‘He knows what he’s looking for’: How Yamamoto became baseball’s most coveted free agent
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO’S BAG of tricks is an actual bag.
Inside it, he carries a yoga mat, wooden blocks, tiny soccer balls and mini-javelins. When he’s ready, the 25-year-old Yamamoto lays out his yoga mat, arches himself into a backbend and pretzels his body with the precision of a contortionist. He lifts himself into headstands and corkscrews his hips and legs. He pushes up into handstands and walks on his palms toward a wall, against which he can lean and balance on one hand. He steadies himself on the blocks to get the feel for his body’s positioning, and when he’s done with that he stands up and chucks the size 1 soccer balls into a wall to warm up his right arm. Then he heads to the field to fling the javelins distances inconceivable to his teammates, who try to replicate the practice and chuckle at their comparative ineptitude.
None of this is the typical training regimen for a pitcher — for most athletes, really, but particularly not in baseball, a paint-by-numbers sort of sport that sneers at anything out of the ordinary. There is room for independent thinkers, for those who dare try something different, but it comes with a prerequisite: greatness.
Yamamoto has earned the right to carry the black duffel — not only is he a great pitcher, but arguably the greatest ever in Nippon Professional Baseball. He won three straight MVP awards and three consecutive Sawamura Awards, Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young. Now he is the best free agent in Major League Baseball, the one inspiring a bidding war among the game’s most moneyed teams that’s expected to conclude before the new year and perhaps as early as this week.
At 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, Yamamoto will be among the smallest starting pitchers in MLB when he debuts next season. That all of his strength training comes from these tools — Yamamoto does not lift weights — confounds the baseball establishment. But then he throws a baseball and the questions melt away because few in the world can marry a fastball that runs up to 99 mph with a splitter that drops like a hypercoaster and a curveball that breaks 5½ feet. To impart that sort of force on a baseball at that size is the domain of a select few: Pedro Martinez and Tim Lincecum, winners of five Cy Youngs between them.
Everything Yamamoto does is in service of one goal: moving with purpose. As MLB teams have learned since the Orix Buffaloes posted him Nov. 20, paving his way to sign with a major league team for hundreds of millions of dollars, Yamamoto’s meticulous, disciplined approach is not limited to the baseball field. Executives who have met with Yamamoto admire his preparedness. For years, he has awaited this moment. He peppered his Orix teammates who had played in the big leagues with questions about MLB. He overhauled his delivery to eliminate a weakness that could be exploited here. This year, he sent his best friend, who serves as his assistant, to Toronto to take English classes, travel to major league cities across the United States and collate information that would better inform his ultimate decision.
“He knew what he was getting himself into going into the season,” said Lars Nootbaar, the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder who befriended Yamamoto when playing for Team Japan during the World Baseball Classic. “Publicly and amongst friends, he is the nicest, most caring person there is. But underneath that, he’s a stone-cold killer. When he walks in a room, he’s not just walking in. He knows what he’s looking for. He takes notes on everything.”
JACOB WAGUESPACK SIGNED with Orix before the 2022 season, and soon learned his new teammate Yamamoto had won his first Sawamura the previous season. Waguespack, who played with the Toronto Blue Jays for two seasons, stands 6-foot-6, weighs 235 pounds and sits around 92 mph with his fastball. How someone 8 inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter possessed the arsenal of MLB’s best aces made no sense.
“I didn’t know he was that much of the real deal until I got there,” Waguespack said. “And then I was like, holy s—. The hype is real.”
Following his first season in Japan, Waguespack saw Yamamoto as one of his closest friends on the team. He watched Yamamoto walk around Osaka, where the Buffaloes play, with a hat and a mask to avoid hordes of fans swarming him. He knew Yamamoto rarely traveled without his tiny, fluffy dog, Mikan, named after Japan’s famous mandarin orange whose peel nearly matches the pup’s fur color. And he watched his arm just keep getting better.
The scouting report on Yamamoto reads something like this: hyperathletic, elite flexibility, unlikely strength, ultrafast arm, exceptional movement patterns. His fastball sits at 95 mph, though velocity alone doesn’t begin to describe why the pitch so flummoxes hitters. Yamamoto releases the ball from a low arm slot and has exceptional carry on his fastball, meaning its pure backspin causes it to drop less than a batter expects, so it looks as if it were rising. His splitter is every bit as dangerous as Kodai Senga‘s vaunted ghost fork, his curve out of the Adam Wainwright book of bend, his slider and cutter rarely used but each potentially a weapon against MLB hitters.
Since transitioning from the bullpen to Orix’s rotation as a 20-year-old in 2019, Yamamoto has posted a 1.65 ERA over 820⅓ innings. Batters have hit .189 against him and struck out in more than 27% of plate appearances. His walk rate is minuscule (2.0 per nine innings), his home run rate silly (0.32 per nine) and his win-loss record impressive (65-26). In the past three seasons, Yamamoto has ERAs of 1.39, 1.68 and 1.21. He faced 636 batters this year and yielded two homers — all with a brand-new delivery.
“He comes to camp [in 2023] with a new windup, and it’s like, dude, are you s—ting me?” Waguespack said. “He felt like he needed more momentum to the plate. The game was so easy to him, he felt like he could get better at one thing, and he did it.”
Gone was Yamamoto’s leg lift, replaced by a slide step to the plate. Not a typical out-of-the-stretch slide step, though. Yamamoto still started in a traditional windup, only to burst toward home plate — in a fashion that’s almost jarring, simply because no other pitcher does it — with his lead leg barely off the ground. Yamamoto’s clearest weakness, scouts had observed, was keeping runners at bay. He had long been too slow to the plate. After the change, he allowed four stolen bases all season, a quarter of what he had given up in 2022.
