The 2026 MLB Draft lottery took place on Tuesday, and the Chicago White Sox were awarded the first overall pick, with the Tampa Bay Rays landing second and the Minnesota Twins getting the third pick. It wasn’t an ideal outcome for the Cleveland Guardians, who will pick 19th, as two of their AL Central rivals landed in the top three and have the chance to bring in the best prospects in the class.
After another unceremonious playoff exit, it’s clearer than ever that the Guardians need to add more thump to their lineup. Cleveland has done a solid job developing pitching over the years, but this organization needs more impact bats, which is why an early mock draft slotted an exciting shortstop prospect to Cleveland.
Joel Reuter wrote his first post-lottery mock draft and, of course, slotted one of the best prospects in recent memory to the White Sox with the first pick in UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky. At 19, he has the Guardians taking their own potential future star shortstop.
“SS Tyler Bell, Kentucky,” Reuter wrote. “The Tampa Bay Rays selected Bell with the No. 66 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of high school, but he opted to honor his commitment to Kentucky where he hit .296/.385/.522 with 17 doubles, 10 home runs, 46 RBI and 11 steals as a freshman. A switch-hitter with above-average tools across the board, Bell offers a high floor and the potential to climb further up draft boards with a strong sophomore season.”
A switch-hitting shortstop from an SEC school is always a fun prototype to land as a prospect, and with how promising Bell was as a freshman, a big sophomore season could push him even higher up this board. If he’s still available for Cleveland at 19, he’d be a slam dunk selection.
The Guardians are certainly hoping that 2024 No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana can assume the second base job sometime in 2026, and he has the potential to solve a lot of this team’s problems if he can fulfill his sky-high expectations. He and Bell would be quite the middle infield pairing for the next decade if things happen to shake out that way.
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