For the first time in nearly 20 years the Tampa Bay Rays will have one of the top two picks in the MLB draft.
During the final day of the Winter Meetings this past offseason, the draft lottery was held and the Rays entered with a 3.03% chance of being awarded the #1 overall selection. In previous years, before the lottery, the Rays would have had the 7th overall pick, but thanks to the lottery they leapt up to second overall.
The draft lottery was instituted as a way to discourage teams from tanking their seasons in pursuit of obtaining higher draft picks and it rewarded the Rays by giving them their highest draft pick since taking Tim Beckham with the 1st overall pick in 2008; the last time the Rays had a pick in the top 5 was Brendan McKay 4th overall in 2017.
The Rays next opportunity in the 2026 draft will come with the 33rd overall pick in the Competitive Balance Round A portion. Tampa Bay acquired the pick from the Baltimore Orioles as part of the return for Shane Baz (along with 4 other prospects).
In the second round, the Rays will have the 49th overall selection.
Tampa Bay would have had the 72nd overall pick in the Competitive Balance Round B portion of the draft, but the Rays traded that along with Colton Ledbetter to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three team deal that sent Ben Williamson to Tampa Bay from the Seattle Mariners.
Instead, the Rays 4th pick of the draft will come in the 3rd round at 85th overall. After that, the Rays will have pick 113 in the 4th round, their final pick in the first day of the draft. On day two, the Rays will have pick 145 in the 5th round, then the 174th pick in the sixth round.
Finally, in the 7th round, the order fully resets as teams that forfeited their picks either by signing players with qualifying offers or by violating the Competitive Balance Tax will take their proper spots in the pick rotation. So starting at pick 203, the Rays will have a selection every 30 picks.
Here’s the Rays complete draft order for 2026:
