2024 MLB Draft Day 1 Thread

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Draft Day is finally upon us! You've found the right place to follow the day's events, and you're all invited to be a part of the conversation.

This year’s draft will again feature just 20 rounds. Day 1, which begins tonight at 6 p.m. CT and can be viewed on ESPN and MLB Network, will include the first and second rounds as well as both competitive balance rounds and all compensation rounds. There will be 74 selections total.

The Cubs will make two picks tonight, with the first one coming 14th overall in the first round. They will also draft 57th overall . 

We're excited to bring back the Cubs Draft Tracker which will be kept up-to-date not only during the draft but through the entire signing period. So keep coming back for updates!

There will be a lot going on during the draft both on and off this website. We will try to make updates to the story (and add links) as things happen, so keep refreshing! Otherwise, there will be plenty of activity in the comments. This is the place to be tonight during the draft!

Of course, we invite all of you to join us on tonight's livestream, which will run for the entirety of tonight's draft.

The draft will continue tomorrow, Monday, with Round 3, beginning at 1 p.m. CT.

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[Transmogrified Tiger]

[JD94]

Did the other draft thread get deleted? 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA:

Quote

14. Cubs — Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee

Hearing some buzz about Vance Honeycutt and Tommy White for the Cubs as well, but after flipping James Tibbs to the Giants in front of this pick, I’ve got the Cubs with Moore—who could also have a bit more volatility than I was expecting a week ago.

Dart throw names for later picks: RHP Grant Shepardson, LHP Josh Evans, LHP Eli Lovich, 3B Rafe Perich, 3B Gage Miller, LHP Dasan Hill

 

[Dfan25]

This draft is as exciting as watching the Cubs play . Still is interesting to read the comments after they underslot someone nobody has heard about .
 

The majority of posters will complaint about the pick while the nerds will search and post reasons as to why the pick was awesome .

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

This draft is as exciting as watching the Cubs play . Still is interesting to read the comments after they underslot someone nobody has heard about .
 

The majority of posters will complaint about the pick while the nerds will search and post reasons as to why the pick was awesome .

 

[JD94]

Sigh : / I guess my Malcom Moore rant got deleted with the other post. I’m not retyping all of it. The moral of my post was I’d be very disappointed if he’s our pick. I understand the underlying data and batted ball data and he interviewed well, which I guess is cool? To only hit .250 in the 4th best P5 conference is hard to do for good hitters. We’ve also found ourselves caught up in the underlying numbers for Christopher Morel. At some point, you have to produce or those numbers don’t mean anything. He also may not even stick at catcher. He really doesn’t have any single tool that you can point to and say “I know that’s a plus tool that will translate even if nothing else does.” It’s my opinion and I’ve seen the counter arguments and I don’t feel like getting in a back and forth. I’m far from an expert, so my opinion will buy you a cup of coffee next time you’re at McDonald’s. 

[Hrubes20]

Haven’t posted much at all lately, but I’ve been following from a distance. I don’t see many “likely” pick options that I would hate this year. Honeycutt scares me, but you can’t argue the upside if he could put it together.

[Bertz]

15 minutes ago, Hrubes20 said:

Haven’t posted much at all lately, but I’ve been following from a distance. I don’t see many “likely” pick options that I would hate this year. Honeycutt scares me, but you can’t argue the upside if he could put it together.

Yeah short of like a Hayden Simpson type debacle I don't think there's anyone we should be too upset about.  Honeycutt is probably the closest? 

Otherwise I think worst Cade scenario is taking a reach pick (e.g. Janek) but not actually pocketing much slot $ for them.  And that's something you can't really know in the moment.

[Illiterate Scholar]

Keith Law's mock that he updated today has Tibbs going 14.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Prospects Live:

Quote

14. CHICAGO CUBS - 3B CAMERON SMITH

SLOT VALUE: $5,070,700

Speaking of Cam Smith, I'd expect the Cubs to pull the trigger if he's available. There's a plethora of college performeres available here and we'd imagine that the Cubs dive into that player pool. Smith's approach changes and power really stand out and he can handle the hot corner.

