MLB Draft 2024 live updates (2024)

The Cleveland Guardians selected Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Bazzana, a 6-foot, 199-pound Australian, starred for OSU for three years, setting the school's career hits record and destroying its single-season home run record.

Here's how the first round played out:

First-round results

1. Cleveland Guardians: Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State
2. Cincinnati Reds: Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Forest
3. Colorado Rockies: Charlie Condon, OF, Georgia
4. Oakland Athletics: Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest
5. Chicago White Sox: Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas
6. Kansas City Royals: Jac Caglianone, two-way player, Florida
7. St. Louis Cardinals: JJ Wetherholt, 2B, West Virginia
8. Los Angeles Angels: Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee
9. Pittsburgh Pirates: Konnor Griffin, SS, Jackson Prep (Miss.)
10. Washington Nationals: Seaver King, SS, Wake Forest
11. Detroit Tigers: Bryce Rainer, SS, Harvard-Westlake School (Calif.)
12. Boston Red Sox:
13. San Francisco Giants: James Tibbs III, OF, Florida State
14. Chicago Cubs: Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State
15. Seattle Mariners: Jurrangelo Cijntje, switch-handed pitcher, Mississippi State
16. Miami Marlins: PJ Morlando, OF, Summerville (S.C.) High
17. Milwaukee Brewers: Braylon Payne, OF, Fort Bend Elkins (Texas) High
18. Tampa Bay Rays: Theo Gillen, OF, Austin (Texas) Westlake High
19. New York Mets: Carson Benge, OF, Oklahoma State
20. Toronto Blue Jays: Trey Yesavage, RHP, East Carolina
21. Minnesota Twins: Kaelen Culpepper, SS, Kansas State
22. Baltimore Orioles: Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina
23. Los Angeles Dodgers: Kellon Lindsey, SS, Wauchula (Fla.) Hardee High
24. Atlanta Braves: Cam Caminiti, LHP, Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro High
25. San Diego Padres: Kash Mayfield, LHP, Elk City (Okla.) High
26. New York Yankees: Ben Hess, RHP, Alabama
27. Philadelphia Phillies: Dante Nori, OF, Northville (Mich.) High
28. Houston Astros: Walker Janek, C, Sam Houston
29. Arizona Diamondbacks: Slade Caldwell, OF, Jonesboro (Ark.) Valley View High
30. Texas Rangers: Malcolm Moore, C, Stanford

Just catching up on Sunday's first two rounds? Here's our full slate of coverage from night one.

Leaguewide stories

• Keith Law’s MLB Draft biggest surprises, best team hauls and best players still available
• Jim Bowden on the biggest winners — teams, players and colleges

Team by team

• Atlanta Braves: Cam Caminiti — cousin of Ken — is excited to help 'win a ring'
• Boston Red Sox: Thrilled Braden Montgomery drops to them at No. 12
• Chicago Cubs: Cam Smith's year-over-year growth made him the No. 14 pick
• Los Angeles Angels: A potential quick call-up for Christian Moore?
• Minnesota Twins: On the additions of college shortstops Kaelen Culpepper, Kyle DeBarge
• New York Mets: Athleticism, versatility on display with first two picks
• New York Yankees: Meet first-round pick Ben Hess
• Oakland A's: Team goes for power early with Nick Kurtz, Tommy White
• San Diego Padres: Kash Mayfield makes it eight straight high school first picks
• San Francisco Giants: Why you should be excited about James Tibbs III
• St. Louis Cardinals: Why JJ Wetherholt is a 'baller'
• Toronto Blue Jays: 'Thrilled’ to add college starter Trey Yesavage with 20th pick

After all of the gossip and rumors and claims that there would be some crazy pre-draft deals with players and shocking picks, the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft mostly comprised the guys we thought would go in the first. MLB teams selected 74 players on Day 1, and 66 were in my top 100.

Of the first 30 picks — the true first round — 25 of those players were ranked in my top 31. There weren’t huge shocks, no non-top 100 types taken in the first round, no outrageous reaches, and for the most part the best guys went at the top of the draft.

Here are some general observations followed by my pick-by-pick thoughts for the entire first round. I’ll have team-by-team recaps for all 30 clubs later this week, so if I didn’t mention your team here, patient you must be.

Like any team, the Minnesota Twins were happy to be picking No. 21 in the 2024 MLB Draft, rather than holding the No. 5 and No. 8 picks the previous two years, because it meant they were coming off a winning 2023 season.

But it did make for a less exciting first-round experience Sunday night.

Two years ago, having gone 73-89 the prior season, the Twins held the No. 8 pick and were thrilled to land Cal-Poly shortstop Brooks Lee, widely viewed as the top college hitter in the draft class. Lee was immediately regarded as a consensus top-100 prospect, quickly played himself into top-30 status and is now in the big leagues at 23 years old, looking like a future star.