Yamamoto was moving with a dual purpose, and his athleticism eased the evolution. His new delivery called for more explosiveness, and rather than achieve that through added bulk, he remained steadfast in his ways, relying on a movement guru — he goes by Yata Sensei, and one source familiar with his work called him a kinetics expert — to design his training program.
“Over here, everyone puts such an emphasis on lifting weights, getting big, getting strong,” said Jacob Nix, who played for the San Diego Padres before joining Orix this year. “And over there, they stretch and they throw. These guys long toss almost every day. Their light days, they’re still going out 200-plus feet. It’s a totally different style of baseball and training than we do here.”
Added Nootbaar: “It is definitely unique — not the norm here. It’s not a lot of weight-bearing. It almost feels like the Tom Brady pliability, flexibility, elasticity sort of thing. He’s adding strength in the positions he’s getting in, but he’s always making sure he’s moving at a top level.”
For all of Yamamoto’s popularity, nobody appreciates the way he throws as much as his peers. Even as he moves at high rates of speed, his head remains remarkably still throughout his delivery, eyes toward the plate. When his front foot strikes the ground, his right arm is vertical — “in the right spot on every pitch,” Waguespack said — and his hips still closed, ready to fire and carry his arm for the ride.
This winter in Los Angeles, Cleveland Guardians reliever Eli Morgan and Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan have worked out alongside Yamamoto and marveled at his abilities. Yamamoto, along with a catcher, his best friend and a trainer, sits in a circle with them and they stretch their hips. The soccer balls appear, as do the javelins. When Yamamoto starts playing catch — from a variety of different positions: step-ins, modified crow hops, his new windup — and unleashes his four-seam fastball, Morgan can’t help but gawk.
“It’s the carry he gets on the ball,” Morgan said. “As someone who throws a four-seamer myself, that’s the goal. Get the ball to your partner on a frozen rope.”
Like everyone who sees Yamamoto, Morgan came away a believer. He’s 5-foot-10, too, and he knows it’s easy for teams to get hung up on things, like height. Yamamoto is also facing questions about adjusting from pitching one day a week in Japan to every fifth day in MLB or how he’ll handle a ball with lower seams and less tack or how the looping curve will play in a league where hitters pray to see one upon which they can prey. All these concerns are valid. They’re also not enough to stop the coming frenzy.
WHEN YAMAMOTO’S INTENTION to join MLB crystallized earlier this year, executives started guessing what it would cost to sign him. Because he’s 25, Yamamoto is no longer considered an international amateur and limited by shallow signing-bonus pools. Likewise, because he’s 25, he is hitting free agency at an age no pitcher — particularly not an elite one — reaches the open market. The first wave of guesses clocked in around $175 million. By the time free agency started, teams figured the bidding would start at $200 million. In recent weeks, it has jumped to $250 million. And recently, multiple reports suggested teams already had offered Yamamoto deals in excess of $300 million.
Those reports, sources said, are inaccurate. Multiple high-ranking officials trying to sign Yamamoto told ESPN that teams were asked to give a preliminary bid at the start of the process to ensure they were serious — but not necessarily in the neighborhood of where the deal is likely to land. Since then, those officials say, his agent, Joel Wolfe, has not solicited a new round of bids. Some teams, sources said, were interested in talking dollars recently but were asked not to do so yet; the expectation is that teams will start proposing contract terms as early as Monday.
Yamamoto’s meetings have been with a who’s who of big-market teams. Among the visitors to see him pitch in Japan this year were Los Angeles Dodgers president Andrew Friedman, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, San Francisco Giants president Farhan Zaidi and Chicago Cubs president Jed Hoyer. Less than two weeks ago, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and president David Stearns flew to Japan for dinner with Yamamoto and his mother. They all wanted to see up close what they’d long heard from afar: Yamamoto is special well beyond the otherworldly numbers he puts up annually, and sojourning halfway around the world to indicate the seriousness of their interest was a small price.
Since Yamamoto came to the U.S. this winter, among those reported to have entertained him are the Philadelphia Phillies, Dodgers, Giants and Red Sox, along with the Mets and Yankees twice each — which will only fuel the talk of a $300 million deal. The question is whether it reaches that number before or after the inclusion of the posting fee, which, for a $250 million contract, would be $39.4 million, or, at $300 million, would be $46.9 million.
The overall dollar figure also will depend on Yamamoto’s priorities. Because of his age, he could sign a seven-year deal and hit free agency again at 32. He could target a 10-year contract but request an opt-out after the fourth season and be back on the market at 29. Teams could try to lock him up to a lifetime deal — a dozen years or more — that would dampen the competitive-balance-tax hit by lowering the average annual value of the contract.
What’s clear is that, like with his countryman and WBC teammate Shohei Ohtani, the power to dictate terms is in Yamamoto’s hands. For the concerns about moving to MLB, he need only point to Ohtani, Mets starter Kodai Senga and others whose moves to MLB went off with only minor hitches. Even with a free agent market that still has National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell and a trade market featuring Cy Young winners Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber along with Dylan Cease, Yamamoto is the clear top choice of baseball’s biggest spenders.
All of it tickles Nootbaar. Even if the Cardinals are on the outside looking in, he feels a kinship with Yamamoto that dates to the WBC. Nootbaar was born and raised in California but joined Samurai Japan because his mom, Kumiko, grew up in the prefecture next to Tokyo. At first, Nootbaar said, the language barrier felt like an impediment — something Yamamoto noticed. He invited Nootbaar to dinner with the team’s young stars — right-handers Roki Sasaki and Hiroto Takahashi, left-hander Hiroya Miyagi and third baseman Munetaka Murakami — along with Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s interpreter.
