In less than a week, the Twins will make a franchise-altering pick, selecting a player whom they hope can become a cornerstone of their future. The Twins will select third overall in the 2026 Draft, their highest selection since they took Royce Lewis with the No. 1 pick in 2017.
The Twins wound up with the third pick after finishing last season with a record that was fourth-worst in the major leagues. Two of the teams who finished with worse records were ineligible for a lottery pick, leaving the Twins with the second-best odds of winding up with the first pick.
The bouncing ping pong balls placed them third overall in a draft that now appears to have a tier of three players who stand as among the best prospects. Here’s a look at the top names to watch in the draft, which kicks off on Saturday in Philadelphia:
Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
Cholowsky was considered the consensus No. 1 pick for some time, and many draft experts still expect that he will be taken first by the Chicago White Sox, though it’s not a certainty now.
As a junior at UCLA, Cholowsky hit .320 with a 1.088 OPS, 21 home runs, 10 doubles, 60 RBIs and 73 runs scored in 60 games this season. He got on base at a .452 clip, and he’s considered a good defender at shortstop, to top it all off.
The shortstop did tell reporters at last month’s draft combine that he met with three of the teams picking in the top-4 in the draft — all but the Twins.
Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian (TX) High School
Emerson is the lone high school standout among the top trio and some scouts consider him to have the ceiling of any player in this year’s draft. In his senior season, the teenager slashed .532/.648/1.013 with seven home runs 50 RBIs and 31 stolen bases.
For his efforts, he was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, given to the nation’s top amateur player. He was just the second prep player to be named a semifinalist, joining some good company: Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. was a semifinalist in 2019.
Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
While Cholowsky and Emerson have been near the top of draft projections for some time now, Lackey’s stock rose considerably over the course of his junior season at Georgia Tech.
The catcher, who turns 21 on Tuesday, has shown consistent improvement during his college career, slashing .397/.519/.772 with a 1.291 OPS this season. Notably, his power numbers jumped, going from four home runs as a freshman to six as a sophomore to 20 as a junior.
For his work behind the plate, he was named the 2026 ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Any other names to watch?
While most mock drafts have the Twins taking one of the three — Lackey is the one most consistently linked to the Twins — the draft board could fall in any other number of ways.
The likeliest other option would seem to be Jackson Flora, if the Twins wanted to go with pitching. The UC Santa Barbara starter went 12-0 this season with a 1.05 ERA across 16 starts, striking out 133 batters in 102 innings pitched.
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