2024 MLB Draft Thread

[CaliforniaRaisin]

MLB Pipeline just released their Top 200 draft prospects: https://www.mlb.com/prospects/draft/

[CubinNY]

MLB pipeline for King

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King starred for two seasons at NCAA Division II Wingate (N.C.), fashioning a 47-game hitting streak in 2022-23 and slashing .411/.457/.699 with 11 homers and 13 steals as a sophomore. He has proven himself with wood bats, winning MVP accolades in the Valley League in 2022 and distinguishing himself with the U.S. collegiate national team and in the Cape Cod League last summer. He has started games at four positions this spring after transferring to Wake Forest and is one of three Demon Deacons projected to go in the first round.  

King excels at putting the ball in play with a compact right-handed stroke geared for hitting line drives to all fields. He needs to improve his plate discipline, however, because he swings and chases too much, making a lot of weak contact and cutting into his walk totals. While he has added 20 pounds since arriving in college and has impressive bat speed, his approach and flat stroke may not be conducive to more than 12-15 homers per year.

You know how they like wood bat excellence. Also, the Nico/Swanson profile is there, but so is the Javy Baez profile. A lot of chase. With the Cubs, some dude may blow up in the CWS. 

Certainly not an exciting 1st round pick. 

Edited May 30, 2024 by CubinNY

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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14. Cubs: Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State (No. 14)
He’s sophomore-eligible and has put his freshman troubles behind, cutting down his swing-and-miss considerably this spring. Plus, he put up good numbers with a wood bat in the Cape Cod League last summer.

 

[Named After Maddux]

I'd really love Cam Smith. Carson Benge is another one that I think could be one to zero in on.

Tibbs III makes a lot of sense, but it's still hard to see him lasting to 14 with how much interest he has up above.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Cubs also look into the prep pitching side. Kash Mayfield, Ryan Sloan, maybe William Schmidt or Cam Caminiti. Could pair the prep arm up with someone who can minimize the risk in the class like Peyton Stovall, Ryan Waldschmidt, or Jared Thomas in round 2.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA released another mock draft today: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2024-mlb-mock-draft-3-0-updated-first-round-ahead-of-ncaa-tournament/

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14. Cubs — James Tibbs III, 1B/OF, Florida State

Tibbs is the best pure hitter available on the board at this stage. In a down draft class, I think that player has to go in a pretty good spot regardless of the athlete/profile questions. He might be a below-average defender in a corner outfield spot or at first base, but all he’s done is hit throughout his college career. He has hit over .300 each season with FSU, he added more home run power each season—10 then 17 then 25 so far in 2024—and he also has a solid 40-game sample in the Cape Cod League with a wood bat. 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Burns vs Yesavage right now on ESPN2

[CaliforniaRaisin]

A couple guys linked to the Cubs homered today:

 

[Jason Ross]

I want the Cubs to find a way to get Ryan Waldschimdt from Kentucky. I *love* his bat profile: there's a super simple motion with a great approach. He smashed SEC competition this year and the power is flashing more and more: went 109 mph and 440 off the bat in pouring rain yesterday in the college WS Regionals. He's fast and there's enough athleticism he can handle CF if someone can teach it to him. He's very new to the OF and has been playing LF for Kentucky. 

Maybe I wouldn't take him fourteenth (though in this draft, I'm not sure the difference between 14 and 40 matters a huge ton, for example) but he's a guy I'd want to see what he could do with a strong developmental team. Whomever drafts him, I think, will be quite happy.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:21 AM, Tryptamine said:

I'm late to the game this year in studying up on this year's prospects. Who should I be falling in love with who has that elite hit tool?

I never responded to this but the guys who seem to most frequently be available around the Cubs pick from the college ranks are: 1B/COF James Tibbs III (FSU), 3B Cam Smith (FSU), CF Carson Benge (Oklahoma St), SS/CF Seaver King (Wake), CF Vance Honeycutt (UNC), 2B Christian Moore (Tennessee), 3B Billy Amick (Tennessee), RHP Trent Yesavage (ECU) and RHP Brody Brecht (Iowa). There are other guys with some helium and with more than a month to go, they might be viable at 14: COF Ryan Waldschmidt (Kentucky), C Caleb Lomavita (Cal), C Walter Janek (Sam Houston St) and R/LHP (but mostly RHP now) Jurrangelo Cijntje (Mississippi St).

I'm intrigued by a few of the prep guys who might be options a little lower than 14 (especially Theo Gillen, Carter Johnson and Slade Caldwell) but the Cubs haven't gone that route in the first round since 2020 and that didn't work out so well.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 hour ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I want the Cubs to find a way to get Ryan Waldschimdt from Kentucky. I *love* his bat profile: there's a super simple motion with a great approach. He smashed SEC competition this year and the power is flashing more and more: went 109 mph and 440 off the bat in pouring rain yesterday in the college WS Regionals. He's fast and there's enough athleticism he can handle CF if someone can teach it to him. He's very new to the OF and has been playing LF for Kentucky. 

Maybe I wouldn't take him fourteenth (though in this draft, I'm not sure the difference between 14 and 40 matters a huge ton, for example) but he's a guy I'd want to see what he could do with a strong developmental team. Whomever drafts him, I think, will be quite happy.

Kiley McDaniel said his TrackMan data is amongst the best in the country so he'll do well in the draft models.