“Everything they did meant so much,” Nootbaar said. “They were doing it for me. But they were also doing it for the team. And that’s why as he goes through this process, I know he’s going to make the right choice. He’s concerned about the right things in his life.”
Wherever Yamamoto lands, he’ll pack his stuff — including his bag — and head off to the best baseball league in the world, the truest test of how good he really is. Whatever happens when he arrives, if it’s anything like how he handles the rest of his life, it will be purposeful — and great.
No matter your fantasy baseball strategy, in these days of declining pitching workloads, piecing your pitching staff together is a practically mandatory practice.
The 2024 season was as representative of this as any. It saw the fewest pitchers (21) working at least 180 innings in any non-shortened season in history. Additionally, among the generally undrafted players in ESPN leagues who scored at least 350 fantasy points, 10 of the 14 such players were pitchers.
How might fantasy managers unearth some of this gold on the pitching side? My favorite method is to identify pitchers with potentially elite skill sets, but whose surface statistics — “back of the baseball card” measures like wins and ERA — belie their true talent. They are my annual “Kings of Command,” pitchers who meet a specific set of statistical benchmarks reflecting excellence in the command department.
Kings of Command baseline numbers
Pitchers who qualify for inclusion exceeded the MLB averages listed below in all of the following categories during the 2024 season. Starting pitchers must have faced at least 200 batters and relief pitchers must have faced at least 100 batters, while serving in those specific roles.
Starting pitchers:
Swinging-strike rate (SwStrk%): 11.8% or more
First-pitch strike rate (1stPStrk%): 62.9% or more
Command rate (K’s per walk, or K/BB): 2.89 or more
Relief pitchers:
Swinging-strike rate (SwStrk%): 12.7% or more
First-pitch strike rate (1stPStrk%): 61.6% of more
Command rate (K’s per walk, or K/BB): 2.61 or more
Put-away rate (K’s per 2-strike count): 19.8% or more
Using those thresholds, 98 pitchers (40 starters and 58 relievers) met all of those criteria in either role. Among them were both Cy Young Award winners (Chris Sale, Tarik Skubal), both Reliever of the Year Award winners, (Emmanuel Clase, Ryan Helsley), each of the top four starting pitchers in terms of both fantasy points scored and Player Rater finish, and all four relief pitchers who earned a Cy Young vote.
The following nine names, however — none of whom were anywhere near as ballyhooed as Skubal, Zack Wheeler or Corbin Burnes or their ilk — also qualified. That’s not to place any of them on an equal (or even a nearby) pedestal as those three fantasy stalwarts, but each possesses underappreciated skills that had them perform statistically beneath our radar in 2024.
Each is a potential bargain in fantasy drafts, and each might be only a minor tweak or adjustment to a specific pitch or his pitch usage, the pitcher’s stance on the pitching rubber, greater fortune on batted balls, or an increased opportunity on his team away from breaking through.
Let’s examine what it might take for each to emerge. My “Kings of Command” are listed in alphabetical order, along with their 2024 Player Rater finishes and fantasy point totals using ESPN’s standard scoring.
David Festa, Minnesota Twins
2024 Player Rater: SP172/745th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 107 (SP166)
His strengths: Between his 95-mph fastball and his slider and changeup, Festa has legitimate swing-and-miss stuff, generating the third-best swinging strike rate (16.4%) among Triple-A pitchers last season in addition to meeting this column’s qualifications. Across his final 10 starts with the Twins, he held opposing hitters to a .228 batting average and struck out 29.2%.
How he could break out: Festa introduced a new sinker to his repertoire, which could help him improve against right-handers (.332 wOBA allowed in the majors, 17 points higher than he had in Triple-A), and is pitching entirely out of the stretch this spring. Merely cracking the Twins rotation might fuel a breakthrough, but progress with either the new sinker or his slider (29% whiff rate, 6% beneath the league’s average) would ultimately fuel his biggest step forward.
Robert Garcia, Texas Rangers
2024 Player Rater: RP123/398th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 147 (RP126)
His strengths: A sneaky pickup in December’s Nathaniel Lowe trade, Garcia had a 2.39 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching score) last season as a member of the Washington Nationals bullpen, 11th-best among 160 relief pitchers with at least 50 innings. Thanks to an electric changeup, he held right-handed hitters to a .272 wOBA (league average for lefties was .314) with a 31.1% strikeout rate, alleviating any worry about platoon splits or a situational role.
How he could break out: Better luck would go a long way toward vaulting Garcia up the fantasy leaderboard, as he had a ghastly .331 BABIP (.290 league average for relievers) and second-worst-among-relievers 57.2% left-on-base (LOB) rate. A crack at the late innings, in what’s largely a wide-open Rangers bullpen, would also help.
Chris Martin, Texas Rangers
2024 Player Rater: RP91/331st overall
2024 fantasy point total: 143 (RP133)
His strengths: He has long been one of the better relievers in baseball, as his 2.66 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 66 holds are all top-10 numbers among relievers with at least 200 IP over the past five seasons combined. Martin possesses exceptional control, as his 2.9% walk rate during that same time span leads all relievers. Plus, he has never issued more than eight walks in a single MLB season.
How he could break out: Martin is the most logical choice to close for the Rangers, but better luck in the health department is imperative if he’s to retain the job. He has made seven trips to the IL during the past five seasons — including multiple stints in three of them — and only once made as many as 60 appearances (2022). That health history opens the door for Garcia to potentially emerge.
