Rays select top-ranked Draft prospect Emerson with No. 2 overall pick

ST. PETERSBURG -- Sitting in the home dugout at Tropicana Field on Friday afternoon, about 21 1/2 hours before the Rays were officially on the clock, amateur scouting director Chuck Ricci ran through some of the factors that Tampa Bay must consider in the MLB Draft.

It’s become cliché to say teams prioritize the “best available player,” but it was especially important for the Rays when granted the rare opportunity to pick near the top of this year’s Draft.

“You just try to break down the player in every possible way you can,” Ricci said. “But I think in our market, we owe it to ourselves to take the best available player who has the highest ceiling.”

No player in this class fit that description better than Fort Worth (Texas) Christian School shortstop Grady Emerson. The Rays made Emerson the No. 2 overall pick on Saturday afternoon, taking MLB Pipeline’s top-ranked Draft prospect with their highest selection since they had back-to-back No. 1 overall picks in 2007 (David Price) and ’08 (Tim Beckham).

The Rays were carefully considering four players in the hours leading up to the Draft: Emerson, UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey and UC Santa Barbara right-hander Jackson Flora. Ricci said they met with each of their top targets, talked to their coaches and did “all the homework” necessary to prepare themselves, then it became a matter of reacting to what the White Sox did with the top pick.

In the end, they went with the player generally considered to have the highest ceiling.

"We are adding a player with a premium hit tool and an excellent amateur pedigree. Grady's work ethic and makeup are a perfect fit with our already strong culture," Ricci said in a statement. "Getting to know his family only solidified that he is our guy. I can't thank area scout Chris Hom enough for his excellent work with Grady over the last 12 months. We are looking forward to seeing Grady in a Rays uniform."

Emerson has a tremendous toolset that is reminiscent of Royals superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. In fact, after Emerson transferred from Argyle High School to Fort Worth Christian, Texas, he came under the tutelage of a former mentor of Witt’s, former Major League outfielder and current Fort Worth Christian head coach Rusty Greer. Emerson has even said he considers Witt a mentor after meeting him while Witt was in high school in nearby Colleyville.

• All you need to know about Grady Emerson

Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 1 overall Draft prospect, Emerson was named the 2026 Gatorade Player of the Year for Texas and also the National Gatorade Player of the Year. He played for Team USA’s 15U squad in 2022 and ’23, and its 18U team in 2024 and ’25, winning three gold medals and being named an All-World third baseman in '25.

In May, Emerson was named a semifinalist for this year’s Golden Spikes Award, becoming only the second high school player since 1948 to be nominated for the prestigious honor, joining Witt.

During his senior year at Fort Worth Christian, Emerson posted a .532/.648/1.013 slash line with seven home runs and 21 steals. With a smooth and potent swing from the left side, the 18-year-old has an advanced plate approach that results in good swing decisions and hard contact to all fields.

This is the fifth time in the last six years that the Rays selected a high school hitter with their top first-round Draft pick, as they previously did with Carson Williams (2021), Xavier Isaac (2022), Theo Gillen (2024) and Daniel Pierce (2025).

According to MLB Pipeline, Emerson could project as a 25-homer player in the Majors thanks to his bat speed, ability to barrel up the ball and potential to strengthen his 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame. He flashed his power potential by finishing second in the 2025 High School Home Run Derby at Truist Park.

Defensively, Emerson is a rangy shortstop with an ability to make difficult plays look easier than they really are. With fluid movement at the position, along with quick hands, a strong arm and sound fundamentals, MLB Pipeline considers him a “lock” to remain at short in the big leagues. On the basepaths, Emerson is a solid runner when underway out of the batter’s box and has good baserunning instincts.

The No. 2 overall pick in this year’s Draft came with an assigned slot value of $10,507,000, part of the Rays’ overall bonus pool of $19,009,300 -- the second-largest pool this year. They had four more picks slated for Day 1: No. 33, 49, 85 and 113.