The Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball's 2026 draft lottery on Dec. 9 at the winter meetings and will have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 1977, and just the club's third in franchise history.

The Detroit Tigers have the No. 22 overall pick, and Baseball America’s first mock draft now predicts right-handed pitcher Tommy LaPour out of Texas Christian University as the selection.

MLB's fourth amateur Draft Lottery will take place Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings in Orlando. MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed to the lottery as part of the current collective bargaining agreement in an effort to curb tanking and anti-competitive behavior in general. The top six picks are now awarded through the lottery.

With Texas A&M's baseball season sneaking up, two Aggies have been named to MLB Pipeline's first 2026 Mock Draft. With the 2026 draft order officially being set, On3 has reported its predictions on where the top 40 players will land, which showcases two Aggies.

Players are eligible for the Rule 5 draft if they have not been placed on their club's 40-man roster after four or five years in the organization, depending on whether they were 18 and younger or 19 and older at the time of signing.

The White Sox struck Rule 5 Draft gold with righty Shane Smith last year. He threw 146 ⅓ innings with a 3.81 ERA in 2025, and became only the second Rule 5 Draft pick to go to the All-Star Game the next season, joining Dan Uggla. Most Rule 5 Draft picks are middle relievers and bench guys.

While it is still early in the scouting and draft process, this appears like it is going to be a strong class in terms of talented shortstops. In the mock draft, Callis had the Chicago White Sox taking the extremely talented Roch Cholowsky from UCLA with the first overall pick.

The Orioles had a 9.24% chance of hitting the jackpot Tuesday, but they instead landed right where they deserved to be.

The Chicago White Sox won the rights to the first overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. Their second-round pick could be just as interesting

Fifteen players were selected during the 2024 Rule 5 Draft, per MLB.com's Joe Trezza. Of those players, Trezza noted the White Sox's Shane Smith, Miami Marlins' Liam Hicks and Toronto Blue Jays' Angel Bastardo were the only ones to stay with their club for the entirety of the 2025 season.

While the rumor mill at the Winter Meetings gets all the headlines, it's hardly the only way teams can improve their rosters in Orlando.

The Texas Rangers haven’t taken a high school pitcher since 2018, but that could change next July in the MLB draft.