Notable Draft Signings: 7/26/24
The Rays signed their first-rounder to a significant bonus on Friday evening. We’ll round up a few other $2MM+ signings from the day. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.
- The Astros have a $3.13MM deal with first-round pick Walker Janek, reports Chandler Rome of the Athletic (X link). That’s slot value for the 28th pick. A Sam Houston State product, Janek was the first catcher selected. Evaluators praise his arm strength and athleticism behind the dish. There’s not much question that he’ll be able to stick at the position. Janek feasted on mid-major pitching with a .364/.476/.709 slash as a junior, but his defense should drive the profile.
- Reds second-round pick Tyson Lewis received a well overslot $3.0475MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (on X). That was necessary to keep the Nebraska high schooler from attending the University of Arkansas. Evaluators credit the 6’2″ shortstop with plus bat speed and athleticism. Lewis is a longer-term development play who didn’t face great competition in high school. There’s a fair amount of volatility with his hit tool but an intriguing toolset.
- The Brewers also went above slot on their second-rounder. Milwaukee has a $2.5MM agreement with 57th pick Bryce Meccage, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (X link). A right-handed prep pitcher from New Jersey, he’s a Virginia commit. Meccage is a 6’4″ hurler who works in the low-mid 90s and shows a pair of promising breaking pitches. Law’s report notes that the young pitcher has subpar command at the moment but enough athleticism to develop in that regard. Meccage is regarded as a potential back-end starter.
2024 MLB Draft, First Round Results
This year’s amateur draft is officially underway, and we’ll be updating this post throughout the night with every first-round selection. More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.
The first-round picks…
- Cleveland Guardians: Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State
- Cincinnati Reds: Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Forest
- Colorado Rockies: Charlie Condon, OF/3B, Georgia
- Oakland Athletics: Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest
- Chicago White Sox: Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas
- Kansas City Royals: Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida
- St. Louis Cardinals: JJ Wetherholt, 2B/SS, West Virginia
- Los Angeles Angels: Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Jackson Prep High School (MS)
- Washington Nationals: Seaver King, SS/3B/OF, Wake Forest
- Detroit Tigers: Bryce Rainer, SS, Harvard-Westlake High School (CA)
- Boston Red Sox: Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M
- San Francisco Giants: James Tibbs III, OF, Florida State
- Chicago Cubs: Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State
- Seattle Mariners: Jurrangelo Cijntje, LHP/RHP, Mississippi State
- Miami Marlins: PJ Morlando, OF, Summerville High School (SC)
- Milwaukee Brewers: Braylon Payne, OF, Elkins High School (TX)
- Tampa Bay Rays: Theo Gillen, OF/MI, Westlake High School (TX)
- New York Mets: Carson Benge, OF, Oklahoma State
- Toronto Blue Jays: Trey Yesavage, RHP, East Carolina
- Minnesota Twins: Kaelen Culpepper, SS, Kansas State
- Baltimore Orioles: Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina
- Los Angeles Dodgers: Kellon Lindsey, SS, Hardee High School (FL)
- Atlanta Braves: Cam Caminiti, LHP, Saguero High School (AZ)
- San Diego Padres: Kash Mayfield, LHP, Elk City High School (OK)
- New York Yankees: Ben Hess, RHP, Alabama
- Philadelphia Phillies: Dante Nori, OF, Northville High School (MI)
- Houston Astros: Walker Janek, C, Sam Houston
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Slade Caldwell, OF, Valley View High School (AR)
- Texas Rangers: Malcolm Moore, C, Stanford
All 30 teams will have picks in the first round this year, though the Mets, Padres, and Yankees all had their first-round selections dropped back by 10 slots. These three teams surpassed the third luxury tax tier ($273MM) in 2023, and thus their punishment included a 10-space drop in their opening draft choice.
The 2024 draft will take place over three days, consisting of 20 rounds of selections. Rounds 3-10 will take place on Monday, rounds 11-20 will take place on Tuesday, and the draft’s first 74 picks will come off the board tonight. Those 74 picks consist of the first two proper rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents), and two Prospect Promotion Incentive picks.
The two PPI selections will go to the Diamondbacks at 31st overall and the Orioles at 32nd overall, awarded since Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson fit all of the criteria for their teams to receive the bonus picks. Carroll and Henderson won Rookie of the Year honors, both young stars were included on their respective teams’ Opening Day rosters, and were rated as top-100 prospects in at least two of three sets of preseason prospect rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and ESPN.