MLB Draft Odds – Who’s Going No. 1 in 2016?

The first round of the 2015 MLB Draft took place on Monday night and shortstop was the position of choice this year: the top three names called all reside at short, and five of the top 20 overall. The deadline to sign draft picks isn’t until July 17 and it will take time – years, in most cases – before we know if any of these picks were worth it.

But the draft got us so excited that we wanted to look towards next year and see which kids might hear their names called early – very early, like first – next summer. Assuming every prospect this year signs (ha!), we’ve only examined the kids from next year’s class.

Right now it’s a three-horse race between two right-handed pitchers (Riley Pint and Robert Tyler) and a wunderkind centerfielder out of Chaminade Prep in L.A (Blake Rutherford).

At the moment, Pint gets the nod, even though he could easily opt for the college route. The 6’4 flamethrower (who can touch 98 mph with his fastball) mixes in a solid changeup and is capable of throwing four pitches (including a knuckle-curve and two-seamer) for strikes. With that kind of polish at such a young age, look for his beer-ific name to be called first if he’s eligible next year.

Odds to be drafted No. 1 overall in the 2016 MLB Draft:

• Riley Pint, RHP; LSU commit – 9/5
• Blake Rutherford, CF; Chaminade Prep – 8/3
• Robert Tyler, RHP; Georgia – 9/2
• Alec Hansen, RHP; Oklahoma – 10/1
• Connor Jones, RHP; Virginia – 31/2
• Nicholas Banks, RF; Texas A&M – 20/1
• A.J. Puk, LHP; Florida – 34/1
• Ben Ancheff, (the 300 lb) RHP; St. Thomas – 500,000/1

(Photo credit: Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, NJ, USA (FanFest 2014) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)