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| 2,631 MLB PLAYERS | 16,402 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,631 MLB PLAYERS | 16,402 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Draft  | Story | 7/30/2026

2026 MLB Draft Signing Deadline Recap

As of Monday at 5 p.m. ET, the 2026 MLB Draft is officially complete. The signing deadline has passed, meaning we now know every team’s finalized draft class and exactly how much each player signed for.

Entering the draft, it was clear there was a distinct top tier consisting of Roch Cholowsky, Grady Emerson, and Vahn Lackey. That separation became even more evident once contracts were signed. Cholowsky became the first player in draft history to sign for more than $10 million, agreeing to a record-setting $10,347,500 bonus with the White Sox. Emerson set a new high school signing bonus record at $9,747,500, the second-largest bonus ever awarded to a draft pick. Lackey rounded out the trio with a $9,497,500 bonus, the third-largest signing bonus in MLB Draft history.



Those weren’t the only records set.

Teams combined to spend $402,481,143 in signing bonuses, surpassing last year’s record for the highest total in draft history. The White Sox led all clubs by spending $21,150,840 on their class, setting a new single-team record. The Rays followed at $21,104,765, the third-highest total ever, while the Giants spent $19,263,130, the fifth-highest total on record. Overall, nine of the 20 largest team bonus pools in draft history came from the 2026 class.

While no club exceeded the 5% overage threshold, 23 organizations tapped into it. The Giants, Rays, Tigers, and Guardians spent every available dollar in their pools. The Astros finished just $1 short, while the Dodgers left only $20 unused. The Rockies also dipped into their 5% overage for the first time in franchise history, meaning the Twins are the only organization yet to do so in the bonus pool era. 

Based solely on draft order, it appeared teams favored college players early. College prospects accounted for 32 of the first 50 selections, while prep players made up just 18. However, the signing bonuses tell a different story. High school players received 27 of the 50 largest signing bonuses in the class. In total, 98 prep players signed for $146,905,869, averaging $1,499,039 per player. Meanwhile, 474 college players signed for $255,575,274, an average of $539,188 each. That is nearly $1 million less than the average prep bonus.

The gap becomes even more pronounced when looking only at the first 10 rounds. 59 prep players signed for a combined $134,529,769, averaging $2,280,166. By comparison, 252 college players signed for $224,436,654, an average of $890,622. While colleges dominated the early selections in terms of quantity of picks, teams clearly continued to place a premium on landing high school talent.

Braves’ third-round pick Jensen Hirshkorn demonstrates that perfectly. Selected 84th overall, the California prep right-hander received the 19th largest signing bonus in the draft at $3,997,500. That is the same amount Atlanta gave to the 9th overall pick AJ Gracia.

Astros fourth-round selection Beau Peterson is another example. The Kansas prep right-hander went 133rd overall, but signed for $2,997,500, the 37th largest bonus in the class. New York prep shortstop Aiden Ruiz is another high school player who signed for well-above slot. The 44th overall selection received the 23rd highest bonus at $3,500,000. The draft board may have leaned heavily toward college players, but signing bonuses reinforce that organizations were still willing to pay a significant premium for the high school prospects they truly want.

Of the 613 players selected, 572 (93.3%) ultimately signed contracts. Within the first 10 rounds, only two players failed to reach agreements.

The first was the Guardians' 2nd round pick Logan Schmidt, a California prep left-hander. Questions about his signability existed before draft day, but Cleveland selected him 59th overall anyway. The sides were unable to reach an agreement, thus the Guardians forfeited the $1,598,900 in bonus pool money attached to the pick. It remains to be seen whether Schmidt will honor his commitment to LSU or choose the junior college route to become draft-eligible again next year.

The other player that did not sign was Clemson right-hander Aiden Knaak, who was selected 163rd overall by the Brewers. It is not often we see a college player, who isn’t sophomore eligible, opt to go back to school. The 5th round selection that was used on Knaak was slotted at $425,400. This may be an instance where the NIL has a direct impact on the draft. Knaak will return to school for what could be assumed is a solid deal, but will lose out on leverage in next year’s draft. 

The 2026 draft class entered the cycle as one of the more difficult groups to separate beyond the handful of prospects at the top. After the first few names, talent was tightly clustered with large tiers of players. In the end, however, the class still set new records for individual signing bonuses, team spending, and overall league-wide bonus payouts.

Draft | Rankings | 11/6/2026

2027 MLB Draft Board Update: Top 200

Tyler Henninger
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PG Draft Content Hub With the fall season winding down and the winter months approaching, it is time for another draft board update.  After getting more live looks and gathering information from the fall action across the country, we have expanded the board to a Top-200. The class continues to feature an intriguing mix of arms from both the prep and college ranks, along with an enticing position player pool.  There is still plenty of time for new names to emerge and established prospects to continue to improve their draft stock, but here is where things stand as we head into the winter.  * denotes draft eligible sophomore Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State Commitment 1 Dylan Seward H SS S-R Norco Eastvale CA Tennessee 2 Brendan Lawson C SS L-R Florida Toronto ON 3 Dax Whitney C RHP R-R Oregon State Blackfoot ID 4 Tomas Valincius C LHP L-L Mississippi State...
Tournaments | Story | 11/8/2026