Reese Olson, Detroit Tigers
2024 Player Rater: SP98/405th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 209 (SP104)
His strengths: He has two potentially elite strikeout pitches in his slider and changeup, both of which generated at least a 43% whiff rate in 2024 (MLB rates on each were 34% and 31%). Through two months, he appeared to be on the verge of a major breakthrough, posting a 1.92 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP over his first 10 starts. However, shoulder issues cost him nearly two months during the second half, interrupting his momentum.
How he could break out: Olson’s command of his four-seam fastball and changeup waned after his hot start and will need correction if he’s to recapture the promise he showed early last year. The fastball in particular needs improvement, as it generated the sixth-worst whiff rate (13%) among pitchers who threw at least as many as he did the past two seasons, which is why it’s encouraging to see him throwing it a full mph faster (95.4) in his two Statcast-measured spring starts thus far.
Chris Paddack, Minnesota Twins
2024 Player Rater: SP174/751st overall
2024 fantasy point total: 127 (SP151)
His strengths: He’s a master of control, as among 113 pitchers with at least as many as his 82 career starts over the past six seasons, his 5.0% walk rate ranks sixth, his 66.4% first-pitch strike rate ranks 11th and his 52.6% in-zone rate ranks 12th. Paddack’s changeup has also shown an ability to be top shelf when he’s healthy and possesses full command of it, including 2020, when Statcast graded it as the league’s fourth-best-performing changeup.
How he could break out: Health, health, health. Paddack has had only one professional season with as many as 120 innings pitched, while averaging just 58 IP over the last four. The Twins seem confident enough in him to likely hand him a season-opening rotation spot, but he’ll first need to stay on the mound long enough to make it worth discussing his next breakout ingredient (better luck on batted balls).
Brandon Pfaadt, Arizona Diamondbacks
2024 Player Rater: SP78/317th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 317 (SP49)
His strengths: A “pepper the strike zone” control artist — his 68.4% first-pitch strike and 53.2% in-zone rates since the date of his MLB debut rank fourth and 14th — Pfaadt has a 5.5% walk rate between the majors and minors over the past four seasons combined. He also has a four-seamer/sweeper/sinker combination that is flat-out nasty against right-handed hitters (26.6% K rate, versus 20.5% against lefties).
How he could break out: Better luck is the easy answer, as Pfaadt’s 64.5% strand rate and .315 BABIP last season were second- and fifth-worst among ERA qualifiers, but the true path to greatness is a stronger pitch mix against left-handed hitters. Corrections to those rates could vault him into the position’s top 40. Reaching the top 20 requires tweaks to his four-seamer or curveball to counter lefties, who have a wOBA 47 points higher against him through two seasons.
A.J. Puk, Arizona Diamondbacks
2024 Player Rater: RP58/210th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 206 (RP59)
His strengths: Puk’s miserable four-start stint with the Miami Marlins to begin last season, coupled with the shoulder injury that cost him three-plus weeks immediately thereafter, masked how truly brilliant his finish to 2024 was. Over the final three months, he had an 0.99 ERA, a 43.6% strikeout rate, a .128 BAA, a 1.35 FIP to back the performance up, and a 5.3% walk rate to match the marked improvement he showed in terms of control the season before.
How he could break out: His path to fantasy greatness lies in his bullpen role, as he needs to be in place to pile up saves, or at least holds. Puk’s 95-96 mph fastball and slider generate excellent whiff rates, fueling a hefty number of strikeouts, and it’s an easy case to make that he and Justin Martinez should form a formidable, underrated one-two punch at the back end of the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.
Cristopher Sanchez, Philadelphia Phillies
2024 Player Rater: SP46/191st overall
2024 fantasy point total: 342 (SP39)
His strengths: Improvements he made to his changeup in 2023 have quickly transformed him into one of the game’s more underrated pitchers. Statcast graded Sanchez with the league’s best changeup last season and his 91 strikeouts with them were the most by any pitcher. His control has improved markedly during that same time (13th-ranked 5.2% walk rate from 2023-24), and his heavy ground ball lean (58.3% rate last year) minimizes his risk of damaging innings.
How he could break out: He’s kind of doing it already, having fanned 12 out of 30 hitters through his three spring starts. Sanchez, a pitcher constantly refining his pitch repertoire, has most notably seen his sinker go from a 92.1 mph average velocity in 2023, to 94.5 in 2024, to 96.9 in the two of those starts measured by Statcast. He’ll take a big leap forward if that fuels even a hint of a higher whiff rate with the pitch.
Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves
2024 Player Rater: SP47/195th overall
2024 fantasy point total: 279 (SP67)
His strengths: Schwellenbach, a high school and college shortstop (plus Nebraska’s 2021 closer) who didn’t even make his first pitching start until 21 months after being drafted due to Tommy John surgery, sure looked like a future fantasy ace in his 2024 rookie year. He flashed five-plus pitches, two of which had at least a 40% whiff rate (curveball and splitter), sported a 4.6% walk rate in the majors, and posted a 2.73 ERA and 27.5% K rate across his 13 second-half starts.
How he could break out: Most every question Schwellenbach faces as he enters his sophomore season relates to how a pitcher with 65 total professional innings across his first 2½ years fares after a 168⅔ inning campaign like he had last year. Fortunately, he’s showing no ill effects of the workload spike during spring training. More cutter or curveball reliance against lefties, to narrow what was a 66-point wOBA split, would be a nice added touch.
