2026 MLB Draft

[cardsfantx]

Couple undrafted FA signings….

JR Fordham, RHP, Longwood — Fordham leans heavily on a mid-90s fastball with run, ride and a flat -3.73 VAA from a 4.72-foot release height. He shows feel for a slider and flashes a changeup, throwing enough strikes to project quick-moving reliever value if a second pitch solidifies.

John Lemm, C/OF, Alabama

[phins]

Ugh. Fresh corn returning to Texas A&M.

Why just give away your final two picks?

[phins]

Couple undrafted FA signings….

JR Fordham, RHP, Longwood — Fordham leans heavily on a mid-90s fastball with run, ride and a flat -3.73 VAA from a 4.72-foot release height. He shows feel for a slider and flashes a changeup, throwing enough strikes to project quick-moving reliever value if a second pitch solidifies.

John Lemm, C/OF, Alabama

Lemm stinks. Big stiff who is all power geared. Will probably be a 20 Hit guy.

Saw him at Southern Illinois and was not a fan.

Fordham is a small school dev dart throw. His stuff is light and will need to tweak the usage and get more depth to miss enough bats to play.

They also signed Tristan Bisetta, whom I saw this year. His brother was also drafted and will sign.

Bisetta is a massive power over everything play. This is a guy who would've gone top-10 rounds five years ago for his power, but now his contact data makes him undraftable. He simply can't hit spin and the whiff at the college level wasn't even good enough to clear the pro bar. And you know it'll get worse than in college.

They're undrafted for a reason.

[cardsfantx]

Ugh. Fresh corn returning to Texas A&M.

Why just give away your final two picks?

Well damn that sucks

[ghostrunner]

I wanted Freshcorn for the jokes

[ghostrunner]

Pretty cool article on the White Sox' final meeting on Friday over whether to go with Cholowsky or Emerson. The writer was allowed to sit in on the meeting, so a lot of detail of the back and forth.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/493 ... dy-emerson

CHICAGO -- It was 20 hours before the Chicago White Sox would be officially on the clock to start the 2026 MLB draft, and they still weren't fully decided on who they were going to take with the No. 1 pick.

At 4 p.m. local time Friday in the bowels of Rate Field, where the first-place White Sox would host the Athletics later that evening, more than two dozen team personnel filed into the team's theater -- a three-level news conference room that doubles as a meeting area and was serving as their draft war room on this day.

The White Sox had owned the No. 1 pick since winning the draft lottery during December's winter meetings. But even after months of scouting trips and countless hours pouring over video and metrics, staff members weren't completely convinced of their direction. They had whittled their choices down from hundreds of draft-eligible players to two shortstops: 21-year-old UCLA junior Roch Cholowsky and 18-year-old Texas high school senior Grady Emerson.

General manager Chris Getz appeared in front of personnel from every department within the organization and started the final meeting.

"I can't say we've got complete clarity quite yet," he said to the group. "Certainly, no harm in going through these guys again."

And thus began a 40-minute debate -- 20 minutes on Cholowsky and 20 minutes on Emerson -- wherein each department weighed in on the pros and cons of each player as highlights of both played on an overhead projection screen. ESPN was granted access to the meeting without any restrictions -- a rare look behind the scenes as the main decision-makers contemplated their franchise-altering choice

[Slider]

@phins a couple years ago I asked about Zack Stewart. He was rated high at the time but didn’t get drafted supposedly due to signing bonus requests.

I know he was a little up and down at Arkansas this year but showed that power still yet. I didn’t see him get drafted, any insight?

[phins]

@phins a couple years ago I asked about Zack Stewart. He was rated high at the time but didn’t get drafted supposedly due to signing bonus requests.

I know he was a little up and down at Arkansas this year but showed that power still yet. I didn’t see him get drafted, any insight?

He blew the cash. Quite literally.

As a sophomore he turned down mid-six figures. Unfortunately, he peaked as a freshman. He was an older freshman who relied on physicality and the league has trended HARD away from his archetype. He actually went back to Missouri State as a Junior and was bad enough that he got benched. He wasn't a fan of that (as you can imagine) and his departure to Arkansas after that year wasn't a choice. He was going to the portal if he didn't sign in draft.

He was pretty meh at Arkansas (was better than Junior year at Mo State). He's a laid back stoner type who isn't a bleed the grind type of guy.

Kiley McDaniel once had him top-60 and he got calls in the second round but wouldn't sign for $300K and it was a poor choice. Now he's going pro in something other than sports.

[phins]

Dee Kennedy signs for slot and that surprises me. I had him as a $1M signing in my mock exercise.

Haley most likely is over the $150K and it will take some bonus pool, but you wouldn't think more than $100K or so ($250K total).

[Slider]

@phins a couple years ago I asked about Zack Stewart. He was rated high at the time but didn’t get drafted supposedly due to signing bonus requests.

I know he was a little up and down at Arkansas this year but showed that power still yet. I didn’t see him get drafted, any insight?

He blew the cash. Quite literally.

As a sophomore he turned down mid-six figures. Unfortunately, he peaked as a freshman. He was an older freshman who relied on physicality and the league has trended HARD away from his archetype. He actually went back to Missouri State as a Junior and was bad enough that he got benched. He wasn't a fan of that (as you can imagine) and his departure to Arkansas after that year wasn't a choice. He was going to the portal if he didn't sign in draft.

He was pretty meh at Arkansas (was better than Junior year at Mo State). He's a laid back stoner type who isn't a bleed the grind type of guy.

Kiley McDaniel once had him top-60 and he got calls in the second round but wouldn't sign for $300K and it was a poor choice. Now he's going pro in something other than sports.

Thanks. That was my initial take and my fear for him 2 years ago. Pretty crazy gamble that didnt pay off.