14u National All State Scout Notes: Day 1

Tyler Russo
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2031 C/OF Jace Winston (Fuquay-Varina, N.C.) had a really nice day at the dish as he picked up a couple hits in his first game, both well-struck, and then launched a bomb in game 2. He’s one of the more physical players here who can really impact the baseball already, and the consistency in which he’s hitting this fall is a great sign going into 2027. 2031 SS/RHP Weston Stalls (Blackstock, S.C.) came in for a couple innings of relief on the day and showed off the arm talent running the fastball up to 87. It’s a fast arm and he generates real life to the fastball, while the breaking ball is a good pitch as well.   ‘31 SS Parker Smith (NC) went 3-for-3 to open the weekend, this a line drive single the other way. 6’2/140 & can accelerate the barrel already, intriguing projection. #NatAllState @PG_Coastal https://t.co/Z7C5kDGdIM — Perfect Game...
General | General | 11/6/2026

Class of 2028 Rankings Update

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Tournaments | Story | 11/6/2026

National All State Preview: Week 1

Hannah Jo Groves
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This weekend, teams from all around the country in the 10U, 12U and 14U divisions will converge on the Houston area for the 2026 PG National All-State Select Championships. The 10U division will have 22 teams, 12U will have 23 and 14U will have 22. All ages have many different states represented - from Hawaii, to the Pacific Northwest, to Arizona, to New England, to Carolina to Florida and many more. “National All-State brings together the best players in the country across Houston,” national crosschecker and northeast scouting director, John McAdams, said. “It’s a fun atmosphere for ultimate bragging rights amongst all the regions the PG platform reaches domestically while serving as a good litmus test for myself, Jheremy Brown and Tyler Russo to see the players. We get another glimpse at the end of the year as we start to formulate our initial thoughts on the...
College | Story | 11/6/2026

College Fall Notebook: November 6

Craig Cozart
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Virginia Cavaliers  2026 In Review:  Under the leadership of first year Head Coach Chris Pollard, the Cavaliers won 37 games which was the second most victories by a first-year coach in program history.  Virginia went (37-23) finishing tied for 8th in the ACC and earned an at-large bid to the Hattiesburg Regional.  They fielded a talented offense that averaged over 8-runs per game, highlighted by AJ Gracia and Eric Becker who were both selected on Day 1 of the 2026 MLB Draft.  While the defensive squad wasn’t quite as elite as usual, they were ultra-competitive on the mound with a strong rotation and lock down bullpen.  With plenty of talent returning for Pollard and his staff in ’27, they should be a force on a national level once again.  Impact Returners:    Senior Antonio Perrotta (.266/.459/.431, 5 HR, 6 2B, 24 RBI) experienced...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 70

Ron Wolforth
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That Off-Season Program Wasn't Built for Your Son. It Was Built for Nobody. The Harsh Reality of Skill Development · Part 2 of 5 Somewhere right now, a pitcher is starting a twelve-week off-season program. It came from his travel team. Or a trainer. Or a big leaguer's Instagram. It has phases and a logo, and every kid in the building got the same one. Here is the harsh reality. That program was written before anybody looked at your son. It doesn't know he exists. It was built for the average pitcher... and the average pitcher does not exist. A Template Fixes Somebody's Problem. Maybe Not His. Every pitcher who is stuck is stuck for a reason. We call that reason his constraint... the thing that is actually limiting him right now. For one kid it is strength. For the next it is mobility. For the next it is a mechanical inefficiency, or an arm that isn't recovering, or a body that...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 69

Ron Wolforth
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Your Son's April Arm Injury is Being Scheduled Right Now   The Harsh Reality of Skill Development - Part 1 of 5 Let me start this series with something most people in baseball won't say out loud. In my experience, a great many of the arm problems we will see next April are being set up right now... in October, November and December. Not necessarily because a young pitcher is throwing too much. Often it's because of what happens when he stops. Here is the pattern. I have watched it for more than thirty years. The fall season ends. The arm is tired, so the family does what seems like the responsible thing.  They shut it down. No throwing. For a lot of kids, no anything. Weeks go by. The holidays come and go. Then somebody looks at a calendar in January and realizes tryouts are three weeks away. Suddenly, an arm that has done nothing since October is asked to go from zero to game...
High School | Rankings | 11/4/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Risers

Kyler Peterson
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Complete Class of 2027 Rankings With the end of the summer and fall seasons behind us, it was time for a quick refresh of the 2027 class rankings. Below you'll be able to read about some of the biggest risers up the board, led by North Carolina outfielder John Hucko who jumped more than 110 spots to now sit at No. 20 overall.  John Hucko, OF, Charlotte, N.C. Previous Rank: 132 | Current Rank: 20 Hucko makes a huge leap into the top-20 players in the class after a dominating showing in Jupiter. It’s as good of a left-handed swing as you’ll come across with pretty easy impact to all parts. He’s a supreme athlete with all the tools to play center long term and is a present plus runner. Hucko is a name that cemented his prospect status in Jupiter and will be a name to follow for next year’s MLB Draft. Elyjah Mason, SS, Lake Forest, Calif. Previous Rank: 71 |...
General | General | 11/3/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Update

Perfect Game Staff
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Press Release | Press Release | 11/2/2026

PG Partners Up with Minority Prospects

Perfect Game Staff
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  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES MEDIA RIGHTS PARTNERSHIP WITH MINORITY PROSPECTS   Sanford, Florida (Monday, November 2, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a media rights partnership with Minority Prospects, the Atlanta-based organization that has become the largest platform in the world for minority baseball and softball prospects. The partnership kicked off last month at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., Perfect Game's premier fall event, where Minority Prospects produced content featuring some of the nation's top amateur players in front of college coaches, professional scouts and MLB legends. Under the agreement, Minority...
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