The 2026 edition of the Major League Baseball Draft is well underway! The action got started early on Saturday afternoon with the Chicago White Sox making UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky the No. 1 overall selection, and though the New York Yankees had to wait 34 more picks to get their first in, they seemingly got a good one to set the tone.
MLB set up Day 1 of the draft to include the first four rounds, and since the Yankees didn’t lose any due to free agent-signing qualifying offer compensation, they subsequently had four picks. Arkansas lefty Hunter Dietz, British Columbia prep southpaw Sean Duncan, Oklahoma catcher Brendan Brock, and Cal State Fullerton outfielder Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II are the newest Baby Bombers, pending their signings. Jonathan wrote up a full analysis of the Day 1 activity in Yankeeland.
Sixteen more draft picks joined the Yankees on Sunday. Since there were so many players in one day, we batched them into three different posts that you can review in the following links:
To help conveniently track all of the Yankees’ picks — from the selection process to any known eventual signing news — I’ve assembled this tracker that will also be regularly updated throughout July. If available, I’ve included their Instagram handles if you have any interest in following them.
Draft pick signing news can be a slow process and team assignments might be even fuzzier, but we’ll do our best to keep you posted. Players have until 5:00 PM ET on July 27th to sign unless they’re college seniors who have already used up their years of eligibility. As always, give us a shout in the comments section of this post if you see any news that needs to be added.
| Round | Player | School | DOB | Status/Bonus | Slot Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (35) | LHP Hunter Dietz | Arkansas | 3/3/05 | @dietzhunter_ | $2,497,500 | $2,826,700 |
| 2 (63) | LHP Sean Duncan | Terry Fox SS (BC) | 5/9/08 | @seankd2008 | Should Sign | $1,451,700 |
| 3 (99) | C Brendan Brock | Oklahoma | 8/3/04 | @brendannnbrock | Should Sign | $792,300 |
| 4 (127) | OF Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II | CSU Fullerton | 8/5/05 | @paulanthony1514 | Will Sign | $603,500 |
| 5 (160) | C Bear Harrison | Texas A&M | 1/17/05 | @bearharrison_ | Will Sign | $437,200 |
| 6 (189) | 3B Andrew Gonzalez | Americas HS (TX) | 2/20/08 | @drewgonzalez_3 | TBD | $341,800 |
| 7 (218) | RHP Michael Harpster | East Tennessee St. | 3/21/05 | @michael_harpster1 | Will Sign | $270,000 |
| 8 (248) | TWP Luke Pettitte | Dallas Baptist | 6/19/05 | @luke_pettitte21 | Signed | $223,100 |
| 9 (278) | RHP David Leslie | Pittsburgh | 4/8/03 | @davidleslie44 | $37,500 | $203,500 |
| 10 (308) | SS Bayram Hot | Louisville | 2/16/04 | @bayram_hot | Should Sign | $193,000 |
| 11 (338) | SS Anthony Potestio | UC San Diego | 11/5/04 | @anthony.potestio | Will Sign | |
| 12 (368) | RHP Austin Berggren | Miami U. (OH) | 9/17/03 | @austinberggren35 | Will Sign | |
| 13 (398) | OF Lee Garris | Maury HS (VA) | 12/20/07 | @lee.garris | Will Sign | |
| 14 (428) | OF Diego Castellanos | St. Mary’s | 1/26/05 | @diggy.castellanos | Will Sign | |
| 15 (458) | SS William Cutshall | Seneca HS (HS) | 5/25/08 | @williamcutshall_ | Signed | |
| 16 (488) | RHP Garrett Ahern | Grand Canyon | 12/28/04 | @notgarrettahern | Will Sign | |
| 17 (518) | RHP Jason Krieger | Maine | 1/3/05 | @jason.k07 | Signed | |
| 18 (548) | SS Blake Cyr | Florida | 11/6/03 | @blakecyr_ | Will Sign | |
| 19 (578) | 1B Tyce Armstrong | Baylor | 7/3/03 | @tycea.11 | Will Sign | |
| 20 (608) | OF Dean Toigo | Arizona St. | 9/4/02 | @dean.toigo | Will Sign |
Note: Teams are allotted $150,000 per pick for each selection from Rounds 11-20. This doesn’t count toward their total bonus pool, though they are permitted to use any leftover bonus funds to increase their offers beyond $150,000 to these players.
Post-draft updates
7/13: That was quick! First-rounder Hunter Dietz has already signed, per the man who runs the Yankees’ draft himself, VP of scouting Damon Oppenheimer. We do not yet know slot value. (Update: MLB.com’s Jim Callis reported that Dietz signed for $2,497,500, or $329.2K under slot that the Yankees can distribute elsewhere.)
7/14 (1): Some day-after catch-up notes here. The Tennessean reported that second-rounder Sean Duncan, a Vanderbilt commit, is “expected to sign” with the Yankees, so we’ll call him “Should Sign.” Cal State Fullerton and Texas A&M respectively said that fourth-rounder Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II and fifth-rounder Bear Harrison are “heading to” the Yankees, so if their own schools are saying that, then that’s enough for us to put them under “Will Sign.” Both were college juniors. Third-rounder Brendan Brock has “@yankees” in his Instagram bio, so while that’s less certain, we will tag a “Should Sign.”
7/14 (2): The 13th-round pick, Virginia high schooler Lee Garris, did a “next stop” post on Instagram with the Yankees’ logo and he has it in his bio, so he seems like a safe “Will Sign,” forgoing his commitment to James Madison University. And in a similar “Will Sign” vein to the above note…
- East Tennessee St. said that seventh-rounder Michael Harpster is “going pro”
- Dallas Baptist posted that eighth-rounder Luke Pettitte “is a pro”
- Pittsburgh said that ninth-rounder David Leslie is “heading to the Bronx”
- UC San Diego said of 11th-rounder Anthony Potestio: “AP to NY”
- Miami Ohio said “Berggy to the Bronx” of 12th-rounder Austin Berggren
- St. Mary’s said “Diggy is a Yankee” of 14th-rounder Diego Castellanos
- Grand Canyon referred to 16th-rounder Garrett Ahern in the past tense and said he went to the Yankees
- Florida said “Gotham got CYRious” of 18th-rounder Blake Cyr
- Baylor said “Legendary home run hitter heading to a legendary of franchise” of 19th-rounder Tyce Armstrong
- Arizona State said of 20th-rounder: “[Dean] Toigo to the Bronx”
Austin, Pettitte, Berggren, Cyr, and Armstrong now have “@yankees” in their Instagram bios as well, and so does 10th-rounder Bayram Hot, though we’ll have him as “Should Sign” since that’s it for the moment on him. (Pettitte also has “@yankees” in his Twitter bio.)
7/14 (3): Hat tip to community member CON MEN in the comments (say that 10 times fast), who linked to articles confirming that 15th-rounder William Cutshall will sign and 17th-rounder Jason Krieger had signed. Cutshall told Upstate Today that he is on his way to Tampa to sign, and Krieger’s head coach at Maine confirmed Krieger already signed. The university later posted a photo of him signing on their Instagram.
7/14 (4): Baseball America’s signing tracker reported ninth-rounder David Leslie’s bonus at $37.5K, or $166K under slot. He was a senior sign, so this was fairly expected; look for his surplus to go toward one of the prep guys or possible transfers who they’re trying to convince to go pro.
7/15: Eighth-rounder Josh Pettitte and 15th-rounder William Cutshall have officially signed, per their Instagrams and related stories.
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