{"id":757196,"date":"2026-07-11T19:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757196\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T19:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:03:09","slug":"breaking-twins-select-vahn-lackey-at-pick-3-in-the-2026-mlb-draft-mlb-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757196\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Twins Select Vahn Lackey at Pick #3 in the 2026 MLB Draft – MLB Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Twins selected Vahn Lackey<\/a> with the third overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. Lackey is a catcher from Georgia Tech. Slot value for the pick is $9,740,100. Lackey was ranked #2 on our MLB Draft Consensus Board. In 2026, Lackey slashed .397\/.519\/.772 (1.291) with 20 home runs (39 extra-base hits) while walking 17.7% of the time, and only striking out at a 13.4% clip. He also posted an outrageous 170 wRC+, showcasing just how well-rounded of a hitter he is. Here\u2019s what our write-up of Lackey by Jamie Cameron from our MLB Draft Consensus Board said of Lackey.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEvery draft cycle seems to produce 2-3 first-round catchers, most of whom have warts offensively, defensively, or both. Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey may be the most complete college catcher in recent seasons and has a case to make as college baseball\u2019s most improved player in 2026.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLackey entered 2026 viewed as an excellent defensive catcher, with athleticism uncommon for the position, in addition to having strong bat-to-ball skills. He\u2019s continued to look excellent behind the plate, with good receiving and blocking skills, an excellent arm, and strong pop and transfer times. He has all the ingredients to be a plus defensive catcher.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOffensively, his power has taken a step forward. After hitting 6 home runs in 60 games in 2025, he managed 20 in 61 games in 2026, with more walks than strikeouts, adding a high on-base floor to his profile. Lackey ended 2026 hitting .397\/.519\/.772 with 39 extra base hits, a 17.7 BB%, a 13.4 K%, and 15 steals (94%). Simply put, he\u2019s one of the most complete profiles in this draft class.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLackey becomes the Twins\u2019 first catcher selected in round one since Joe Mauer<\/a> in 2001. Given the fact that Roch Cholowsky<\/a> and Grady Emerson went with the first two picks, this was a no-brainer for the Twins. Lackey will immediately become one of Minnesota\u2019s top prospects, giving the team a pair of elite catching prospects along with Eduardo Tait<\/a>. Jeremy Zoll’s first draft is off to a promising start.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you think of the pick? Add your thoughts in the comments.\n<\/p>\n

Check out our 2026 mock draft board, updated regularly, and with detailed player write-ups!<\/p>\n

View The Mock Draft Board<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Twins selected Vahn Lackey with the third overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. Lackey is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[324301,4,450,95965,451,3,452,453,324302],"class_list":["post-757196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-2026-mlb-draft","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-first-round","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-vahn-lackey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}