Big college bats stir things up at the top.
With the 2024 Draft still two months away, there’s not much hard intel on who’s going where in the first round. That picture will become clearer as college and high school players start wrapping up their seasons in the next few weeks, and teams conduct interviews and get medical information at the Draft Combine.
The pool of talent isn’t as deep as usual, particularly with college pitchers and high school position players, muddying the situation ever further.
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For most teams, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana stand at the top of the class. Then there’s a second tier of seven players who could go in just about any order: Florida first baseman/left-hander Jac Caglianone, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz, Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery, Arkansas left-hander Hagen Smith, Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns, West Virginia shortstop J.J. Wetherholt and Jackson Prep (Flowood, Miss.) shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin.
For now, I’ll project those nine players go in the first nine picks, though rarely will the Draft unfold according to chalk like that. Harvard-Westlake HS (Studio City, Calif.) shortstop Bryce Rainer and East Carolina right-hander Trey Yesavage might sneak into that mix. After that, there’s little consensus as to how the rest of the first round should and will play out.
Detailed reports, scouting grades and video for all the players below can be found with MLB Pipeline’s Draft Top 150 list.
1. Guardians: Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State (No. 2)
The Guardians haven’t made a decision yet and have plenty of time to do so, though other clubs believe they favor Bazzana over Condon. Like most of the hitters at the top of the Draft, Bazzana is having a monster year (.424/.589/.972, 26 homers, ranking second in NCAA Division I in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS). He makes more contact and offers slightly more defensive value than Condon. It’s a given at this time of year that there will be rumors that the team with the No. 1 pick will look for a significant discount so it can trickle down the savings to later selections, and that buzz is out there about Cleveland.
