Kiley McDaniel 2024 MLB Mock Draft: Charlie Condon to Guardians, Burns to Reds
Adam WellsMay 29, 2024
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Less than two months from the 2024 MLB draft, the top pick is unsettled in the first mock from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.
McDaniel has the Cleveland Guardians using the No. 1 overall selection on Georgia star Charlie Condon, followed by Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns to the Cincinnati Reds.
The rest of the top five features Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana to the Colorado Rockies, Florida first baseman Jac Caglianone to the Oakland Athletics and Arkansas lefty Hagen Smith to the Chicago White Sox.
Given how closely guarded Cleveland’s front office tends to be with everything, there is no clear frontrunner for the team with the first pick.
The Athletic’s Keith Law recently noted the feeling right now from teams picking behind the Guardians is they are deciding between Condon and Bazzana.
McDaniel wrote because there is no slam-dunk top prospect, we are currently in “silly season for rumors” and the buzz about Bazzana being the preferred choice at this point “seems to be right on time to start pushing prices down on the players Cleveland actually wants.”
According to McDaniel, it’s probably a safe bet the Guardians’ actual choice won’t be settled until the day of the draft and he will “go with the consensus best player” on the board based on the information he has at this point.
Condon has been arguably the best college player in the country this season. The Georgia slugger leads the nation in batting average (.443), slugging percentage (1.043), homers (35) and ranks third in on-base percentage (.558).
Burns was named ACC Pitcher of the Year in his second season at Wake Forest. The 21-year-old ranks in the top 10 nationally in ERA (2.46), hits allowed per nine innings (5.40), strikeouts (184), strikeouts per nine innings (17.4) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.08).
The NCAA tournament, which begins Friday, could go a long way toward separating some of the top prospects from the rest of the class leading up to the draft.
Major League Baseball will hold the 2024 draft from July 14-16 at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.
