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The MLB Draft Lottery took place on Tuesday night, in the middle of Winter Meetings. Ben Cherington has kept busy — he made an offer to Kyle Schwarber that he ultimately spurned to go back to the Phillies, and still has time to add a few lower-cost options like Mike Yastrzemski or Willi Castro — but he had to take a few minutes out of his day to find out where the Pirates would fall in next year's draft order.
15 teams - including the Pirates - who didn't make the 2025 postseason were eligible to be drawn for the top six spots in the 2026 draft. The Rockies were ineligible, having picked in the top six in both 2024 and 2025, along with the Angels and Nationals as payor teams. The teams that weren't among those top six would be ordered according to their winning percentage this season.
The Pirates went in with a 16.8% chance to pick first overall, the third highest odds behind the White Sox and Twins.
The White Sox did indeed get the first pick, but Pittsburgh avoided a massive tumble down the order by winning the fifth overall selection, after the White Sox, Rays, Twins, and Giants. The Royals round out the top six.
Pirates get fifth overall pick in 2026 MLB Draft after Draft Lottery results at Winter Meetings
The Pirates have selected within the top 10 every year since 2020, when they drafted Nick Gonzales with the seventh overall pick. Henry Davis followed at first in 2021, Termarr Johnson fourth in 2022, Paul Skenes, of course, in 2023, Konnor Griffin ninth in 2024, and Seth Hernandez sixth this summer.
All of their first-round picks, top 10 or not, from Davis dating back to 2015 have been...a little disappointing, to say the least — they include Sammy Siani (stuck in the minors), Travis Swaggerty (no longer with the Pirates), and Will Craig (last seen with the KBO's Kiwoom Heroes in 2021) — but picks under Cherington's reign have started to become more promising in recent years.
Pittsburgh is not going to land another player even sort of in Skenes' league unless the White Sox, Rays, Twins, and Giants commit absolute malpractice at the 2026 draft, but they managed to eke into the first 10 for the seventh year in a row, and that's an indisputable win.