2026 MLB Draft tracker: Eight Sooners Major League bound

The 2026 MLB Draft began Saturday, with 20 Sooners from the 2026 national champion team draft eligible.

Before Saturday, OU had produced 315 all-time draft picks, including 48 under head coach Skip Johnson, placing it in the Top 10 nationally in total players picked.

This post will be updated as Sooners are drafted or sign with teams afterward as undrafted free agents:

Smithburg headed to Rays

Former OU left-handed pitcher Nate Smithburg was selected in the 18th round by the Tampa Bay Rays with the No. 533 overall pick.

Smithburg spent two seasons in Norman after transferring from Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, but only saw action in 2026 as he redshirted in 2025. He appeared in 19 games, including Game 2 of the College World Series against North Carolina, and posted an earned run average of 3.79 across 19 innings of work. 

Smithburg will join former OU pitcher Mason Bixby in Tampa Bay, as Bixby was selected in the 14th round. With his selection, the Rays became the first team to double up on Sooners in the 2026 MLB Draft.

Cameron Johnson to White Sox

Former OU left-handed pitcher Cameron Johnson was selected in the 15th round by the Chicago White Sox with the No. 435 overall pick.

Johnson appeared in 24 games across his two seasons in Norman, after playing his freshman season at Louisiana State, and posted a 4.60 career earned run average with the Sooners. Johnson appeared in 15 games in 2026, starting all of them, and finished with an earned record of 6-1. 

Following the Sooners' national championship, Johnson decided to test the waters of the offseason by entering both the transfer portal and the MLB Draft. He was the No. 250 prospect in the draft and was OU's final ranked player to be drafted.

Tampa Bay takes Bixby

Former OU right-handed pitcher Mason Bixby was selected in the 14th round by the Tampa Bay Rays with the No. 413 overall pick.

Bixby spent one season in Norman after transferring from TCU, where he spent two years. He appeared in 18 games as a reliever and earned a 2-0 record with a 6.5 earned run average through 18 innings pitched. Bixby made a single College World Series appearance in which he recorded a strikeout and no hits in 0.2 innings pitched in Game 2.

Bixby is OU's first unranked prospect to be selected in the 2026 MLB Draft.

Camden Johnson to Royals

Former OU infielder Camden Johnson was selected in the ninth round by the Kansas City Royals with the No. 269 overall pick.

Johnson was another one-and-done player for the Sooners, spending his junior season with the team after transferring from Wichita State. He was the No. 116 prospect in the draft and posted a .298 batting average with 73 hits and 48 RBIs across 65 games. The speedy third baseman stole 31 bases, tied for 12th in program history, including five in the NCAA Tournament.

Johnson also led the team in runs scored with 63, and was another key piece in OU's national championship run.

Guardians select Lachance

Former OU catcher Deiten Lachance was selected in the sixth round by the Cleveland Guardians with the No. 184 overall pick.

Lachance was the Sooners' highest-rated prospect in the draft, at No. 103, and spent a single season at OU following two seasons at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, where he played under Skip Johnson's son Tyler.

The Canadian posted a .327 batting average, with 81 hits and 18 home runs across 65 games. Lachance was one of the most-lethal hitters in the NCAA Tournament, with six home runs across 13 games. Two of his tournament home runs came against North Carolina in Game 1 of the College World Series, where he became just the fifth player ever to record multiple home runs in a CWS game.

Lachance racked up a plethora of awards in his lone season at OU, including D1 Baseball All-America Third Team, Perfect Game All-America Third Team, College World Series All-Tournament Team, NCAA Atlanta Regional Most Outstanding Player and NCAA Atlanta Regional All-Tournament Team honors.

LJ Mercurius to Arizona

Former OU right-handed pitcher LJ Mercurius was selected in the fifth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the No. 148 overall pick.

LJ, the older brother of OU rising sophomore pitcher Xander Mercurius, spent a single season with the Sooners after two seasons at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He appeared in 22 games and had an earned record of 7-7, with an earned run average of 4.43 over a team-high 83.1 innings pitched. 

LJ Mercurius was the No. 186 prospect in the draft and earned NCAA Atlanta Regional All-Tournament Team honors and four saves in the NCAA Tournament.

Angels select Willits

Former OU infielder Jaxon Willits was selected in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels with the No. 141 overall pick.

Willits spent three seasons in Norman and posted a .307 career batting average with 179 hits and 25 total home runs. While his 2025 batting average of .326 was higher than his 2026, .313, his junior season was his best in Norman as he was the centerpiece of the Sooners' national championship run.

Willits, the No. 117 prospect in the draft, was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player, and became the program leader in hits in the CWS with 13 across OU's six games played. He is now the third member of his family to be selected in the MLB draft, as his father Reggie was the No. 210 pick in 2003, and his brother Eli was the No. 1 overall pick in 2025.

Brock headed to Yankees

Former OU outfielder/catcher Brendan Brock was selected in third round by the New York Yankees with the No. 99 overall pick, making him the first Sooner off the board. 

Brock spent a single season in Norman following two seasons at Southwestern Illinois. In 2026, Brock posted a .302 batting average with 74 hits and 13 home runs. He played a key role in OU's national championship run, recording 21 hits across 13 NCAA Tournament games, including three home runs.

Brock was the No. 112 prospect and second-highest-ranked OU player in the draft. His selection continues two long-standing program streaks as OU has had at least one player taken in every draft since 1970 and at least one player selected in the first 10 rounds every year since 2011.

OU Commits Drafted

Josiah Kemp headed to Giants

Former OU commit Josiah Kemp was selected in the 12th round by the San Francisco Giants as the No. 358 overall pick.

Kemp, an outfielder from Choctaw High School in Choctaw, Okla., was the No. 1 overall recruit in Oklahoma and No. 19 outfielder recruit in the nation.

Kemp is the son of Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Kemp, and is OU's second recruit to be drafted in the 2026 MLB Draft.

Braves take Jack Brenner

Former OU commit Jack Brenner was selected in the seventh round by the Atlanta Braves as the No. 202 overall pick.

Brenner, a catcher from Fond du Lac High School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was the No. 4 overall and No. 1 catcher recruit in Wisconsin, and No. 10 catcher recruit in the nation. 

He is OU's first recruit to be taken in the 2026 MLB Draft. 

Not Selected

Sooners ranked in MLB’s Top 250 draft-eligible players:

• All ranked prospects drafted

Non-ranked Sooners who were draft eligible:

• Junior outfielder Dasan Harris (indicated a return for his senior season)

• Sophomore outfielder Drew Dickerson (entered transfer protal)

• Senior left-handed pitcher Gavyn Jones (indicated a return for his senior season)

• Junior outfielder Gerardo Prado (entered transfer portal)

• Junior right-handed pitcher Isaac Williams

• Senior right-handed pitcher Jackson Cleveland

• Junior right-handed pitcher Jason Bodin

• Junior outfielder Jason Walk (indicated a return for his senior season)

• Junior right-handed pitcher Jaxon Grossman

• Sophomore right-handed pitcher Michael Catalano

• Junior outfielder Nolan Stevens

• Graduate student right-handed pitcher Reid Hensley.