Opening Day is quickly approaching and the Tokyo Series is just one week away. If you haven’t yet held your league’s draft, the clock is ticking. Fear not, though, as the ESPN fantasy baseball crew is ready to show you the results of its final fantasy baseball mock draft of the season, using ESPN standard head-to-head points league scoring and roster settings.
Default rosters include 16 starters: seven pitchers of any kind along with a C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, three outfielders and a utility player (can be any position, and is also the only slot to allow a DH-only player). There are also three bench spots.
Hitters score one point for every base reached via hits (total bases), as well as each walk, run, RBI and stolen base, and lose one point when they strike out. Pitchers earn a point for every out they record (three per inning) and an extra point for a strikeout, as well as two points for a win or a hold. Saves are worth five points each. Pitchers lose two points per run allowed, one point per baserunner (hit or walk) and two points for a loss.
This draft was held on Monday, March 10 and included fantasy writers Eric Karabell, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Todd Zola and Derek Carty, MLB writer David Schoenfield, and fantasy editors fantasy editors Pierre Becquey, Joe Kaiser, AJ Mass, James Best and Sachin Chandan.
If you’d like to conduct your own mock drafts, check out the Mock Draft Lobby, select one of several league types and sizes available, and you’ll be mock-drafting in minutes. Ready for the real thing? Create or join a fantasy baseball league for free.
(Note: At the time this draft took place, while it was known that Gerrit Cole was likely to miss a significant portion of the 2025 season, it had not yet been announced that he was indeed going to sit out the entire year due to Tommy John surgery.)
Round 1
1. Shohei Ohtani DH1 (SP) — Best
2. Juan Soto OF1 — Karabell
3. Bobby Witt Jr. SS1 — Carty
4. Aaron Judge OF2 — Kaiser
5. Jose Ramirez 3B1 — Zola
6. Paul Skenes SP1 — Schoenfield
7. Tarik Skubal SP2 — Mass
8. Mookie Betts SS2 (OF) — Chandan
9. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B1 — Becquey
10. Kyle Tucker OF3 — Cockcroft
Round 2
11. Zack Wheeler SP3 — Cockcroft
12. Gunnar Henderson SS3 — Becquey
13. Logan Gilbert SP4 — Chandan
14. Francisco Lindor SS4 — Mass
15. Yordan Alvarez OF4 — Schoenfield
16. Corbin Carroll OF5 — Zola
17. Ketel Marte 2B1 — Kaiser
18. Fernando Tatis Jr. OF6 — Carty
19. Dylan Cease SP5 — Karabell
20. Freddie Freeman 1B2 — Best
Round 3
21. Corbin Burnes SP6 — Best
22. Rafael Devers 3B2 — Karabell
23. Garrett Crochet SP7 — Carty
24. Anthony Santander OF7 — Kaiser
25. William Contreras C1 — Zola
26. Bryce Harper 1B3 — Schoenfield
27. Cole Ragans SP8 — Mass
28. Adley Rutschman C2 — Chandan
29. Jackson Chourio OF8 — Becquey
30. Emmanuel Clase RP1 — Cockcroft
Round 4
31. Manny Machado 3B3 — Cockcroft
32. Alex Bregman 3B4 — Becquey
33. Chris Sale SP9 — Chandan
34. Jackson Merrill OF9 — Mass
35. Devin Williams RP2 — Schoenfield
36. Blake Snell SP10 — Zola
37. Framber Valdez SP11 — Kaiser
38. Edwin Diaz RP3 — Carty
39. Marcus Semien 2B2 — Karabell
40. Elly De La Cruz SS5 — Best
Round 5
41. Steven Kwan OF10 — Best
42. Corey Seager SS6 — Karabell
43. Ronald Acuna Jr. OF11 — Carty
44. Matt Olson 1B4 — Kaiser
45. Pablo Lopez SP12 — Zola
46. Mason Miller RP4 — Schoenfield
47. Josh Hader RP5 — Mass
48. Aaron Nola SP13 — Chandan
49. Jose Altuve 2B3 — Becquey
50. Trea Turner SS7 — Cockcroft
Round 6
51. Michael King SP14 — Cockcroft
52. Max Fried SP15 — Becquey
53. Pete Alonso 1B5 — Chandan
54. Ryan Walker RP6 — Mass
55. Julio Rodriguez OF12 — Schoenfield
56. Marcell Ozuna DH2 — Zola
57. Austin Riley 3B5 — Kaiser
58. Luis Arraez 1B6 (2B) — Carty
59. Jarren Duran OF13 — Karabell
60. Kyle Schwarber DH3 — Best
Round 7
61. Ozzie Albies 2B4 — Best
62. Logan Webb SP16 — Karabell
63. Freddy Peralta SP17 — Carty
64. Luis Castillo SP18 — Kaiser
65. Bailey Ober SP19 — Zola
66. Yoshinobu Yamamoto SP20 — Schoenfield
67. Vinnie Pasquantino 1B7 — Mass
68. Joe Ryan SP21 — Chandan
69. Christian Walker 1B8 — Becquey
70. Yainer Diaz C3 — Cockcroft
Round 8
71. Ryan Helsley RP7 — Cockcroft
72. Shota Imanaga SP22 — Becquey
