The Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 1 of the 2024 MLB Draft

Zachary D. RymerJuly 15, 2024Charlie Condon and the Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 1 of 2024 MLB Draft0 of 8

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The first picks for the 2024 MLB draft are in, and the process of determining which prospects and teams performed well will take years.

For now, though, eight parties in particular sure look like winners and losers.

The first day of the draft on Sunday consisted of just the first 74 picks, with several hundred still to come. The focus here is on the 30 picks that teams made in the first round.

What kind of history, be it good or bad, was made? Which players found just the right fit? Which players should feel robbed? Which teams got steals? Which team had people scratching their heads?

All these questions and more will be answered as we go.

Winner: A Truly Historic No. 1 Pick1 of 8

Travis BazzanaJeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Cleveland Guardians had never made the first selection in the draft before Sunday, so history was going to be made with the No. 1 pick no matter who they went for.

Yet by choosing Travis Bazzana, the Guardians opted for maximum history.

MLB @MLBThe moment Travis Bazzana found out he was the No. 1 overall pick in the #MLBDraft 🥹 pic.twitter.com/XwTesPoLE9

A native of Hornsby, Australia, the 21-year-old Oregon State product is the first Australian to go No. 1 overall in the MLB draft. He was akin to a no-brainer pick, as he came into the draft hot off strong showings in the Cape Cod League (1.037 OPS) and in his junior season with the Beavers (1.479 OPS).

Bazzana is rated by MLB.com as the best pure hitter in this year’s draft class, getting a 65 grade for his hit tool on the 20-80 scouting scale. He also offers plus power and speed.

“We view him to be a dynamic player,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “We think he’s got a chance to impact the game in a variety of ways.”

That Bazzana is also a second baseman is, rather appropriately, the second historic aspect of the Guardians’ choice. Never before had a second baseman gone No. 1 in the draft, with only Rickie Weeks coming close at No. 2 back in 2003.

Winner: Charlie Condon2 of 8

Charlie CondonDavid J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Here’s a fun idea: What if the best power hitter in the draft eventually got to play home games in the most hitter-friendly stadium in Major League Baseball?

The Colorado Rockies must have liked the sound of this, or they otherwise would not have chosen Georgia outfielder Charlie Condon with the No. 3 pick.

MLB @MLBCharlie Condon broke the single-season NCAA HR record (BBCOR era) last night … a story in 4 parts.

H/T @KingChuckRakes, 📹: @ESPN pic.twitter.com/g8UXCDFPnI

Condon, 21, is only a few weeks removed from being named this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner. That he earned it is beyond dispute, as his 60 games for the Bulldogs saw him set a BBCOR-era record with 37 home runs while leading the country with a .433 average and a 1.009 slugging percentage.

The righty swinger is seen as having the best power of any prospect in this year’s draft class, and that is even though he shouldn’t be done adding strength to his 6’6″, 216-pound frame.

It may not be long before he’s officially calling Coors Field home, and he should find it to his liking whenever he gets there. It lives up to its reputation, after all, as it’s allowed 204 more home runs than any other stadium since opening in 2005.

Loser: High School Players, Generally3 of 8

Konnor GriffinMary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images

To be clear, this year’s draft never figured to be a good one for high school players.

The crop of prep talent was pretty much universally seen as a weak one, with Carlos Collazo of Baseball America summing it up in especially blunt terms on June 14: “In fact, a handful of scouts said the 2024 high school class is the worst they have covered in their careers.”

Ultimately, the first high schooler didn’t come off the board until the Pittsburgh Pirates chose Konnor Griffin, a shortstop out of Mississippi, at No. 9. That in and of itself is historic, as no previous draft had ever begun with eight straight picks of college players.

When Wake Forest shortstop Seaver King went to the Washington Nationals at No. 10, that made it nine college players and one prep player in the top 10. That had happened before…but only once…all the way back in 1985.

The good news is that high school players ultimately did account for 10 of the 30 picks in the first round, thus sparing the crop from total embarrassment. But as we’ll get to, a certain faction of the prep class nonetheless had it especially bad.

Loser: High School Pitchers, Specifically4 of 8

Cam CaminitiDaniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

It wasn’t until Atlanta chose Cam Caminiti, a left-hander out of Arizona, with the No. 24 pick that the seal on high school pitchers was finally broken on Sunday.

The pick made history, though not in a good way.

Prior to Sunday, the longest any high school pitcher had ever lasted before coming off the board was in 1984, when the Chicago White Sox finally went for Tony Menéndez with the No. 20 pick. Atlanta beat that by four picks when it took Caminiti.

To be clear, the 17-year-old could have and perhaps should have gone higher. He had been rated as the No. 15 overall prospect in the draft by MLB.com, whose scouting report notes the potential for “four legitimate pitches.”

