The highly anticipated MLB draft kicked off Sunday night in Arlington, Texas and there’s a lot we can go over. The 2024 draft class has been one of the more interesting draft classes in that it is so top-heavy. There’s a handful of names at the top of the class that are potential generational talents, highlighted by a deep class of college bats, but then the level of talent seems to be met with a steep drop-off. The top five teams arguably had the hardest job of anyone as there’s about six different players that could be interchangeable.
Capitalizing on a top-five pick is a very important thing, especially in today’s game with the new draft lottery. Teams aren’t always going to be guaranteed a top-five pick just from having a bad record the season prior. Teams like the Guardians and the Cardinals may not see themselves at this point in the draft again for a number of years, so it’s so important for teams like them to take advantage and make the right pick. The pressure is on. There were surprises as every draft has, but for the most part, I felt like the dominoes fell not too far from how most of the industry felt they would fall. It was a fun first day, so here are some of my highlights and notes.
News and Notes from the First Day of the 2024 MLB Draft
Cleveland Guardians take Travis Bazzana with the #1 overall pick
Leading up to draft night, it had become more apparent that it would be either Travis Bazzana out of Oregon State or JJ Wetherholt out of West Virginia to be taken with Cleveland’s 1st overall pick. With two more picks on night one, the thought was that the Guardians wanted to save some money with their first pick and spread their draft pool to the rest of their picks – which is the reason why Wetherholt shot up draft boards late and Travis Bazzana overtook Charlie Condon as the favorite. Wetherholt was the consensus favorite to go first overall coming into the 2024 amateur season, but lost some stock with a hamstring injury. However, it looked like Wetherholt had then become the late favorite with buzz around him taking a greater discount than Bazzana.
It really felt like a toss-up, even up until Cleveland was on the clock, and the Guardians ended up going with the best player available – Travis Bazzana. I think they made the right choice. Between the power and hit tool, his bat is the most complete among this year’s draft class. There’s the question on his positional value, but he has the athleticism and feel to stick at either second base or an outfield spot. Bazzana has one of the better chances among any hitter drafted on day one to move fast through the minor leagues. This is a name we’ll likely see on the big league roster sooner rather than later.
Two top pitchers land within the top five
Right-hander Chase Burns out of Wake Forest and left-hander Hagen Smith out of Arkansas came into the draft as the two best pitchers available. It looked like one of them would land in Colorado with the third pick, while the other would likely land in either Kansas City or St. Louis at number six or seven. It’s rare that the draft goes according to plan and that would be the case on night one of the draft. After being heavily linked to Charlie Condon with the number two pick, the Reds pivoted and selected Burns.
I figured the Rockies would then pivot to Hagen Smith after being linked to pitching, but they pivoted to Charlie Condon. The White Sox would then surprise some people as well after being linked to Jac Caglianone and Konnor Griffin and went with Hagen Smith with the fifth overall pick. Burns and Smith both have the highest upside among any pitchers in the draft, but most boards didn’t predict seeing both of their names called within the top five.
Early first round winners:
- It’s hard to imagine the Royals and Cardinals aren’t feeling good about their picks at number six and seven. The Royals landed Jac Caglianone out of Florida while the Cardinals landed JJ Wetherholt. Both players had first-overall potential, and as already mentioned, it looked like Wetherholt had a very solid shot at being the first overall pick. After the Guardians passed on him with the first pick, the question was how far Wetherholt would fall considering his name didn’t have much buzz with the following teams. He’s widely regarded as the best pure hitter in the class and has a chance at sticking at shortstop at the big league level. This is not the type of talent that just falls to seventh overall. The Royals on the other hand found the same fortune with Caglianone falling into their laps at number six overall. I was pretty convinced he was headed to Chicago after Oakland opted for Nick Kurtz at fourth overall, but after the White Sox pivoted to Hagen Smith, there was no chance the Royals were going to pass on Caglianone. We know about his two-way potential, but pitching aside, he has the best power upside in the class. He might take a little more time than some of the other bats to develop with some of the concerns around his plate discipline, but I still think this is a player we could see sooner than later regardless.
- Braden Montgomery out of Texas A&M falling to the Red Sox at number 12 might be the steal of the draft. I originally mock-drafted him at sixth overall to the Royals, and even then that felt low. This was a player with the potential to go within the top three, but that was before he sustained a broken ankle at the NCAA Super Regionals back in early June. He naturally lost some stock because of the injury, but I didn’t feel it warranted a spot outside of the top 10. The Red Sox have got to feel great about this one. He’s one of the best well-rounded athletes in the class with one of the strongest arms from the outfield and great power from both sides of the plate. It’s early to be drawing comparisons considering he won’t see any pro action this year, but it’s hard not to draw some similarities to another young right fielder the Red Sox developed who happens to go by the name “Mookie.”
- The Blue Jays landing right-handed starting pitcher Trey Yesavage out of East Carolina at 20th overall feels like another steal. I had Yesavage mocked at 10th overall to the Nationals in my first mock draft, and 15th to the Mariners in my final mock draft. The fall to #15 wasn’t due to a drop in stock, but because of the direction the first half of the draft seemed to be going. When the first round entered the teens last night, Yesavage’s name didn’t seem to be drawing much traction but it was hard to see him falling into the twenties. Yesavage was always the “safest” starting pitcher on my board, essentially meaning he has the highest floor and best shot as a starter in the big leagues. He has a deep arsenal with plus pitches across the board and great command. He also can work in the mid-90s with his fastball. The Blue Jays seemed to be linked to catching with this pick, but it’s hard to pass up an arm like Yesavage that late into the first round.
- My final first-round winner is the Arizona Diamondbacks who had three late first-round picks. With the 29th overall pick, they selected the prep outfielder Slade Caldwell out of Valley View High School in Arkansas. This felt like a fair landing spot for Caldwell so it was actually their next pick that was the game changer. They had the 31st pick as a prospect promotion incentive with which they took Ryan Waldschmidt, the outfielder out of Kentucky. Waldschmidt really shot up draft boards this spring with a huge performance for Kentucky and it looked like he may have had a ceiling as high as 11th overall to the Tigers. It was more than likely he was going to have his name called anywhere from 15 to 25, and when the teams linked with him passed on him, there was some speculation on what might have been the case. However, the Diamondbacks didn’t hesitate to scoop him up at #31 and pair him with Slade Caldwell, hopefully giving them a glimpse into what their outfield can look like in the future. Both players are well-rounded outfielders who play plus defense and have high floors with the bat. This is definitely an underrated first-round combo from the Diamondbacks here. They also had a competitive balance pick at the end of the first round with which they picked JD Dix, a prep shortstop out of Whitefish Bay High School in Wisconsin with the 35th pick.
There’s a lot more we could go over, but that’s some of my highlights of day one of the draft. Although the first round is the most exciting, featuring the names most fans are at least familiar with, the following rounds are where teams are really able to create organizational depth and separate themselves from the pack. There’s still a lot of impactful names on the board as day two kicks off with the third round at 2 PM ET.
Main Image: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
