Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With day one of the MLB Draft underway, the Dodgers have taken prep third baseman Bo Lowrance with their first pick.
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Lowrance is already listed at 6-foot-5, 200 pounds at 18 years old, giving a power frame to dream upon. His bat is the leading facet of his game and despite his size, he has good feel for contact, projecting with an above-average hit tool. Lowrance has drawn comparisons to Freddie Freeman thanks to his size and willingness to go to all fields.
The drawback with his batted ball profile is a lack of pulled fly balls. If he lifted hard contact more often on the prep circuit, it would be hard to imagine Lowrance falling to the Dodgers at 40. L.A. has experience working with smooth and physical left-handed swings to improve their pulled fly ball rates (think Josue De Paula) and will look to develop Lowrance in that way.
With the final pick of the 1st round, the Los Angeles Dodgers select @ccesathletics standout Bo Lowrance.
— Chase Justice WYFF News 4 (@ChaseJusticeTV) July 11, 2026
The power swinging lefty hit 12 HR's in his senior campaign with the Cavs. pic.twitter.com/z1Dfzjt5xq
Lowrance isn’t a great athlete but will have a chance to stick at third base long-term at a fringe-average level. Obviously, if he needs to move across to first he has plenty of frame, but his arm strength is good enough for third base or potentially a corner outfield spot. He’s a roughly average or fringe-average runner.
There was a lot of buzz that the Dodgers were targeting a college player with this pick, specifically a college arm. The departure from that expectation signals that L.A. really likes Lowrance and couldn’t let him fall any further. They likely have already confirmed he won’t need to sign for a bonus way above-slot value, which is approximately $2.5 million. However, they’ll need to sign him away from a Virginia commitment, so don’t expect a small bonus even though an exactly at-slot signing here would take out well over half of the Dodgers’ total bonus pool.
Ultimately, Lowrance brings a quality combination of ceiling and a high floor for a prep bat. He’s a good *hitter,* which fits the Freddie Freeman comp, and the Dodgers will look to develop him to 25-to-30 homer type game power. If he sticks at third base and L.A. gets the most out of his bat, this is the kind of pick that other teams could end up wondering how he possibly fell to the Dodgers at 40th overall.
Rankings:
MLB Pipeline: 21
FanGraphs: 7
ESPN: 35
Perfect Game: 42
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The Dodgers will make one more selection today at No. 132 overall. They don’t have picks in the second, third, fifth or sixth rounds thanks to the Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz signings in the offseason. From there, they’ll select last in rounds 7-20 tomorrow to complete the draft.
Because they lost four early picks, the Dodgers have by far the lowest bonus pool in the league at $3,951,900. That will limit their ability to pursue swing-big prep talent that would require a largely over-slot signing bonus. Expect plenty of college talent to be taken throughout the depth of the draft as the Dodgers manage their tight bonus pool budget.
Even outside of the 9th and 10th rounds, where they will almost certainly take college seniors who will sign for far below slot, the Dodgers will likely be hunting for chances to get players they like but can also save some bonus money on in the first 10 rounds.
