Tuesday, October 22

Updating the 2024 Draft Rankings

Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK

Today is the beginning of the 2024 NCAA Division I baseball season, and to have a good time, I’ve up to date my rankings for this draft class. Thirty contemporary scouting experiences, together with software 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 overview the draft order earlier than I speak a bit bit in regards to the class:

2024 MLB Draft Order

First Round
1 Cleveland Guardians
2 Cincinnati Reds
3 Colorado Rockies
4 Oakland Athletics
5 Chicago White Sox
6 Kansas City Royals
7 St. Louis Cardinals
8 Los Angeles Angels
9 Pittsburgh Pirates
10 Washington Nationals
11 Detroit Tigers
12 Boston Red 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 (Received for Corbin Carroll profitable ROY)
32 Baltimore Orioles (Received for Gunnar Henderson profitable ROY)
33 Minnesota Twins (Compensation for Sonny Gray 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 City Royals

*If a participant who was rated as a preseason Top 100 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and/or ESPN (no less than two of the three) and was on his workforce’s Opening Day roster goes on to win Rookie of the Year, the membership is awarded a PPI choose after the primary spherical.
+If a workforce that loses a qualifying free agent is a revenue-sharing recipient and the free agent indicators for no less than $50 million, the workforce is awarded a choose between the primary spherical and Competitive Balance Round A.
^Teams which have both one of many 10 smallest markets or 10 smallest income swimming pools obtain an extra choose on the finish of the primary or second spherical. The teams of groups alternate between the 2 rounds annually.

This 12 months’s draft class isn’t nice. The highschool class is very skinny and comparatively devoid of high-end place participant expertise. There will undoubtedly be gamers who ascend this spring and put themselves within the combine for an early first spherical choose, simply as there shall be gamers who flop or get damage and fall away from the head of groups’ draft boards. There is one uber-talented freak close to the highest of the draft board: two-way Florida Gator Jac Caglianone. He is the participant on this draft probably to be a family title by choice day. There are additionally a number of steady, well-rounded hitters presently close to the highest of the category, however few of them have an incredible probability of growing meaningfully extra energy in professional ball. Most of them are bodily maxed-out and usually tend to be strong, quick-moving massive leaguers than superstars.

How Cleveland approaches their choose at 1.1 shall be fascinating. This is a workforce that not often sends scouts to varsity video games, as a substitute overwhelmingly using information and video to guage that demographic of participant. Without an superior excessive schooler close to the highest of the draft, will the Guardians alter their M.O. and take a focused, in-person strategy to gauging their choices? They haven’t picked on the very drop of the draft since choosing Clint Frazier fifth general in 2013.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, the reigning NL pennant winners, would be the first workforce 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 (choose No. 3, 38, and 42). The Guardians choose a second time in Competitive Balance Round A (choose No. 36) and, particularly in the event that they reduce a deal at No. 1, the cash they should play with from profitable the primary general choice and its accompanying slot worth would possibly 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 faculty baseball extra intently this season since a better portion of the extremely drafted gamers are going to return from that demographic.

Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com