[Jason Ross]

3 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Kiley McDaniel said his TrackMan data is amongst the best in the country so he'll do well in the draft models.

Yep. I think he's a wonderful hitter. The Cubs do love their models...

[JD94]

I’d be really happy with Cam Smith at 14. There was swing and miss concerns after his freshman year but he was most outstanding player at the Cape last summer and really cut down on the swing and miss and that translated to this current season. He’s also 6’3 220 and has the size and strength to continue to hit for power. He should stick at 3rd with a strong arm. 
 

I know you never draft for need, but just in general, 3B is a semi blackhole across MLB. Only 3 players had a fWAR of 4+ at 3B last year. That makes Cam Smith even more interesting to me because he will stick at 3rd and play it relatively well. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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14. Cubs: Trey Yesavage, RHP, East Carolina (No. 11)

After missing the American Athletic Conference tournament with a partially collapsed lung, Yesavage proved he was fine by outdueling Burns in the NCAA regionals. Clearly the third-best college pitcher available, he'll go in the upper half of the first round. The Cubs also are exploring college bats (this could be Tibbs' floor and Stanford catcher Malcolm Moore's ceiling) as well as high school lefties Caminiti and Kash Mayfield and prep shortstop Kellon Lindsey.

Callis linking the Cubs to some interesting names.

[JD94]

I personally prefer to draft college bats early and buy pitching. Obviously there are caveats. Like I’m not passing on a Paul Skenes. For example if James Tibbs and Trey Yesavage are sitting there when we pick, I’m absolutely taking Tibbs. If we draft Yesavage, I’ll get on board. I think he’s a really dang good pitching prospect. I just love proven college bats. Again, this isn’t meant to be argumentative and I don’t want to debate it, just stating my personal preference. I’d be super stoked if Tibbs made it to us. I really like Cam Smith also as I said above. 

[Bertz]

I am just getting into paying attention to specific names, but I think from an organizational health perspective you'd definitely want to go college.  The South Bend roster is horrifically thin.  And honestly MB was even worse before the fun wave of promotions the last few weeks.  The upper minors are as healthy they have ever been  and I think most reports out of the complex leagues are glowing, but that middle part of the system could desperately use an infusion of talent.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Having done copious research read at least 2 ranking lists of scouting reports, I think of the consensus names that may be available, I'm most interested in the FSU guys.  Further down the board, I'm kinda intrigued by Janek?  Surefire catcher defensively and big small school numbers are intriguing, especially when he held his own in the Cape and his offensive explosion came after that.  I also wonder about this FO taking their chance with Brecht, he's functionally the Wiggins pick on steroids.

[JD94]

4 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Having done copious research read at least 2 ranking lists of scouting reports, I think of the consensus names that may be available, I'm most interested in the FSU guys.  Further down the board, I'm kinda intrigued by Janek?  Surefire catcher defensively and big small school numbers are intriguing, especially when he held his own in the Cape and his offensive explosion came after that.  I also wonder about this FO taking their chance with Brecht, he's functionally the Wiggins pick on steroids.

Totally agree. The FSU guys are super fun. Brecht is the definition of low floor but high ceiling. He’s so raw and may never consistently throw strikes, but that 99-102 fastball and nasty slider is fun to dream about. I don’t want us to go pitcher unless the draft just totally gets flipped on it’s proverbial head, but if we do, I like Yesavage. 

[Outshined_One]

11 hours ago, JD94 said:

I personally prefer to draft college bats early and buy pitching. Obviously there are caveats. Like I’m not passing on a Paul Skenes. For example if James Tibbs and Trey Yesavage are sitting there when we pick, I’m absolutely taking Tibbs. If we draft Yesavage, I’ll get on board. I think he’s a really dang good pitching prospect. I just love proven college bats. Again, this isn’t meant to be argumentative and I don’t want to debate it, just stating my personal preference. I’d be super stoked if Tibbs made it to us. I really like Cam Smith also as I said above. 

I tend to agree with this POV, but this draft has me kinda cool on most of the college bats that should be available around 14.  It feels like most of those guys have swing-and-miss issues, don't have particularly loud tools, and/or are ticketed for corner OF spots.

The only exception to this is there have been some really interesting catchers inching their ways up draft boards over the last two months, with Moore, Janek, and Lomavita all looking like possible 1st round picks.

[Tim]

39 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

The only exception to this is there have been some really interesting catchers inching their ways up draft boards over the last two months, with Moore, Janek, and Lomavita all looking like possible 1st round picks.

TINSTAACP

[Outshined_One]

47 minutes ago, Tim said:

TINSTAACP

[CaliforniaRaisin]

6 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Having done copious research read at least 2 ranking lists of scouting reports, I think of the consensus names that may be available, I'm most interested in the FSU guys.  Further down the board, I'm kinda intrigued by Janek?  Surefire catcher defensively and big small school numbers are intriguing, especially when he held his own in the Cape and his offensive explosion came after that.  I also wonder about this FO taking their chance with Brecht, he's functionally the Wiggins pick on steroids.

Benge seems interesting. Athletic, good hit tool, more walks than strikeouts. If the Cubs area scout for that region (Ty Nichols) likes him, the Cubs will have Benge on their short list. Nichols was the area scout for Wicks and Horton so he’s had some recent success and the Cubs clearly listen to him.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[JD94]

Was just coming here to post about Moore. He’s growing on me. And even if he goes before us, even better shot that pushes somebody else down to us like Tibbs. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]