advantage to the hitters. 

“I mean, sure, yes, there’s an advantage for pitchers to get a corner call, but I think you have a bigger advantage to get a call reversed to a ball over a strike.” 

While he thinks that ABS is tipped slightly in hitters favor, he is a fan of all of the technology that has made its way into baseball. 

“All the technology that you’re getting, all the information that they throw up on the scoreboard, all that stuff is really cool. The tech comes back to us and we get that information and stuff like that to tweak pitches, tweak everything around it. There’s Hawkeye, stuff like that is huge.”

Phillies legends Ryan Howard and Chase Utley both agreed that they would have benefitted from having the ABS system.  

“I think we both had a pretty good knowledge of the strike zone and I think that guys now, pitchers, catchers, and hitters are starting to get a better understanding of what that strike zone is,” Howard said. “We’ve seen pitches that are this far off, that are a ball, and then just a hair on, that are strikes.”

“Yeah, I think it would have helped. I think, right now, what we’re seeing is, calls are getting right,” said Utley. “At the end of the day, it’s about getting the calls correct. 

While the ABS system looks like a success, Major League Baseball is currently looking for other ways that they can use technology to improve the game. They are testing a check swing system in the minors. 

“It is the same Hawkeye tracking system. It actually tracks the bat, when a hitter swings. So you can finally, for the first time in the history of baseball, decide what a swing is,” Sword said. “We actually don’t really define that for anybody. So, we’ve made up a definition for the purpose of Triple-A  just to see how it goes. But, we may tweak that.”

A lot of thought has gone into developing these systems and how they would impact the fan experience. 

“It’s been really fun to watch it in the stadium, and I think I was telling Morgan before this, that some of the loudest moments in the stadium, you’d think someone hit a home run,” Azzi said of the ABS system. 

“It’s really fun to see the impact it’s had on getting people to engage in even more. It supports the great momentum that the sport has right now.”