The 2026 MLP Auction Draft is set for Friday. Unlike last year, the 2026 draft has superstars available, and lots of depth. With 20 teams now in Premier Level (and no Challenger Level), more teams need players to fill their rosters. MLP drafts are always fun, with teams surprising us all with their strategies.

 

Here are five key things to watch for:

 

 

No one knows what will happen. Like a fantasy football draft, teams tend to think all the other teams think along similar lines. They are wrong. Player evaluations will vary a lot between teams. One team will view a player as a solid starter, while another team will think of that player as being undraftable. Different teams have different needs, different information, different opinions, different finances, and different player evaluations, all of which leads to teams sometimes making a pick where another team views it as a terrible pick.

 

Any of us who thinks they know exactly how the draft will play out is wrong. There will be a number of “Oh wow!” moments.

 

 

While it is impossible to predict how the whole draft will go, some trends are likely. One of them is that I believe we will see a lot of teenagers drafted. Tama Shimabukuro and Kiora Kunimoto headline the teenagers likely to be drafted (and maybe drafted high), but they are far from the only ones. Jonathan Truong, Cailyn Campbell, Will MacKinnon, Jalina Ingram, Cam Chaffin, Elsie Hendershot, to name just some, are likely to be drafted. Will teams try to add that potential to their bench, looking to develop starters down the road? Or will a team look to spend low in the draft, but pick a team that in a year or two could have a couple of breakout stars starting for them? 

 

I talked to a couple of team owners and general managers who are looking to draft the youngsters. My advice? You may well have to pick them sooner and for more money than you thought, as multiple teams are eyeing the young talent.

 

 

As first noted, the 2026 draft has something the 2025 draft lacked, which is superstar talent. No insult to the best players drafted in 2025, such as Kate Fahey and Augie Ge, but Anna Bright and Jorja Johnson are just on another level. Fahey and Ge are solid starters for an MLP team; Bright and Johnson are MVP-caliber players.

 

Did St. Louis and Dallas make an error dropping Bright and Johnson? Arguably yes, especially in the case of Dallas. St. Louis’ roster was such that they had to drop a top 3 man or top 3 woman. Dallas could have dropped JW Johnson who, while an excellent player, was at least a little bit easier to replace money and skill-wise.

 

In any event, whoever St. Louis and Dallas were to drop, those teams would be eager to get their player right back. The problem is that the sharks are circling and other teams are looking to draft a superstar. New Jersey and Columbus both have openings for a female starter (but not a male starter, thus why dropping JW was the better choice for Dallas), and both New Jersey and Columbus are thinking if they get Bright or Johnson, they will be the favorite to win it all. Also lurking out there is Texas, which has two top men (Christian Alshon and Eric Oncins) and must be thinking if they can get Bright or Johnson and another solid female (Lea Jansen, Mari Humberg, or Meghan Dizon) that they are a threat to win it all. And then we have the wild card question; will any unexpected team make a run at Bright or Johnson?

 

The first two picks in the draft and the two most expensive picks in the draft have to be Bright and Johnson. If St. Louis or Dallas get shut out of those first two picks, their championship hopes take a big drop. Expect St. Louis and Dallas to bid big.

 

 

The depth of the players on the men’s side is quite a bit better than the depth on the women’s side. There are some really solid men who may even go unpicked, especially if teams load up on the youngsters. Players like Wyatt Stone, AJ Koller, Anderson Scarpa, Martin Emmrich, and Tyler Loong all should end up on a team, with several of them being solid starting caliber players. But as they have been around awhile, will recency bias cause them to fall further than we expect? I think so, but even a team focused on youth would be well-served to have at least one MLP/PPA veteran on the team to give it some experience.

 

 

Bolstering the depth on the women’s side is a couple of Australian players coming over to MLP in the USA for the first time. Danni-Elle Townsend is going to be a top 10 pick, barring all teams having a mental breakdown. She showed talent last year against American players in Australian events. She is likely to be even better now.

 

Another Aussie is Sahra Dennehy. She is a solid singles player, who has gone 3-3 against Zoey Wang. That is a talented player worth drafting. It will be interesting to see which teams have done their homework and know about the Aussies.

 

Enjoy the draft! I will be back with post-draft analysis.

 

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