ESPN analyst projects 11 SEC players to go in first round of 2026 MLB Draft
By Andrew Olson
Published:
It’s almost time for the 2026 MLB Draft. With Rounds 1-4 set for Saturday, ESPN analyst Kiley McDaniel shared his final mock draft on Friday.
The first round will feature 37 total picks, including the supplemental portion. Among those, McDaniel forecasts 11 stars from the SEC hearing their names called.
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Some SEC fans might be surprised that McDaniel doesn’t see a player from the conference being drafted until Texas A&M’s Chris Hacopian at No. 8. From there, though, things get rolling for the SEC with 7 selections from picks Nos. 9 to 17 in McDaniel’s mock.
Here are all 11 SEC standouts in McDaniel’s Round 1 mock:
- Texas A&M 2B Chris Hacopian — No. 8 (Athletics)
- Kentucky SS Tyler Bell — No. 9 (Atlanta Braves)
- LSU OF Derek Curiel — No. 11 (Washington Nationals)
- Alabama SS Justin Lebron — No. 12 (Los Angeles Angels)
- Arkansas C Ryder Helfrick — No. 13 (St. Louis Cardinals)
- Arkansas P Hunter Dietz — No. 15 (Arizona Diamondbacks)
- Florida P Liam Peterson — No. 16 (Texas Rangers)
- Georgia C Daniel Jackson — No. 17 (Houston Astros)
- Mississippi State 3B Ace Reese — No. 20 (Boston Red Sox)
- Ole Miss P Cade Townsend — No. 27 (New York Mets)
- Tennessee P Tegan Kuhns — No. 34 (Pittsburgh Pirates)
We’ll see on Saturday how McDaniel’s final mock compares to the draft picks. Round 1 gets started at 1 p.m. ET, with the first 10 picks airing on NBC and Peacock before switching to the MLB Network at 2:30 p.m. ET for picks Nos. 11-40.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