Last year, the Twins got lucky in MLB’s inaugural draft lottery, moving up eight spots to No. 5 in a loaded class to land high school outfielder Walker Jenkins in what was a huge moment for the organization. Still just 19 years old, Jenkins is already the crown jewel of Twins’ strong farm system and a consensus top-10 prospect thought to have MVP-caliber upside.

This time around, the Twins did not lose or luck their way into the top 10, picking at their assigned No. 21 spot in the playoff-team section of the first round. But they still think they landed a potential impact player in Kansas State infielder Kaelen Culpepper, a right-handed hitter who started at third base as a freshman and sophom*ore before moving to shortstop this past season.

Read more here.

As expected the 2024 MLB Draft was heavy on college players, especially at the top. We didn't have a high school player selected until pick nine, when shortstop/center fielder Konnor Griffin went to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the latest an MLB Draft has gone before a high school player was selected in the history of the draft. In total, there were 21 college players and nine high school players taken in the first 30 picks.

The draft was also position-player heavy early before turning more towards pitching in the compensation rounds and the second round. Only seven pitchers went in the first round, and only two of those — left-handers Cam Caminiti and Kash Mayfield — were high school pitchers. Both went in back-to-back picks, 24 and 25, to Atlanta and San Diego.

So, last year the Reds took Wake Forest's ace (Rhett Lowder) with their first pick, a right-handed starter from LSU (Ty Floyd) with their competitive balance pick and a cold-weather high school shortstop (Sammy Stafura) with their second-round pick. This year they took Wake Forest's ace (Chase Burns) with their first pick, a cold-weather high school shortstop (Tyson Lewis) with their second-round pick and a right-handed starter from LSU (Luke Holman) with their competitive balance pick.

Reds amateur scouting director Joe Katuska: "I don't want to get too typecast, but... If we're looking at profiles, I think if I've told you guys once, I've told you 1,000 times, middle of the field offensive players, starting pitcher profiles, that's where we're going to start and that's where going to continue to look. I guess figure out who the best at Wake is, figure out who the best at LSU is and maybe you might have to guess on the high school shortstop, that won't be so easy for you."

Below are the final picks for day one of MLB Draft.

Compensation Round B

Pick 66 -- Tampa Bay Rays -- Tyler Bell, SS, Lincoln (IL) Way East HS

Pick 67 -- Milwaukee Brewers -- Chris Levonas -- Christian Brothers Academy (Middletown, NJ)

Pick 68 -- Chicago White Sox -- Blake Larson, LHP, IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL)

Pick 69 -- Minnesota Twins -- Dasan Hill, LHP, Grapevine (TX) HS

Pick 70 -- Miami Marlins -- Aiden May, RHP, Oregon State

Pick 71 -- Cincinnati Reds -- Luke Holman, RHP, LSU

Pick 72 -- Detroit Tigers -- Ethan Schiefelbein, LHP, Corona (CA) Senior HS

Pick 73 -- Oakland Athletics -- Gage Jump, LHP, LSU

Compensation for losing Shohei Ohtani

Pick 74 -- Los Angeles Angels -- Ryan Johnson, RHP, Dallas Baptist

Below are the second-round results for the 2024 MLB Draft:

Pick 40: Oakland Athletics — Tommy White, IF, LSU

Pick 41: Kansas City Royals — David Shields, LHP, Mt. Lebanon (PA) HS

Pick 42: Colorado Rockies — Jared Thomas, OF, Texas

Pick 43: Chicago White Sox — Caleb Bonemer, SS, Okemos (MI) HS

Pick 44: Washington Nationals — Luke Dickerson, SS, Morris Knolls (NJ HS

Pick 45: Los Angeles Angels — Chris Cortez, RHP, Texas A&M

Pick 46: New York Mets — Jonathan Santucci, LHP, Duke

Pick 47: Pittsburgh Pirates — Wyatt Sanford, SS, Independence HS (Frisco, TX)

Pick 48: Cleveland Guardians — Jacob Cozart, C, NC State

Pick 49: Detroit Tigers — Owen Hall, RHP, Edmond (OK) North HS

Pick 50: Boston Red Sox — Payton Tolle, LHP, TCU

Pick 51: Cincinnati Reds — Tyson Lewis, SS, Millard West HS (Omaha, NE)

Pick 52: San Diego Padres — Boston Bateman, LHP, Adolfo Camarillo HS (Camarillo, CA)

Pick 53: New York Yankees — Bryce Cunningham, RHP, Vanderbilt

Pick 54: Chicago Cubs — Cole Mathis, IF, College of Charleston

Pick 55: Seattle Mariners — Ryan Sloan, RHP, York Community HS (Elmhust, IL)

