The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.
Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep
[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]
In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league — other mock drafts: No. 1, No. 2. Up next is drafting from the No. 3 overall pick. Which route do you take after Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are off the board? Let’s get into it.
Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.
Full Roster
C: Shea Langeliers, Athletics
1B: Ben Rice, Yankees
2B: Jose Altuve, Astros
SS: Mookie Betts, Dodgers
3B: Noelvi Marte, Reds
OF: Juan Soto, Mets
OF: Jackson Chourio, Brewers
OF: Oneil Cruz, Pirates
UTIL: Colson Montgomery, White Sox
UTIL: Brendan Donovan, Mariners
SP: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
SP: Cole Ragans, Royals
RP: Trevor Megill, Brewers
RP: Emilio Pagan, Reds
P: MacKenzie Gore, Rangers
P: Shota Imanaga, Cubs
P: Ryan Weathers, Yankees
P: Connelly Early, Red Sox
Bench: Yainer Diaz, Astros
Bench: Royce Lewis, Twins
Bench: Abner Uribe, Brewers
Bench: Konnor Griffin, Pirates
Bench: Gerrit Cole, Yankees
Round 1 dilemma: Once you get past Judge and Ohtani at 1-2, things can get sort of interesting if you want them to. Scott Pianowski and Fred Zinkie like Bobby Witt Jr. at No. 3 overall. But the late, great Peewee Herman once said, “I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.” So we opted to select Juan Soto over Witt in the 3-hole. In my defense, the projections like Soto over Witt. The Mets slugger had a “down” year in terms of WAR, going from 7.9 with the Yanks to 6.2 in his first season at Citi Field. Soto still led the League in walks, stolen bases and OBP while belting a career-high 43 homers. He’s still just 27 years old, so perhaps we haven’t seen Soto’s ceiling yet. I’m willing to roll the dice there and take him just a pick early.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]
Dodgers duo: Let’s talk about the back-to-back champs because nobody does that anymore. We’ll start with Betts. He can’t be done, right? It was only two seasons ago he led the NL in WAR at 8.6 and finished second in MVP voting. I’m gonna bank on a bounce-back season for Betts. His strikeout rate has been down the past few seasons despite his power draining. I worry a little bit about Yamamoto’s innings if L.A. opts to rotate a lot of starters to stay fresh for October. But even in 30 starts last season, Yamamoto got past 170 IP and won World Series MVP. Maybe the Dodgers allow their ace to go after an NL Cy Young next?
Catcher depth: I find myself grabbing either Langeliers or Contreras at catcher around the 6-7 rounds consistently. So we may need to break that habit and wait on catcher one of these drafts. I do like my catcher depth with the Rice pick. He should rotate in at C, 1B, OF and DH for the Yanks. Rice should also have a great lineup slot and has been mashing in spring. If Rice takes another step forward at the plate, he could break the 30-homer mark.
Priority pitching target: Gore is a pitcher I wanted to make sure I snagged in one of these mocks, a top breakout candidate for Yahoo analyst Corbin Young this season. Gore misses a lot of bats with multiple pitches and at age 27 is finally playing some meaningful baseball with Texas. Being on a better Rangers team should lower Gore’s ERA and he should get more wins as well. He feels like a great target outside of the “SP dead zone” that could pay dividends.
Planning ahead: I’m very excited to talk about my final two picks. Both are stashes/anticipatory moves. Personally, I don’t think the Pirates keep Griffin at the start of the season, but he could get a call up soon. That’s rarely the case for teenagers but Griffin has a bright future and Pittsburgh needs to sell tickets. For Cole, I’m cool throwing him in an IL slot and leaving that final bench spot open for streamers (both hitters and pitchers). The Yankees could have their ace back at some point this summer and that could be huge for my roster later in the year.
Takeaways with drafting No. 3: The player pool still felt pretty similar in this slot compared to picks 1 and 2. I tried to stack my OF early on so I didn’t have to worry as much about that in the later rounds and could focus on pitching and grabbing some sleepers. In the next couple of mocks, we’re going to mix up the strategies a bit more. Stay tuned!
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