Baseball 2026 MLB Draft Notes

HOUSTON – The 2026 MLB Draft kicks off on Saturday with multiple Cougars primed to be selected. Rounds 1-4 are on Saturday followed by Rounds 5-20 on Sunday. In total, 615 players will be chosen during the two-day event, with the Chicago White Sox holding the No. 1 overall pick.

Last year, two Cougars – Antoine Jean and Connor McGinnis – were chosen while the program's first-ever pick was Tom Paciorek in 1968.

MLB DRAFT SCHEDULE/HOW TO WATCH
Day 1: Saturday, July 11 (Rounds 1-4)

1:00-2:30 p.m. ET - Picks 1-10 (NBC/Peacock)
2:30-4:30 p.m. ET - Picks 11-40 (MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)
4:30-7:45 p.m. ET - Picks 41-135 (MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)

Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20)

11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)

NOTABLES

Houston Baseball has had four players taken in the First Round, most recently Seth Romero who was taken with the 25^thoverall pick in the 2017 draft by the Washington Nationals.

Year	Player	Position	Team	Pick
2003	Ryan Wagner	Pitcher	Cincinnati Reds	14
2003	Brad Sullivan	Pitcher	Oakland Athletics	25
2006	Brad Lincoln	Pitcher	Pittsburgh Pirates	4
2017	Seth Romero	Pitcher	Washington Nationals	25

The Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals (previously the Montreal Expos) have chosen the most Cougars in the MLB Draft with 10 apiece, followed by the Toronto Blue Jays with nine and Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants with eight each. Every current MLB franchise has drafted at least one Cougar.
Houston has had seven picks in five different rounds (2, 4, 11, 12, 19). In the current 20 round draft, the Cougars have at least one pick in every round.
The most Cougars selected in a single draft saw 11 picks in the 2000 MLB Draft. It's the only draft were 10+ Cougars have been chosen. Multiple Cougars have been picked in 40 drafts since 1968, and Houston has had a player selected in each of the last five drafts as well as 23 of the last 24.
Houston has had 166 players selected during the first-year player draft including 27 Top-Five Round picks and 47 Top-10 Round picks.

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Antoine Jean

Connor McGinnis

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