Pick 56: Miami Marlins — Carter Johnson, SS, Oxford (AL) HS

Pick 57: Milwaukee Brewers — Bryce Meccage, The Pennington School (Pennington, NJ)

Pick 58: Tampa Bay Rays — Émilien Pitre, 2B, Kentucky

Pick 59: Toronto Blue Jays — Khal Stephen, RHP, Mississippi State

Pick 60: Minnesota Twins — Billy Amici, 3B, Tennessee

Pick 61: Baltimore Orioles — Ethan Anderson, C, Virginia

Pick 62: Atlanta Braves — Carter Holton, LHP, Vanderbilt

Pick 63: Philadelphia Phillies — Griffin Buckholder, OF, Freedom HS (South Riding, VA)

Pick 64: Arizona Diamondbacks — Ivan Luciano, C, El Shaddai Christian Academy (Puerto Rico)

Pick 65: Texas Rangers — Dylan Dreiling, OF, Tennessee

Hagen Smith is from Bullard, Texas, played his college baseball at Arkansas and said he's kept up with MLB through leaguewide highlights this season.

None of those things would make him intimately familiar with the current state of the Chicago White Sox, the worst team in baseball.

But he’s a big left-handed pitcher and he knows he’s not alone in that regard.

“You want to talk about left-handed pitchers they have in the organization and it's kind of crazy with (Garrett) Crochet and Noah Schultz,” he said.

Crochet, the 6-foot-6 ace of the Sox, leads all of baseball in strikeouts and is an All-Star in his first year as a starting pitcher. Schultz, a 6-foot-9 lefty who was drafted 26th overall by the Sox in 2022, made the Futures Game out of Double A. Smith is probably too young to remember that Chris Sale was once a fearsome lefty for the Sox too.

Most likely, Smith will only pitch with Schultz, as the 25-year-old Crochet is prime trade bait for the rebuilding Sox both this month and in the offseason. But Smith is definitely familiar with his work.

“He's dominant,” he said. “He’s a power pitcher from the left side, it’s super fun to watch him.”

Smith considers himself a power pitcher as well. He was a bit of a surprise pick for the Sox, who have a surplus of pitchers at Double-A Birmingham (along with the recently promoted Drew Thorpe) and are in need of hitters as they rebuild the rebuild that imploded so spectacularly over the past few years.

“I met with them one time before the draft, two or three weeks ago in Omaha, actually,” he said. “I loved everything they were saying.”

But talent is talent and the Sox got a pitcher who had 161 strikeouts over 16 starts this season and set the Arkansas career record with 360. Against No. 7 Oregon State on Feb. 23, he struck out 17 in just 78 pitches.

“You're just kind of locked into the game, so you don't really realize what's actually happening,” he said. “I didn't realize until after I got pulled from the game that I had that many strikeouts. I was like, ‘What in the world?’”

The A's kick off the second round with one of the most familiar players in the college baseball sphere with Tommy "Tanks" White, corner infielder from LSU. White hit the walk-off homer in the semifinal game between LSU and Wake Forest that sent LSU to the finals in last year's College World Series. He had offseason shoulder surgery and his numbers dipped his junior season but he showed better defense at third base than he did previously and he hit 75 homers in three seasons at NC State and LSU.

"I think he's a special hitter. Very rarely nowadays, do you see someone that can hit for such a great average with power with the ability to be clutch and the consistency in which he did it for three years," LSU head coach Jay Johnson said last month. "And this year? He did it coming off of a major surgery (right shoulder surgery) and missing fall baseball. I think this year probably typified how good he actually is. There was no drop off in regards to that, and he made himself an excellent third baseman.

"I think if there was a question going into the year, maybe it's is he a third baseman you have to move to first, but you don't have to move him anywhere. I think he made two errors — maybe three — the entire season, and literally played just about every inning of the season at third base for us. So I think he's, I think he's a very, very high floor player that I don't think will take long to get to the major leagues, because he hits the highest level pitching well, he doesn't drop off. And he really solidified himself as a great defensive third baseman this year."

Below are all the compensation round picks before Round 2 begins:

Pick 31 -- Arizona Diamondbacks -- Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Kentucky

Pick 32 -- Baltimore Orioles -- Griff O'Ferrall, SS, Virginia

Pick 33 -- Minnesota Twins -- Kyle DeBarge, SS, Louisiana-Lafayette

Pick 34 -- Milwaukee Brewers -- Blake Burke, 1B, Tennessee

Pick 35 -- Arizona Diamondbacks -- JD Dix, SS, Whitefish Bay (WI) High School

Pick 36 -- Cleveland Guardians -- Braylon Doughty, RHP, Chaparral HS (Temecula, CA)

Pick 37 -- Pittsburgh Pirates -- Levi Sterling, RHP, Notre Dame HS (Los Angeles, CA)

Pick 38 -- Colorado Rockies -- Brody Brecht, RHP, Iowa

Pick 39 -- Washington Nationals -- Caleb Lomavita, C, California

Seaver King met with the D.C. media and said he grew up playing with Nationals' prospect Brady House. He was at House's draft party in 2021 when King was a senior in high school. He said he thought he would go in the 12 to 24 range, but really liked his conversations with the Nationals at the combine.