 

[PackLandVA]

47 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Prospects Live:

14. CHICAGO CUBS - 3B CAMERON SMITH

SLOT VALUE: $5,070,700

Speaking of Cam Smith, I'd expect the Cubs to pull the trigger if he's available. There's a plethora of college performeres available here and we'd imagine that the Cubs dive into that player pool. Smith's approach changes and power really stand out and he can handle the hot corner.

He'd definitely have the best "short game" in the organization.

[Bertz]

Quote

 

14. Chicago Cubs

Cam Smith, 3B, Florida 

Smith likely goes by No. 16 and is under consideration from the back of the top 10 on. Yesavage, Christian Moore and Malcolm Moore are other leading options depending how the board plays out.

 

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 hours ago, JD94 said:

Sigh : / I guess my Malcom Moore rant got deleted with the other post. I’m not retyping all of it. The moral of my post was I’d be very disappointed if he’s our pick. I understand the underlying data and batted ball data and he interviewed well, which I guess is cool? To only hit .250 in the 4th best P5 conference is hard to do for good hitters. We’ve also found ourselves caught up in the underlying numbers for Christopher Morel. At some point, you have to produce or those numbers don’t mean anything. He also may not even stick at catcher. He really doesn’t have any single tool that you can point to and say “I know that’s a plus tool that will translate even if nothing else does.” It’s my opinion and I’ve seen the counter arguments and I don’t feel like getting in a back and forth. I’m far from an expert, so my opinion will buy you a cup of coffee next time you’re at McDonald’s. 

I'm not all that high on (Malcolm) Moore, but he did hit .311 his freshman year so it's not as if there's a hard limitation he's hitting at the college level.  Plus he's at the position with the lowest offensive bar to clear. 

[JD94]

6 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I'm not all that high on (Malcolm) Moore, but he did hit .311 his freshman year so it's not as if there's a hard limitation he's hitting at the college level.  Plus he's at the position with the lowest offensive bar to clear. 

This is true. I don’t know, I’m just not a big fan of him with our first pick. Like I said, he doesn’t seem to have a single plus tool. I like all the Cam Smith projections coming in though. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wow

[Outshined_One]

41 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Wow

I (kinda) get it. LSU has a fantastic program with a long track record, plus the NIL money will offset any immediate losses if he's not getting Top 20 money.

Not saying I agree, but I understand. 

[Rob]

So for those of us who haven't had the time to pay much attention to the draft this year...

I understand it's supposed to be a relatively weak crop. Are there clear tiers? What are some of the best names we could realistically hope for?

[Bertz]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

So for those of us who haven't had the time to pay much attention to the draft this year...

I understand it's supposed to be a relatively weak crop. Are there clear tiers? What are some of the best names we could realistically hope for?

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/draft/

Realistically anyone from 10-26 on this list feels pretty reasonable.  I think most recent mocks have had the Cubs taking Cam Smith, James Tibbs, or either Moore (no relation).

It's a strong and deep college hitter crop.  Seems unlikely any of the top tier guys (top 8 ) slide, but the 2nd tier could go any number of directions.  There are a couple high school bats (most notably Bryce Rainer) and a couple college arms that the team could possibly pop, but college bat feels by far the most likely.

Edited July 14, 2024 by Bertz

[Jeremy Nygaard]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Wow

Don't love the move from the player. Think its bad advice from the agent. Must have made his bonus demands very clear... and very high.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

14 minutes ago, Rob said:

So for those of us who haven't had the time to pay much attention to the draft this year...

I understand it's supposed to be a relatively weak crop. Are there clear tiers? What are some of the best names we could realistically hope for?

Try this: https://northsidebaseball.com/mlb-baseball-mock-draft-order-2024/

The largest gaps (by consensus, on the board) are between 9 and 10 and 14 and 15, After that, it's a pretty narrow range until 33.

[Rob]

Thanks for the quick primer, fellas.

I look forward to us redrafting Hayden Simpson.

[Tryptamine]

My wish list, of guys that actually have a chance to be there

1. Tibbs

2. Moore

3. Yesavage

4. Cam Smith

5. Walschmidt

6. Honeycutt

7. Moore

8. King

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Jeff is pretty well connected with Cleveland:

 

[Tryptamine]

Please no Twitter spoilers