In the present day is the beginning of the 2024 NCAA Division I baseball season, and to rejoice, I’ve up to date my rankings for this draft class. Thirty contemporary scouting experiences, together with instrument grades and assessments of the gamers’ bodily attributes, can be found on The Board. As they do yearly, these rankings will develop and alter between now and the draft. Let’s assessment the draft order earlier than I discuss a little bit bit concerning the class:
2024 MLB Draft Order
| First Spherical | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Guardians |
| 2 | Cincinnati Reds |
| 3 | Colorado Rockies |
| 4 | Oakland Athletics |
| 5 | Chicago White Sox |
| 6 | Kansas Metropolis Royals |
| 7 | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 8 | Los Angeles Angels |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 10 | Washington Nationals |
| 11 | Detroit Tigers |
| 12 | Boston Crimson Sox |
| 13 | San Francisco Giants |
| 14 | Chicago Cubs |
| 15 | Seattle Mariners |
| 16 | Miami Marlins |
| 17 | Milwaukee Brewers |
| 18 | Tampa Bay Rays |
| 19 | New York Mets |
| 20 | Toronto Blue Jays |
| 21 | Minnesota Twins |
| 22 | Baltimore Orioles |
| 23 | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| 24 | Atlanta Braves |
| 25 | San Diego Padres |
| 26 | New York Yankees |
| 27 | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 28 | Houston Astros |
| 29 | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| 30 | Texas Rangers |
| 31 | Arizona Diamondbacks (Obtained for Corbin Carroll profitable ROY) |
| 32 | Baltimore Orioles (Obtained for Gunnar Henderson profitable ROY) |
| 33 | Minnesota Twins (Compensation for Sonny Grey signing with St. Louis) |
| 34 | Milwaukee Brewers (Acquired from the Orioles in Corbin Burnes commerce) |
| 35 | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| 36 | Cleveland Guardians |
| 37 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 38 | Colorado Rockies |
| 39 | Kansas Metropolis Royals |
*If a participant who was rated as a preseason High 100 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and/or ESPN (at the very least two of the three) and was on his group’s Opening Day roster goes on to win Rookie of the 12 months, the membership is awarded a PPI decide after the primary spherical.
+If a group that loses a qualifying free agent is a revenue-sharing recipient and the free agent indicators for at the very least $50 million, the group is awarded a decide between the primary spherical and Aggressive Steadiness Spherical A.
^Groups which have both one of many 10 smallest markets or 10 smallest income swimming pools obtain a further decide on the finish of the primary or second spherical. The teams of groups alternate between the 2 rounds annually.
This yr’s draft class isn’t nice. The highschool class is very skinny and comparatively devoid of high-end place participant expertise. There’ll undoubtedly be gamers who ascend this spring and put themselves within the combine for an early first spherical decide, simply as there will probably be gamers who flop or get harm and fall away from the head of groups’ draft boards. There may be one uber-talented freak close to the highest of the draft board: two-way Florida Gator Jac Caglianone. He’s the participant on this draft most definitely to be a family identify by choice day. There are additionally a number of steady, well-rounded hitters at the moment close to the highest of the category, however few of them have an important likelihood of growing meaningfully extra energy in professional ball. Most of them are bodily maxed-out and usually tend to be strong, quick-moving large leaguers than superstars.
How Cleveland approaches their decide at 1.1 will probably be fascinating. It is a group that not often sends scouts to school video games, as an alternative overwhelmingly using information and video to guage that demographic of participant. With out an superior excessive schooler close to the highest of the draft, will the Guardians alter their M.O. and take a focused, in-person method to gauging their choices? They haven’t picked on the very drop of the draft since choosing Clint Frazier fifth total in 2013.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, the reigning NL pennant winners, would be the first group to select for a second time and possess three of the highest 35 picks (No. 29, 31, and 35; Colorado has three of the highest 42 (decide No. 3, 38, and 42). The Guardians decide a second time in Aggressive Steadiness Spherical A (decide No. 36) and, particularly in the event that they reduce a deal at No. 1, the cash they need to play with from profitable the primary total choice and its accompanying slot worth may threaten the plans of groups selecting in that space that may’t compete with Cleveland’s bonus pool. The relative dearth of highschool expertise ought to push readers to contemplate following school baseball extra carefully this season since a better portion of the extremely drafted gamers are going to come back from that demographic.