A's Set to Make History in 2026 MLB Draft

Following yet another disappointing draft lottery for the Athletics, we now know where the team will be slotted for the 2026 MLB Draft. Coming into the lottery with the fifth-best chances at the No. 1 overall selection, the A's ended up dropping to No. 8 overall.

The Tampa Bay Rays vaulted from seventh to second, the San Francisco Giants came from 12th to fourth, and the Kansas City Royals leaped from 13th to sixth. The Chicago White Sox had the best odds for the No. 1 pick, and landed the top spot overall.

While the A's had the fifth-best odds, that was due to the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels being ineligible to pick in the lottery. Based solely on record, the A's would have ended up with the eighth overall pick in the draft based on the old system.

A's set to make history

The A's will be making history when they make their selection on July 11 in Philadelphia. This will be the first time in the history of the MLB Draft (since 1965) that they have held the eighth overall pick. The club has done well with the fourth overall pick (Nick Kurtz in 2024) and sixth overall pick (Jacob Wilson in 2023) in recent years, and this year's No. 11 overall pick Jamie Arnold is the No. 38 ranked prospect in MLB.

The most recent pick that the A's had at the ninth overall pick was Kyler Murray in 2018, but they also selected Barry Zito from that spot back in 1999. Both Mark McGwire (1984) and Eric Chavez (1996) were taken with the tenth overall pick.

To that point, A's GM David Forst told MLB.com, "I don’t know. We finished with the eighth-worst record and we got the eighth pick. I guess it’s hard to complain too much."

Top picks from No. 8

The history of the eighth overall pick in the draft hasn't been great overall, at least more recently. It's tough to give a hard grade to JoJo Parker (Blue Jays), Christian Moore (Angels) or Blake Mitchell (Royals) just yet, given that those have been the last three No. 8's selected.

The best No. 8 pick this millennium has been Francisco Lindor, who has racked up 55.7 bWAR. That year, Gerrit Cole went first overall out of UCLA. Next year, shortstop Roch Cholowsky, also out of UCLA, is the far and away favorite to be taken by the White Sox with the first pick. Perhaps that bodes well for the A's heading into 2026.

The only other No. 8 pick that was better than Lindor in terms of WAR was Todd Helton (61.8), who went to the Colorado Rockies in 1995. He's now a member of the Hall of Fame, and Lindor is certainly well on his way to joining him.

A trio of pitchers have all been fairly decent from the No. 8 spot since 2009 in Mike Leake (16.3 bWAR), Kyle Freeland (19.2 bWAR) and Cal Quantrill (7.6 bWAR). There have also been three players since 2004 that have not come to terms with their selecting team after being picked. Those would be Wade Townsend (2004, Orioles), Mark Appel (2012, Pirates) and Carter Stewart (2018, Braves).

Funnily enough, Townsend was actually selected in the same spot of the draft the following year, and ended up signing with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Overall impact on A's

Obviously slipping in the lottery isn't the ideal outcome, but since it has happened in three of the four seasons since the lottery was implemented, it's not terribly surprising that it happened yet again. While the result isn't ideal, that doesn't mean that the outcome will be a bad one.

The A's have been drafting well the past few years, and three of their former first rounders debuted in 2025. With the emergence of Tyler Soderstrom (2020), plus the performances from Kurtz and Wilson last season, the green and gold is getting plenty of output from the top of their recent drafts.

The goal in 2026 will be to keep that trend rolling while building up the team's depth as they continue to move closer to landing in Las Vegas.