These teams scored the best '26 Draft hauls

The Cardinals have crushed some Drafts. Their 1999 effort, in which they unearthed Albert Pujols in the 13th round, grabbed fellow junior college product Coco Crisp in the seventh and signed six other big leaguers, ranks among the best ever.

In 1967, St. Louis landed one of the top first-round/second-round combos ever in Hall of Famer Ted Simmons and 220-game winner Jerry Reuss. Four years later, it stole Keith Hernandez in the 42nd round -- he sat out his high school senior season after a dispute with his coach -- and found three outfielders (third-rounder Larry Herndon, fourth-rounder Jerry Mumphrey, 11th-rounder Jim Dwyer) who combined for 4,450 games in the Majors.

It's too early to know how the Cardinals' 2026 crop will stack up against those classes. We can say this: based on first impressions, they assembled the strongest collection of talent in the just-completed Draft. Of course it helped that St. Louis owned five picks in the first two rounds, but that doesn't change the fact that it selected more players ranked in the Top 100 of MLB Pipeline's Draft Top 250 (six) than any other club.

Here are the six teams with the most impressive hauls of 2026 Draft prospects:

1. Cardinals
The Cardinals spent two of their top three selections on a pair of high schoolers: outfielder Trevor Condon (first round), who offered the best combination of hitting ability and speed in the prep class and might be the next Pete Crow-Armstrong; and shortstop Rocco Maniscalco (second), one of the youngest players and best defenders available. Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns' (supplemental first) stuff and strikes made him one of the best college mound prospects, while West Virginia righty Dawson Montesa (supplemental second) is an interesting upside play and UCLA righty Cal Randall (fifth) is a fast-track reliever with one of the best fastballs in the Draft. Central Florida outfielder Andrew Williamson (supplemental second), Texas Tech outfielder Caden Ferraro (third) and Kansas State shortstop Dee Kennedy (fourth) are all proven college performers.

2. White Sox
Like the Cardinals, the White Sox had more advantages than most clubs, owning the No. 1 overall pick and a record $20,489,500 bonus pool. They started by snagging UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky (first round), whose career could fall somewhere between Dansby Swanson's and Troy Tulowitzki's, and two of the more advanced high school bats in infielders Landon Thome (supplemental first) and Cole Prosek (second). Then Chicago snapped up three straight college right-handers, two with high ceilings in Georgia's Joey Volchko (third) and Oregon's Cal Scolari (fifth) and a third with a comfortable floor in Oregon State's Eric Segura (fourth). The Sox selected 11 Draft Top 250 dudes, tying the Pirates for the most, and could sign all of them. The others: athletic outfielders Alex Weingartner (high school, sixth) and Clay Burdette (Xavier, seventh), projectable and polished prep righty Kyle Casteel (11th), slugging Vanderbilt outfielder Braden Holcomb (12th) and electric but erratic Oklahoma lefty Cameron Johnson (15th).

3. Rays
With the No. 2 choice, the Rays secured MLB Pipeline's top-rated talent in prep shortstop Grady Emerson, and they didn't stop there. They added another promising high school shortstop (Taj Marchand) with their next pick (supplemental first round) and then loaded up with seven pitchers ranked in the Top 250, all of whom they should be able to sign: Liberty right-hander Ben Blair (second); prep righties Gavin Giese (third), AJ Rice (seventh), Griffin Long (eighth) and Logan Georges (11th); Arizona righty Owen Kramkowski (fifth); and Virginia left-hander Kyle Johnson (sixth). Blair has an intriguing combination of stuff, strikes and deception.

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4. Guardians
It's difficult to make this list without the benefit of extra selections, but the Guardians did exactly that after dealing a supplemental first-rounder to the Giants for Patrick Bailey. Known for their ability to develop pitching, they snared three high-upside arms: Florida right-hander Liam Peterson (first round), whose stuff rivals anyone's in the college ranks; high school left-hander Logan Schmidt (second), who's already reaching 98 mph at age 17; and prep right-hander Savion Sims (seventh), who touches 100 mph and should throw harder once he fills out his lanky 6-foot-8 frame. As for bats, Houston outfielder Tre Broussard (third) and Louisville outfielder Lucas Moore (fifth) were two of the fastest college players in the Draft; Wake Forest first baseman Kade Lewis (fourth) was one of the better pure hitters in the college ranks; and Oklahoma catcher Deiten Lachance (sixth) has huge raw power that translated into 18 homers in his final 33 games as he led the Sooners to a national title.

5. Rockies
No team landed a trio of higher-ranked players than the Rockies did with Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell (first round), Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson (supplemental first) and UCLA right-hander Logan Reddemann (supplemental first). Bell has all-around ability, Golden Spikes Award winner Jackson has big power and Reddemann's stuff and pitchability might have made him a top-20 pick if he hadn't missed his last six starts with a flexor strain. Colorado also secured another slugging backstop in Cincinnati's Jack Natili (third) and a pair of live arms in Mississippi State right-hander Ben Davis (fourth) and prep righty Tyler Putnam (fifth).

6. Angels
After five straight years of recently fired GM Perry Minasian targeting quick-to-the-Majors collegians in the first round, four of whom were deep discounts, the Angels changed course with high schooler Jared Grindlinger, a legitimate two-way talent who's barely 17 years old. After that, they picked up a pair of good values in Georgia Tech second baseman Jarren Advincula (second round), college baseball's best contact hitter, and Texas A&M corner infielder Gavin Grahovac (third), who sports massive power. Georgia outfielder Rylan Lujo (fourth) and Tennessee catcher/outfielder Garrett Wright (eighth) are good athletes. Oklahoma shortstop Jaxon Willits (fifth) was named Most Outstanding Player at the 2026 Men's College World Series and has great bloodlines (big league dad Reggie, 2025 No. 1 overall pick/brother Eli). UC Irvine righty Trevor Hansen (ninth) has fine feel for pitching. As with the Guardians, the Angels deserve extra credit for cracking this list without the benefit of extra choices.