The Minnesota Twins will be one of the main players of the 2026 MLB Draft and they’ll be in the middle of the action when they go on the clock with the third overall pick on Saturday afternoon. But while the Twins will be in the mix for one of the top three prospects in this year’s draft, including high school shortstop Grady Emerson, UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey, The Athletic’s Keith Law suggests they could be a wild card in his final mock draft.
Law has the expected outcome with Emerson going first overall to the Chicago White Sox, Lackey going second to the Tampa Bay Rays and Cholowsky going third to the Twins. But he also noted that the White Sox were “more engaged” with Cholowsky this week and the Rays could take Lackey over Cholowsky if Emerson is the first overall pick, potentially leading to a scenario where the Twins shake up the draft.
“I continue to hear the Twins will take Cholowsky if he’s there and probably would take Vahn Lackey, but I’m not certain about Emerson,” Law wrote. “In a situation where Lackey and Cholowsky are off the board they may take [Georgia Tech outfielder] Drew Burress or [UC Santa Barbara pitcher] Jackson Flora.”
Twins could go outside the box with third overall pick in MLB Draft
Cholowsky and Lackey being taken in the first two picks is an unlikely scenario as Law believes Emerson will go to the White Sox and he’s “the guy the Rays really want” with the second overall pick. But it’s not out of the realm of possibilities as the draft approaches.
Lackey’s stock has risen considerably after a monster 2026 season with the Yellow Jackets, and Cholowsky was the consensus No. 1 pick after he had a down year with the Bruins compared to his monster 2025 performance. If those players are available, the Twins should be running to the podium, but Emerson could be more of an unknown as a high school player.
Known for his ability to make contact and his fielding at shortstop, Emerson has plenty of upside. But it could also take several years for him to make his way through the system at a position where the Twins already have Kaelen Culpepper and Marek Houston making a charge toward the majors.
Instead, the Twins could look to fill some of their needs elsewhere. Per MLB Pipeline, Burress is a right-handed outfielder who smashed 60 homers in his three years with the Yellow Jackets and has shown patience at the plate with 49 walks compared to 43 strikeouts in 254 at-bats last season. Flora also is an analytics darling armed with the potential to throw over 100 mph and went 12-0 with a 1.06 ERA, 133 strikeouts and 32 walks in 102 innings pitched last season.
The Twins likely can’t go wrong in this draft, having an obvious pick between Cholowsky and Lackey or going with a top collegiate player in Burress or Flora. But it also seems like they would like to go the college route instead of betting on the raw upside of Emerson based on Law’s intel.
The good news is that the draft is only a day away and the Twins will finally put an end to the speculation when they’re on the clock on Saturday.
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