2026 MLB draft: Day 1 winners and losers, names to know for Day 2 - ESPN

The first day of the 2026 MLB draft is complete, with the Chicago White Sox making Roch Cholowsky the No. 1 selection.

The next three picks came off the board as expected, the Tampa Bay Rays grabbing high school shortstop Grady Emerson, the Minnesota Twins taking Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey and the San Francisco Giants selecting UC Santa Barbara ace Jackson Flora — and then the surprises began.

What were the most intriguing picks in the four rounds that took place Saturday in Philadelphia? Let's break down the best — and most head-scratching — moves of the draft's first day, as well as predict who will be the steals of this draft class.

There were three good options that would feel like the right choice here, so it was hard to make a bad call on draft day. The challenge here for the White Sox is if this will look like the right pick in one year, then in three or five years. You could argue Cholowsky has the lowest upside of the group and the highest floor, but that would be splitting hairs, because all three of the top prospects are a coin flip on overall talent, with slight variations in risk, floor and upside.

Lackey and Cholowsky will get there quicker than Emerson — I think that, along with overall risk, was a factor here. But the White Sox didn't just play it safe: They might have an everyday, sometimes All-Star shortstop in the big-league lineup as soon as the end of 2027. Scouts mention players like Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman as comps.

Eric Booth Jr. to the Baltimore Orioles (No. 7): He has arguably the biggest upside in the draft, but some teams weren't as eager to take him where I had him ranked (fifth) because he'll need a tweak to his timing mechanism and how his hands enter the hitting zone. That