2024 Draft - Part 14 - the History of Our 2024 Draft Slots - Our 6th-10th Round Slots

 Ok, let's take a look at the history of the slots for the 6th through 10th rounds of the 2024 draft.  Once we got to round 5, all the draft compensation additions and losses had been factored in and so, starting with our pick at #175, the slot for each subsequent pick SHOULD increase by 30, meaning our 6th round pick would be #205 and so on.  Of course, if a team or team drops out before the 20th round, our pick slot would increase by one or more places in each round.  But, since this has never happened since we went to 40 rounds and now 20 rounds, I'll just assume that we will have the slots as they are now.

So, let's dive in to see the draft history for each of these next 5 slots, remembering that the draft started in 1965 and we will only be looking at the history through the 2019 draft as guys drafted after that are still writing their career story. Also note that as we move into these rounds the data becomes skewed as, in a given year, the same team will make all the picks for those slots during that draft.  So, if a team has a bad draft it means that every pick in the 5 below for that year will not make the majors.  A great draft in these 5 rounds would be like the Brewers had in 2005, where 3 of these 5 slots yielded major leaguers, including Michael Brantly at #205.  It also means that, since about 1996, Cleveland will likely have made picks in each of the slots below or not make a pick in any slot below for that given year.  

#205

• 11 of 55 picks at this slot through 2019 have made the majors
• Michael Brantley and Kyle Kendrick are the most well-known players selected at this slot
• The Guardians have selected once at this spot but that player never played in the MLB.

#235

• 11 of 55 players selected at this slot have made it to the majors
• A number of fringe major leaguers came out of this slot but Jeffrey Hammonds appears to the best player selected at #235.
• Surprisingly from my searching, the Cleveland Guardians have never drafted a player at slot #235

#265

• 13 of 55 players drafted at this slot have made the majors
• A number of fringe major leaguers were drafted at this slot.  Mark Teixeira was the most famous name drafted here out of high school but did not sign.
• It appears the Guardians have drafted once at this slot (through 2019) and Tom Lampkin made the majors.  Zac Kent, currently at AAA Columbus, was also drafted at this slot.

#295

• 7 of 55 players drafted at this slot have made the majors
• The most famous player drafted at this slot was John Stearns.  Pete Rose, Jr. was also drafted at this slot.
• The Guardians have drafted 3 times at this slot through 2019 but none of those players made it to the majors

#325

• 8 out of 55 players drafted at this slot have made it to the majors
• The most famous players drafted at this slot were Dave Parker and Mickey Hatcher
• The Guardians have drafted 3 times at this slot with Jeff Barkley being the only one to have reached the majors.

SUMMARY

Look, rounds 6-10 in the early years of the draft were not what they are now, really skewing the % of players making the majors to below what that percentage is now in these rounds.  Scouting is better buoyed by the advent of analytics and the percentage of college players selected in those rounds is increasing and is starting to produce more major leaguers.  With NIL I see this percentage of success in rounds 6-10 (and, so, at these slots) increasing as I predict that these rounds will be dominated by college players with the best remaining HS players after round 5 choosing to go to college for the NIL money and gambling on their ability to improve in college and stay healthy so they can increase their draft status for when they are college juniors.