73. Wyatt Langford OF14 — Chandan
74. Brent Rooker DH4 — Mass
75. Gerrit Cole SP23 — Schoenfield
76. Josh Naylor 1B9 — Zola
77. Andres Munoz RP8 — Kaiser
78. Raisel Iglesias RP9 — Carty
79. Robert Suarez RP10 — Karabell
80. Nolan Arenado 3B6 — Best
Round 9
81. Brendan Donovan OF15 (2B) — Best
82. Felix Bautista RP11 — Karabell
83. Tyler Glasnow SP24 — Carty
84. Bryce Miller SP25 — Kaiser
85. Jhoan Duran RP12 — Zola
86. Will Smith C4 — Schoenfield
87. Brandon Pfaadt SP26 — Mass
88. Alec Bohm 3B7 — Chandan
89. Salvador Perez C5 (1B) — Becquey
90. Michael Harris II OF16 — Cockcroft
Round 10
91. Tanner Bibee SP27 — Cockcroft
92. Sonny Gray SP28 — Becquey
93. Zac Gallen SP29 — Chandan
94. Jared Jones SP30 — Mass
95. Hunter Greene SP31 — Schoenfield
96. Tanner Scott RP13 — Zola
97. Cal Raleigh C6 — Kaiser
98. Jacob deGrom SP32 — Carty
99. George Kirby SP33 — Karabell
100. Ian Happ OF17 — Best
Round 11
101. Justin Steele SP34 — Best
102. Hunter Brown SP35 — Karabell
103. Yandy Diaz 1B10 — Carty
104. CJ Abrams SS8 — Kaiser
105. Willy Adames SS9 — Zola
106. Oneil Cruz SS10 (OF) — Schoenfield
107. Nico Hoerner 2B5 — Mass
108. Cody Bellinger OF18 (1B) — Chandan
109. Kevin Gausman SP36 — Becquey
110. Bryan Reynolds OF19 — Cockcroft
Round 12
111. Spencer Schwellenbach SP37 — Cockcroft
112. Cristopher Sanchez SP38 — Becquey
113. Carlos Rodon SP39 — Chandan
114. Sandy Alcantara SP40 — Mass
115. Junior Caminero 3B8 — Schoenfield
116. Alec Burleson OF20 — Zola
117. Jack Flaherty SP41 — Kaiser
118. Matt Chapman 3B9 — Carty
119. Alexis Diaz RP14 — Karabell
120. Jeff Hoffman RP15 — Best
Round 13
121. Yusei Kikuchi SP42 — Best
122. Christian Yelich OF21 — Karabell
123. Zach Eflin SP43 — Carty
124. Isaac Paredes 3B10 — Kaiser
125. Kodai Senga SP44 — Zola
126. Riley Greene OF22 — Schoenfield
127. James Wood OF23 — Mass
128. Randy Arozarena OF24 — Chandan
129. Spencer Steer OF25 (1B) — Becquey
130. Gleyber Torres 2B6 — Cockcroft
Round 14
131. Roki Sasaki SP45 — Cockcroft
132. Jurickson Profar OF26 — Becquey
133. David Bednar RP16 — Chandan
134. Trevor Megill RP17 — Mass
135. Spencer Strider SP46 — Schoenfield
136. Mike Trout OF27 — Zola
137. Mitch Keller SP47 — Kaiser
138. Willson Contreras C7 — Carty
139. Carlos Santana 1B11 — Karabell
140. Mitch Garver C8 — Best
Round 15
141. Bo Bichette SS11 — Best
142. Nick Pivetta SP48 — Karabell
143. Jazz Chisholm Jr. OF28 (3B) — Carty
144. Lawrence Butler OF29 — Kaiser
145. Jordan Westburg 3B11 (2B) — Zola
146. Jung Hoo Lee OF30 — Schoenfield
147. Shea Langeliers C9 — Mass
148. Adolis Garcia OF31 — Chandan
149. Seiya Suzuki OF32 — Becquey
150. Triston Casas 1B12 — Cockcroft
Round 16
151. Brandon Nimmo OF33 — Cockcroft
152. Xander Bogaerts 2B7 (SS) — Becquey
153. Tanner Houck SP49 — Chandan
154. Brenton Doyle OF34 — Mass
155. Bryan Woo SP50 — Schoenfield
156. Griffin Jax RP18 — Zola
157. Taj Bradley SP51 — Kaiser
158. Taylor Ward OF35 — Carty
159. Seth Lugo SP52 — Karabell
160. Keibert Ruiz C10 — Best
Round 17
161. Bowden Francis RP19 (SP) — Best
162. JJ Bleday OF36 — Karabell
163. Teoscar Hernandez OF37 — Carty
164. Ronel Blanco SP53 — Kaiser
165. Kirby Yates RP20 — Zola
166. Jackson Holliday 2B8 — Schoenfield
167. A.J. Puk RP21 — Mass
168. Jake Cronenworth 1B13 (2B) — Chandan
169. Ryan Pressly RP22 — Becquey
170. Carlos Correa SS12 — Cockcroft
Round 18
171. Justin Martinez RP23 — Cockcroft
172. Jose Berrios SP54 — Becquey
173. Masyn Winn SS13 — Chandan
174. Matthew Shaw 3B12 (2B/SS) — Mass
175. Luke Weaver RP24 — Schoenfield
176. Tomoyuki Sugano SP55 — Zola
177. Nick Castellanos OF38 — Kaiser
178. Pete Fairbanks RP25 — Carty
179. Cade Smith RP26 — Karabell
180. Bryson Stott 2B9 — Best
Round 19
181. Chris Bassitt SP56 — Best
182. Austin Wells C11 — Karabell
183. Maikel Garcia 3B13 (2B) — Carty
184. Jeremy Pena SS14 — Kaiser
185. Nathaniel Lowe 1B14 — Zola
186. Matt McLain SS15 (2B) — Schoenfield
187. Jake Burger 1B15 (3B) — Mass
188. Tommy Edman OF39 (SS) — Chandan
189. Lucas Erceg RP27 — Becquey
190. Brandon Woodruff SP57 — Cockcroft
Team rosters are presented in first-round pick order. Primary position is used. If a player qualifies at more than one position, all positions are included in parentheses. Pick is displayed as “Round.Pick”.
