​The group over at Overslot Baseball has rolled out an intriguing and entertaining new tool ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft: a mock draft simulator that mirrors the options fans already enjoy for the NFL and NBA drafts. If you have a few minutes to spare, I’d suggest giving it a try yourself. This marks the second official mock draft of the season and is likely to be the final Braves-specific one, since the players involved are set to stay largely the same for the next week. I’m planning to release a full first-round mock draft ahead of the draft as well, based on the information I’ve been hearing.
The mock draft runs for 10 rounds, with the bonuses listed serving as the best estimates for what these prospects might command. While not flawless, they’re generally quite reasonable. It’s worth noting up front that the player database isn’t the exhaustive slate you’ll see eligible on draft day, and senior signs won’t be as inexpensive for the Braves as some of the others in this exercise. Nevertheless, it should give you a solid sense of the landscape. If you missed the first mock, you can find it here. It took roughly 3–4 restarts to land on a credible version, since a few names—Grady Emerson, Jackson Flora, and Eric Booth Jr., for instance—were initially slated to fall to certain picks. I didn’t want to force a selection of someone with a sub-5% chance of the Braves actually drafting them, even if it would be entertaining.
This draft began with Grady Emerson, Roch Cholowsky, Drew Burress, Jacob Lombard, Jackson Flora, Eric Booth Jr., Vahn Lackey, and Ryder Helfrick as the first eight picks. That lineup opened up a path to consider several players who have been linked to the Braves, including Chris Hacopian, Tyler Bell, and Gio Rojas. With Burress and Helfrick out of the equation, the table becomes simpler: underslot to grab Rojas for $5.5 million, compared to $6 million for both Hacopian and Bell. In a real scenario, I’d expect Rojas to come in about $500k to $1 million cheaper, but even with that adjustment, it still saves around $1.2 million against the $6.7 million slot. I also prefer Rojas’s upside to the other two, so in my view this represents a win.
That particular pick carries a $3.6 million slot value. The top available players on the board include Jared Grindlinger ($5.5M), Cole Carlon, Hunter Dietz, Cade Townsend, and Brody Bumila among the pitchers, plus Ace Reese, Bo Lowrance, and Taj Marchand among the hitters. That group is the one I’m weighing for the next selection. Dietz emerges as the choice here, even though his $3.8 million price is $200k over, since he is the best player available—I had him ranked 15th on my board. I had Grindlinger higher, at 10th overall, but spending an extra $1.7 million at this point would hamper the ability to distribute funds through the rest of the draft.
That next pick has a $2.1 million slot value. Bumila is in the mix, but his asking price of $3.5 million is too steep, and Tyler Spangler’s $4 million price tag is similarly prohibitive. That narrows the best options to Caden Bogenpohl, Caden Sorrell, Tyson LeBlanc, and other affordable overslot prep targets such as Blake Bowen, Cole Prosek, and James Clark. Among these, Bogenpohl stands out as a compelling choice—a big, athletic, toolsy outfielder with huge power—making him a strong pick given the considerations above.