The Tampa Bay Rays have selected shortstop Grady Emerson out of Fort Worth Christian High School (Tx.) with the No. 2 overall pick in the first round of the 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft.
The 18-year-old Emerson was named the 2026 Gatorade National Player of the Year, given annually to the nation’s top high school baseball player, after slashing .532/.648/1.013 (42-for-79) with nine doubles, seven home runs, 50 RBI, 27 walks, 39 runs scored, and 31 steals over 28 regular-season games as a senior at Fort Worth Christian, leading the school to a Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) Division II state finals appearance for the first time since 2019. He was also selected as a 2026 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, joining Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (2019) as the only high schoolers to receive the distinction since the award’s inception in 1978. The honor is presented annually to the top amateur baseball player in the United States.
A University of Texas commit, Emerson transferred to Fort Worth Christian for his senior year, where he played under head coach Rusty Greer, a nine-year MLB veteran who spent nine seasons with the Texas Rangers from 1994–2002. He is the first player to be selected in the First-Year Player Draft in program history. The six-foot-three, 185-pound infielder played his first three high school seasons at Argyle High School (Tx.) from 2023-25.
Emerson was selected to the United States U-18 and U-15 national teams a combined four times between 2022-25, winning All-World honors at third base after leading the club to a gold medal at the 2025 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 World Cup in Okinawa, Japan. Emerson became the first player in USA Baseball history to play for multiple U-18 and U-15 national teams.
Emerson is the seventh shortstop drafted by the Rays with their first selection and fourth over the last seven years, joining Daniel Pierce in 2025, Brayden Taylor in 2023, Carson Williams in 2021, Greg Jones in 2019, Tim Beckham in 2008, and B.J. Upton in 2002. This marks the third straight year the Rays have drafted a high school player with their first selection, joining Pierce and outfielder Theo Gillen in 2024, and the ninth instance in the last 12 drafts (2015-26).
The Rays received the No. 2 pick based on the results of the fourth annual Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft Lottery, which took place on Dec. 9, 2025 during the MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla. This is the sixth time the Rays have owned one of the first two selections in the draft. They held the No. 1 selection in 2008 (shortstop Beckham), 2007 (left-handed pitcher David Price), 2003 (outfielder Delmon Young), and 1999 (outfielder Josh Hamilton). They also selected Upton No. 2 overall in 2002.