Team Best
C1 Mitch Garver [Pick: 14.10]
C2 Keibert Ruiz [Pick: 16.10]
1B1 Freddie Freeman [Pick: 2.10]
3B1 Nolan Arenado [Pick: 8.10]
2B1 Ozzie Albies [Pick: 7.1]
2B2 Bryson Stott [Pick: 18.10]
SS1 Elly De La Cruz [Pick: 4.10]
SS2 Bo Bichette [Pick: 15.1]
OF1 Steven Kwan [Pick: 5.1]
OF2 Brendan Donovan (2B) [Pick: 9.1]
OF3 Ian Happ [Pick: 10.10]
DH1 Shohei Ohtani (SP) [Pick: 1.1]
DH2 Kyle Schwarber [Pick: 6.10]
SP1 Corbin Burnes [Pick: 3.1]
SP2 Justin Steele [Pick: 11.1]
SP3 Yusei Kikuchi [Pick: 13.1]
SP4 Chris Bassitt [Pick: 19.1]
RP1 Jeff Hoffman [Pick: 12.10]
RP2 Bowden Francis (SP) [Pick: 17.1]
Team Karabell
C1 Austin Wells [Pick: 19.2]
1B1 Carlos Santana [Pick: 14.9]
3B1 Rafael Devers [Pick: 3.2]
2B1 Marcus Semien [Pick: 4.9]
SS1 Corey Seager [Pick: 5.2]
OF1 Juan Soto [Pick: 1.2]
OF2 Jarren Duran [Pick: 6.9]
OF3 Christian Yelich [Pick: 13.2]
OF4 JJ Bleday [Pick: 17.2]
SP1 Dylan Cease [Pick: 2.9]
SP2 Logan Webb [Pick: 7.2]
SP3 George Kirby [Pick: 10.9]
SP4 Hunter Brown [Pick: 11.2]
SP5 Nick Pivetta [Pick: 15.2]
SP6 Seth Lugo [Pick: 16.9]
RP1 Robert Suarez [Pick: 8.9]
RP2 Felix Bautista [Pick: 9.2]
RP3 Alexis Diaz [Pick: 12.9]
RP4 Cade Smith [Pick: 18.9]
Team Carty
C1 Willson Contreras [Pick: 14.8]
1B1 Luis Arraez (2B) [Pick: 6.8]
1B2 Yandy Diaz [Pick: 11.3]
3B1 Matt Chapman [Pick: 12.8]
3B2 Maikel Garcia (2B) [Pick: 19.3]
SS1 Bobby Witt Jr. [Pick: 1.3]
OF1 Fernando Tatis Jr. [Pick: 2.8]
OF2 Ronald Acuna Jr. [Pick: 5.3]
OF3 Jazz Chisholm Jr. (3B) [Pick: 15.3]
OF4 Taylor Ward [Pick: 16.8]
OF5 Teoscar Hernandez [Pick: 17.3]
SP1 Garrett Crochet [Pick: 3.3]
SP2 Freddy Peralta [Pick: 7.3]
SP3 Tyler Glasnow [Pick: 9.3]
SP4 Jacob deGrom [Pick: 10.8]
SP5 Zach Eflin [Pick: 13.3]
RP1 Edwin Diaz [Pick: 4.8]
RP2 Raisel Iglesias [Pick: 8.8]
RP3 Pete Fairbanks [Pick: 18.8]
Team Kaiser
C1 Cal Raleigh [Pick: 10.7]
1B1 Matt Olson [Pick: 5.4]
3B1 Austin Riley [Pick: 6.7]
3B2 Isaac Paredes [Pick: 13.4]
2B1 Ketel Marte [Pick: 2.7]
SS1 CJ Abrams [Pick: 11.4]
SS2 Jeremy Pena [Pick: 19.4]
OF1 Aaron Judge [Pick: 1.4]
OF2 Anthony Santander [Pick: 3.4]
OF3 Lawrence Butler [Pick: 15.4]
OF4 Nick Castellanos [Pick: 18.7]
SP1 Framber Valdez [Pick: 4.7]
SP2 Luis Castillo [Pick: 7.4]
SP3 Bryce Miller [Pick: 9.4]
SP4 Jack Flaherty [Pick: 12.7]
SP5 Mitch Keller [Pick: 14.7]
SP6 Taj Bradley [Pick: 16.7]
SP7 Ronel Blanco [Pick: 17.4]
RP1 Andres Munoz [Pick: 8.7]
Team Zola
C1 William Contreras [Pick: 3.5]
1B1 Josh Naylor [Pick: 8.6]
1B2 Nathaniel Lowe [Pick: 19.5]
3B1 Jose Ramirez [Pick: 1.5]
3B2 Jordan Westburg [Pick: 15.5]
SS1 Willy Adames [Pick: 11.5]
OF1 Corbin Carroll [Pick: 2.6]
OF2 Alec Burleson [Pick: 12.6]
OF3 Mike Trout [Pick: 14.6]
DH1 Marcell Ozuna [Pick: 6.6]
SP1 Blake Snell [Pick: 4.6]
SP2 Pablo Lopez [Pick: 5.5]
SP3 Bailey Ober [Pick: 7.5]
SP4 Kodai Senga [Pick: 13.5]
SP5 Tomoyuki Sugano [Pick: 18.6]
RP1 Jhoan Duran [Pick: 9.5]
RP2 Tanner Scott [Pick: 10.6]
RP3 Griffin Jax [Pick: 16.6]
RP4 Kirby Yates [Pick: 17.5]
Team Schoenfield
C1 Will Smith [Pick: 9.6]
1B1 Bryce Harper [Pick: 3.6]
3B1 Junior Caminero [Pick: 12.5]
