The Chicago White Sox selected UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the No. 1 overall pick as the 2026 MLB Draft officially concluded Sunday in Philadelphia. The three-day event finalized a total of 613 draft picks across 20 rounds, locking in a new class of minor league prospects.
Following Cholowsky, the Tampa Bay Rays used the second overall selection to grab high school shortstop Grady Emerson. The Minnesota Twins rounded out the top three by drafting Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey. The opening day covered the first 135 selections, with Rounds 5 through 20 processing rapidly through the weekend.
Draft positioning tied directly into team financial limits this year. The Pittsburgh Pirates entered the event wielding the largest total bonus pool at $19,130,700. The Rays followed closely with $19,009,300, while the White Sox operated with a $17,592,100 allotment for their draft class.
A significant regulatory penalty reshuffled the top of the board before the first name was called. And it cost five contenders dearly. The New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers were penalized for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the MLB competitive-balance tax.
This financial violation forced each of those teams to drop exactly 10 spots in the draft order for their highest selection, according to a draft tracker breakdown published Sunday.
The draft wrapped up with the final selections in Round 20, bringing the 613-pick event to a close.