The 2027 MLB Draft will carry a record three picks from the Prospect Promotion Incentive. The Reds' Sal Stewart and the Tigers' Kevin McGonigle were named their league's Rookie of the Year winners. Additionally, Parker Messick earned a pick for the Guardians after being named an American League Cy Young finalist.

These picks will come at the end of the first round. The Dodgers, Phillies, and Yankees are expected to fall out of the Top 30 due to Competitive Balance Tax penalties pushing their top selection back 10 spots. Here's how the three picks project in the 2027 draft.

• No. 28: Reds (75-87)
• No. 29: Tigers (76-86)
• No. 30: Guardians (85-77)

The order of the three PPI picks is based on each team's regular-season record. The Reds and the Tigers were separated by just one game, but Cincinnati will have the higher pick. These picks will be before any compensatory picks related to free agency in the draft.

2026 Season Results in MLB-Record 3 PPI Draft Picks

This was the expected outcome when the award finalists were named on November 3. All three National League Rookie of the Year finalists were eligible for Prospect Promotion Incentive rewards. The only drama would be whether McGonigle would take home Rookie of the Year over Messick, which he did.

Stewart, McGonigle, and Messick all entered the 2026 season as PPI-qualifying prospects. To qualify, a player must rank in two of MLB Pipeline, ESPN, or Baseball America's Top 100 lists. Messick is the first case of a rookie earning a PPI pick without winning Rookie of the Year.

Coming into the 2026 season, there had only been six PPI picks awarded in four years. This season will account for the third of the total picks in the five seasons since it was implemented in the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Given the success of the incentive, it's likely to remain in the next one. It's one of the rare parts where the teams and players can both benefit. For teams, it's an opportunity to parlay the promotion of a top prospect into one high-value dart at landing impact talent in the draft. For a player, it has service-time rewards and higher pre-arbitration bonuses.

Pre-Arbitration Bonus Breakdowns for the Three Players Who Earned a PPI Pick in 2026

Both Stewart and McGonigle will earn $750K pre-draft bonuses for winning Rookie of the Year. Carson Benge, who finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year race, will get $500K. Messick will get at least $1.5 million for a top-three finish in the AL Cy Young Award, plus $500K for finishing second in AL Rookie of the Year voting over Payton Tolle.

McGonigle also joins the list of players who not only earned his club a PPI pick, but signed a long-term extension. That list includes Julio Rodríguez (2022), Corbin Carroll (2023), and Bobby Witt Jr. (2024), joining a list of mid-market clubs willing to take a risk to sign their franchise player before they got expensive. In all four cases, which now includes the Tigers infielder, the player signed his extension the same year as getting the pick.

This may be a continuing trend across the league, where teams identify their face-of-the-franchise player and attempt to lock them up to long-term extensions. It's a risky move, but has the upside of getting impact players at a discount. That's served as effective roster-building for teams on a budget, as the Brewers proved in 2026.