​The Major League Baseball draft is filled with unfamiliar names. Even the most knowledgeable fans have difficulty knowing much about the mostly anonymous high school and college players taken by the 30 teams through 20 rounds.Every year, however, a handful of names ring a bell. The 2026 draft, held the last two days in Philadelphia ahead of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, was no exception.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBonds. Thome. Pettitte. Sabathia.The accomplishments of the fathers or uncles of those draftees loom large. Other high picks hope to eclipse the accomplishments of relatives who had brief MLB or long minor league careers: No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky out of UCLA is a prime example.And draft picks whose relatives have ties to the Dodgers or Angels draw interest: Salmon, Ebel, Gasparino, Willits and Bard qualify.Read more: Why 2026 MLB draft will be special for Dodgers coach Dino Ebel’s familyNo player wants to be branded as a “nepo pick” — taken as a favor to a relative. But even those can turn out to be brilliant. The Dodgers took Mike Piazza in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft largely because his father, Vince Piazza, was a childhood friend of manager Tommy Lasorda. Piazza, of course, became a Hall of Fame catcher with the Dodgers and New York Mets.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA brisk walk through this year’s picks with intriguing bloodlines:— Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA. First overall pick by the White Sox.His father, Dan Cholowsky, was the 39th overall pick in 1991 by the Cardinals and played eight minor league seasons. He’s now a scout for the Reds. To focus on baseball, Roch gave up a scholarship offer to play quarterback at Notre Dame. He is the Bruins’ first No. 1 overall pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011.— Jacob Lombard, SS, Gulliver Prep (Fla.). No. 14 overall pick by the MarlinsHis father, George Lombard, played parts of six seasons with four MLB teams from 1998-2006 and is currently the Tigers’ bench coach. Jacob’s brother, George Lombard Jr., was the 26th overall pick in the 2023 draft. Jacob is one of 11 shortstops taken in the first 40 picks this year.— Trey Ebel, SS, Corona High. No. 25 overall pick by the BrewersMilwaulkee made his brother, Brady, the No. 32 overall pick a year ago. Their father, Dino Ebel, has been the Dodgers’ third-base coach since 2019 and spent the previous 13 years as a coach for the Angels. Strength and conditioning training with MW Athletix’s Keith Coury helped lift Trey into the first round.Landon Thome, right, the 34th pick in the 2026 MLB draft, and his father, Hall of Famer Jim Thome, before a game between the Athletics and the White Sox in Chicago on July 12. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)— Landon Thome, 2B/3B, Nazareth Academy (IL). No. 34 overall pick by the White Sox.His father, Jim Thome, ranks eighth on the career home run list with 612 and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2018. Like his dad, Landon is a left-handed hitter with a sweet