He said playing on a team with fellow top-10 picks Chase Burns and Nick Kurtz at Wake gave him a foundation of how to push himself among other highly-touted talents that could be helpful in Washington, where James Wood and C.J. Abrams and MacKenzie Gore are already up, and center fielder Dylan Crews, the Nats’ first-round pick (number two overall) last year, will likely be up soon.

“You just surround yourself with the right people, and you, as a person, is going to grow, and as a player, just being around those guys who weren’t satisfied with being okay, weren’t satisfied with being the number one team ranked preseason. …. it was just awesome,” King said. “Constant work, and constant wanting to get better. It didn’t have anything to do with what anybody else thought of us; it was kind of what we thought of each other, and what we thought we could be.”

Summing up the first round a little bit, we saw 21 college players picked and only nine high school players. It was very position player heavy — only seven pitchers taken, not a surprise in a year when college starting pitching in general was down (note that this doesn't include Jac Caglianone or Carson Benge as pitchers).

We’re on to the prospect promotion incentive round, when we applaud teams for calling up their top prospects, ya know, as soon as they’re ready. The Diamondbacks’ reward for promoting Corbin Carroll early: Ryan Waldschmidt, Kentucky OF, at No. 31.

The Orioles get Virginia SS Griff O’Ferrall, which is an amazing name, with the pick they added for having the other 2023 Rookie of the Year, Gunnar Henderson, on their Opening Day roster last year.

Malcolm Moore was a darling of models this year, as his batted-ball data was very strong and his baseball-card stats belied his true talent level as a hitter. He walked more than he struck out and still got to 16 homers, but had a .229 BABIP despite an above-average Barrel rate and strong exit velocities.

Scouts were mixed on whether he'd stick as a catcher, but I didn't hear anyone say he absolutely couldn't do it physically, just that he needed a lot of work and could end up at first base.

If he'd posted a triple-slash line commensurate with his batted-ball data, he would have been a top-15 pick.

The top 10 players on our board after the first round:

1. Ryan Waldschmidt, Kentucky OF
2. Brody Brecht, Iowa RHP
3. Tommy White, LSU 3B
4. Carter Johnson, Oxford (Ala.) High SS
5. Ryan Sloan, Elmhurst (Ill.) York Community High RHP
6. Griff O'Ferrall, Virginia SS
7. Tyson Lewis, Omaha (Neb.) Millard West High SS
8. Peyton Stovall, Arkansas 2B
9. Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech C/3B
10. Wyatt Sanford, Frisco (Texas) Independence High SS

The Texas Rangers wrapped up the first round by selecting Malcolm Moore with the 30th pick.

Moore, a draft-eligible sophom*ore, is going to end up with a team that values batted-ball data over performance — he had terrible luck at the plate this spring but he was not punching out and his contact quality points to a higher average than he had on balls in play. Moore hit .255/.414/.553 for the Cardinal with just a .229 BABIP, a full hundred points down from his BABIP as a freshman, even though he makes plenty of hard contact.

There was a little more than bad luck at work here, to be fair; he put a lot of non-strikes in play and had worse results on those pitches than he did on pitches in the zone, so there’s a pitch selection aspect to his performance as well. He has great bat speed and had no trouble with elite velocity the few times he saw this spring. Moore is a below-average defender right now and scouts are mixed on whether he can stay at catcher; the arm is the worst tool here and his other deficiencies could improve with different coaching. He’s going to be a bat-first catcher if he stays there.

Caldwell earned raves for his work ethic and competitiveness, as well as his feel to hit, with one of the better bat-to-ball skills in the class and good contact quality for his age.

He's pretty undersized, and some teams were concerned that there was zero projection left in the body, meaning what you see in his bat is what you get, probably below-average power in the end, so you have to hope he hits .300+ with a strong walk rate.

I do think he will, and that he'll do it as a plus defender in center.

The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted Slade Caldwell with the 29th pick.

Caldwell won’t go this high in the draft because he’s 5-foot-5 1/2; if he were 6-1, he’d be a top-15 pick for sure, with three tools that are or project to plus. He’s got a short swing (ha ha) and makes a ton of contact, with fringy power, and he’s a plus runner who covers enough ground in center to project to stay there, even with a 45 arm. The impact with the bat is the question — if you think he’ll hit the ball hard enough to keep his batting average up, he projects as a strong regular. If you don’t think he will, you’ll probably just run, run away.