2B1 Jackson Holliday [Pick: 17.6]
SS1 Oneil Cruz (OF) [Pick: 11.6]
SS2 Matt McLain (2B) [Pick: 19.6]
OF1 Yordan Alvarez [Pick: 2.5]
OF2 Julio Rodriguez [Pick: 6.5]
OF3 Riley Greene [Pick: 13.6]
OF4 Jung Hoo Lee [Pick: 15.6]
SP1 Paul Skenes [Pick: 1.6]
SP2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto [Pick: 7.6]
SP3 Gerrit Cole [Pick: 8.5]
SP4 Hunter Greene [Pick: 10.5]
SP5 Spencer Strider [Pick: 14.5]
SP6 Bryan Woo [Pick: 16.5]
RP1 Devin Williams [Pick: 4.5]
RP2 Mason Miller [Pick: 5.6]
RP3 Luke Weaver [Pick: 18.5]
Team Mass
C1 Shea Langeliers [Pick: 15.7]
1B1 Vinnie Pasquantino [Pick: 7.7]
1B2 Jake Burger (3B) [Pick: 19.7]
3B1 Matthew Shaw (2B/SS) [Pick: 18.4]
2B1 Nico Hoerner [Pick: 11.7]
SS1 Francisco Lindor [Pick: 2.4]
OF1 Jackson Merrill [Pick: 4.4]
OF2 James Wood [Pick: 13.7]
OF3 Brenton Doyle [Pick: 16.4]
DH1 Brent Rooker [Pick: 8.4]
SP1 Tarik Skubal [Pick: 1.7]
SP2 Cole Ragans [Pick: 3.7]
SP3 Brandon Pfaadt [Pick: 9.7]
SP4 Jared Jones [Pick: 10.4]
SP5 Sandy Alcantara [Pick: 12.4]
RP1 Josh Hader [Pick: 5.7]
RP2 Ryan Walker [Pick: 6.4]
RP3 Trevor Megill [Pick: 14.4]
RP4 A.J. Puk [Pick: 17.7]
Team Chandan
C1 Adley Rutschman [Pick: 3.8]
1B1 Pete Alonso [Pick: 6.3]
1B2 Jake Cronenworth (2B) [Pick: 17.8]
3B1 Alec Bohm [Pick: 9.8]
SS1 Mookie Betts (OF) [Pick: 1.8]
SS2 Masyn Winn [Pick: 18.3]
OF1 Wyatt Langford [Pick: 8.3]
OF2 Cody Bellinger (1B) [Pick: 11.8]
OF3 Randy Arozarena [Pick: 13.8]
OF4 Adolis Garcia [Pick: 15.8]
OF5 Tommy Edman (SS) [Pick: 19.8]
SP1 Logan Gilbert [Pick: 2.3]
SP2 Chris Sale [Pick: 4.3]
SP3 Aaron Nola [Pick: 5.8]
SP4 Joe Ryan [Pick: 7.8]
SP5 Zac Gallen [Pick: 10.3]
SP6 Carlos Rodon [Pick: 12.3]
SP7 Tanner Houck [Pick: 16.3]
RP1 David Bednar [Pick: 14.3]
Team Becquey
C1 Salvador Perez (1B) [Pick: 9.9]
1B1 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. [Pick: 1.9]
1B2 Christian Walker [Pick: 7.9]
3B1 Alex Bregman [Pick: 4.2]
2B1 Jose Altuve [Pick: 5.9]
2B2 Xander Bogaerts (SS) [Pick: 16.2]
SS1 Gunnar Henderson [Pick: 2.2]
OF1 Jackson Chourio [Pick: 3.9]
OF2 Spencer Steer (1B) [Pick: 13.9]
OF3 Jurickson Profar [Pick: 14.2]
OF4 Seiya Suzuki [Pick: 15.9]
SP1 Max Fried [Pick: 6.2]
SP2 Shota Imanaga [Pick: 8.2]
SP3 Sonny Gray [Pick: 10.2]
SP4 Kevin Gausman [Pick: 11.9]
SP5 Cristopher Sanchez [Pick: 12.2]
SP6 Jose Berrios [Pick: 18.2]
RP1 Ryan Pressly [Pick: 17.9]
RP2 Lucas Erceg [Pick: 19.9]
Team Cockcroft
C1 Yainer Diaz [Pick: 7.10]
1B1 Triston Casas [Pick: 15.10]
3B1 Manny Machado [Pick: 4.1]
2B1 Gleyber Torres [Pick: 13.10]
SS1 Trea Turner [Pick: 5.10]
SS2 Carlos Correa [Pick: 17.10]
OF1 Kyle Tucker [Pick: 1.10]
OF2 Michael Harris II [Pick: 9.10]
OF3 Bryan Reynolds [Pick: 11.10]
OF4 Brandon Nimmo [Pick: 16.1]
SP1 Zack Wheeler [Pick: 2.1]
SP2 Michael King [Pick: 6.1]
SP3 Tanner Bibee [Pick: 10.1]
SP4 Spencer Schwellenbach [Pick: 12.1]
SP5 Roki Sasaki [Pick: 14.1]
SP6 Brandon Woodruff [Pick: 19.10]
RP1 Emmanuel Clase [Pick: 3.10]
RP2 Ryan Helsley [Pick: 8.1]
RP3 Justin Martinez [Pick: 18.1]
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