This obviously didn’t happen, though, and the Caminiti pick notably did not kick off a run on high school arms. The only other prep hurler to go in the first round was Kash Mayfield with the next pick to the San Diego Padres.

Previously, only the 1984 and 1988 drafts had ever seen as few as two high school pitchers go in the first round. As this now makes it five years out of the last seven with five or fewer high school pitchers going in the first round, it seems as if MLB teams have developed trust issues with them.

Winner: Kansas City Royals5 of 8

Jac CaglianoneJohn Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

He was probably never going to go No. 1 overall, but arguably the most interesting player in the draft was there for the Cincinnati Reds at No. 2, Rockies at No. 3, Oakland Athletics at No. 4 and Chicago White Sox at No. 5.

As such, Jac Caglianone falling to the Kansas City Royals at No. 6 feels like a steal.

Florida Gators Baseball @GatorsBBJac Jack No. 15 🚀#GoGators // 📺 SEC Network+ pic.twitter.com/HgmwYaEkrn

What makes Caglianone so interesting? Well, the gist is that he has two 70 grades in his MLB.com profile: one for his power, and one for his fastball.

Whether the 21-year-old Florida product will remain a two-way player is a matter deserving of some skepticism. Even if he’s the best hitter-slash-pitcher in this year’s draft class, the thinking is that the 6’5″, 250-pounder’s bat is more promising than his arm.

That the Royals nonetheless drafted Caglianone as a two-way player implies that they intend to give him a shot to become the next Shohei Ohtani. If it doesn’t work out, oh well. He’ll still have a possible future in which he becomes only the third Royals first baseman to top 30 home runs in a season.

Loser: Trey Yesevage6 of 8

Sam Hodde/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Speaking of steals, the Toronto Blue Jays got a good one when they scooped up Trey Yesavage with the No. 20 pick in the first round.

A right-hander out of East Carolina, the 20-year-old is seen as having a plus fastball, slider and splitter. These things served him well in his junior season, as he made 15 starts and dominated with a 2.03 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 93.1 innings.

Yesavage himself, on the other hand, can be forgiven if he feels a little let down.

It had been shaping up to be a hot start for college arms, as Wake Forest’s Chase Burns went No. 2 to Cincinnati and Arkansas’ Hagen Smith went No. 5 to the White Sox. Yesavage figured to be the next one off the board, and soon.

He instead got leapfrogged by Mississippi State switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje at No. 15 to the Seattle Mariners. And if that’s the injury, the insult may well be financial in nature.

Whereas picks in the top 10 come with recommended signing bonuses ranging from $6 million to $10.6 million, the figure for the No. 20 spot is a relatively modest $4.1 million. And the Blue Jays may have to go under that for Yesavage, as they have the eighth-smallest bonus pool at a little under $9 million.

Winner: Wake Forest Baseball7 of 8

Chase BurnsIsaiah Vazquez/Getty Images

Suddenly, the MLB draft is on a nice little run of seeing college teammates make history.

In 2023, it was LSU becoming the first college program to ever have two teammates go 1-2 in the draft with Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews going to the Pirates and Nationals, respectively.

In 2024, it’s the Wake Forest Demon Deacons producing not one, not two, but three top-10 picks. In addition to Burns at No. 2 to the Reds and King at No. 10 to Washington, first baseman Nick Kurtz went No. 4 to the A’s.

Oakland A’s @AthleticsNick Kurtz can mash 💪 pic.twitter.com/uPMrbjTZzd

Wake Forest is only the second college program to have three players go in the top 10 in the same draft. It joins a Rice class of 2004 that included the future author of a perfect game, Philip Humber.

This is indeed the second year in a row that the MLB draft has reflected well on the program Tom Walter is running in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wake Forest had a total of 10 players taken in the 2023 draft to set a school record.

As such, Erik Hanson’s status as the best major leaguer to ever come out of Wake Forest may not be made to last.

Loser: Miami Marlins8 of 8

Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

Can we agree that the Marlins really needed a big win on Sunday?

The franchise isn’t going through the best of times in 2024, and not just because they have the worst record in the National League at 33-63. Their immediate future also looks bleak, as B/R’s Joel Reuter ranked their farm system at No. 25 in MLB in June.

If said win was going to happen on Sunday, it was going to have to happen with the No. 16 pick. Because after that, the Marlins would have to wait 40 picks for another selection.

Ultimately, their decision to draft PJ Morlando at No. 16 left many scratching their heads.

Far from a can’t-miss steal, the high school outfielder out of California was only ranked by MLB.com as the No. 43 talent in the draft. He has a good hit tool but with merely average power and below-average speed. And at 19, he’s older than a typical prep prospect.

Miami’s plan is presumably to sign Morlando to an under-slot deal and leverage the savings elsewhere. But even if so, it feels a little too cute, given that they passed on guys like Yesavage, Carson Benge, and Vance Honeycutt to make the pick.