2026 Draft - My Annual Shadow Draft

 OK, the draft is over and draft grades are starting to come in.  The one I have seen so far gives Cleveland the SECOND LOWEST GRADE IN THE MAJOR LEAUGES for their 2026 draft.

This is the part I hate about a draft.  Looking back and seeing what could have/should have happened.

So here is my draft, most of which is from my pre-draft and after first day mock drafts.  Where guys have been taken I simply slid guys up or plugged in guys of roughly the same ability.

1 - Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arnkansas

2. Ryan Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston St.

3. Nathan Taylor, RHP, Cincinnati [NOTE: It was Maxx Yehl but he was taken already]

4. Cal Randall, RHP, UCLA (NOTE: It was Josh McDevitt but he was taken already)

5. Eric Nachtheim RHP, McNeese St.

6. Cam Johnson, LHP, Oklahoma

7. Savion Sims, RHP, HS

8. Chris Katz, 1B, Mercer

9. Gavin Van Kempen, RHP, East Carolina

10. Christian Coppola, RHP, St. Joseph's

11. Mark Quatrani, C, Notre Dame

12. Grayson Fitzwater, 1B, VMI

13. Judd Utemark UTIL Ole Miss

Rounds 14-20 - HS pitchers and college power hitters

NOTE: These were all guys I had mentioned in my posts so I didn't just back engineer this shadow draft.

Willing to put this one in a time capsule and come back in the requisite 5 years.

2026 Draft - Final Comments Before My Shadow Draft

Let's start off by saying what every 'expert' says about a draft.  It's impossible to determine whether a draft is a good one for 5 years.  The problem with that axiom is that if you get to the end of that 5 year period, and you are a limited-resource team AND that draft stunk, you are probably struggling to put a good team on the field. 

So, while you can't FULLY tell how a draft will turn out for 5 years, you can make some pretty clear statements about how the draft will impact your team in the future.

People also will tell you that teams should draft the best available player and not worry about need.  While that is true, there needs to be context there.  Drafting a good college pitcher who should get to and be impactful in the majors in a couple of years has to be compared to drafting a better HS pitching prospect who will take 5 years to establish themselves in the majors and whose group (HS pitchers) have a historically greater chance of failure.

With that being said, the Guardians started the draft with a number of realities

1. Their ML starting pitching is razor thin

2. Their starting pitching depth in the minors is almost non-existent with one real SP prospect, Braylon Doughty, and he is barely starting AA.  There's no one else who even can be considered a real prospect right now, based on the combination of age and minor league performance.

3. The areas of strength and depth in their minor league system are:

    a. Catchers

    b. Outfielders (both contact and power)

    c. Middle Infielders 

    d. HS pitching prospects in the low minors

So entering the draft there were clear areas of need and areas of strength where any prospect added would have to leapfrog to the top the prospect strength for that position.  

So let's see what they did in the draft:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Guardians had a chance to fill the pipeline with what they needed, starting pitching close to the majors.  Instead, the top 3 talents they selected were one college pitcher who needs fixing and two HS pitchers, one of whom is a lottery ticket.  To pay for that lottery ticket they had to spend 3 draft picks in the top 10 on low talent, cheap college seniors, meaning that lottery ticket actually will cost them a lot of money and cost them FOUR picks, instead of one.  Besides those 2 picks, the Guardians drafted 2 college slap hitting OFers, a college catcher who doesn't leapfrog really anyone on their catcher depth chart, a college firstbaseman without power (after drafting 2 of those in the top 10 rounds last year. and, including the college seniors drafted to save money in rounds 8-10, 12 low level college pitchers with little to no chance of ever playing in the majors, if you compare those picks to similar picks from the last 2 drafts.

Draft grade: B- if they are able to maximize Peterson and Schmidt and Sims make the majors; If they can't get those 3 to their potential, this draft is a D-, as there is very little of substance left after those 3 unless some amazing development occurs in players where that wasn't expected.  NOTE: this is not what you wanted to hear with the bad draft of 2025 and the lack of starting pitcher depth in this system. Resource-limited teams like the Guardians need good drafts that keep the line moving in terms of getting prospects to the majors who are impactful.

ROUND-BY-ROUND ANALYSIS

#19 - The Guardians drafted a college pitcher, Liam Peterson.  Peterson has lots of talent but hasn't translated that to performance in 2026. They are counting on their pitching development group to make the changes necessary to turn talent into performance.  To me, he is the 2026 version of Jace Laviolette, a gamble on making changes that will bring the college player to the majors very quickly if they are successful.  If they were going for a college pitcher, they had a chance to draft Hunter Dietz or Taylor Rabe for current performance and future projectability and Cameron Flukey if they wanted a college pitcher who was more highly rated over the winter but had injury and performance issues in 2026

#59 - The Guardians went with a HS pitching prospect, Logan Schmidt. Schmidt was a small bargain (45th ranked player) vs his draft slot (59) but, as a HSer, will cost much more than the slot assigned for that draft slot and will be further away from the majors than a college pitcher.  Ryan Peterson (#86) who was actually seleccted at #71. The upside AND risk for Schmidt is great but this Peterson has good upside and a much quicker path to the majors.  Schmidt is not a bad pick by the Guardians but, given that Peterson would make the majors at least 2 years earlier and have a great chance of making it at all, I would have gone with the greater need, SP closer to the majors.  

#95 - The Guardians selected slap hitting Tre Broussard, a guy with great speed, a good defensive centerfielder but with little power.  They basically drafted Petey Halpin part deux.  

#123 - The Guardians selected Kade Lewis, a college thirdbaseman who will likely end up at first base. He has very little power. Think of CJ Kayfus but without the athleticism to play in the OF.  

#155 - The Guardians selected Lucas Moore, another Petey Halpin clone.

#184 - The Guardians selected Deiten LaChance, a college catcher who doesn't surpass another on the current catching depth chart, falling just below Jacob Cozart.   Possibly they feel this increase in depth will allow them to trade Cozart or, more likely, Cooper Ingle.

#213 - Savion Sims - The Guardians selected an expensive unicorn lottery ticket.  By that I mean he has a huge fastball with good extension but little control or quality secondary pitches.  Whatever length of time it takes to get Schmidt to the majors add 1.5 years to that for Sims.  Basically, he may not make the majors until Jose's contract expires, if then, as he is the classic HS RHP who flares out so often in the minors.

Picks 243 -603 - People may try to point to some redeeming value for these last 13 picks but Guardians' draft history tells me these guys are just organizational filler with maybe one even sniffing the big leagues.  Basically, a waste of 13 picks.  Any player here a match for a similar, recently drafted player.  For exzmple, Ben Cleary is just Tyrese Turner.  Who, you say?  Exactly.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am in this draft.  I will have my shadow draft later tonight but it looks a lot like my last mock draft. that I posted on Friday.

Look, if you are Cleveland and if this draft goes south you just don't recover from it since you can't go out and buy players to offset your draft and international signing mistakes in both selection and strategy..

Hey, at least the ML teams is in first place.  Maybe they can keep this going in future years with more AAAA signings and bargain basement free agents to augment their current, young core.

2026 Draft - Second Day Live Blog

 OK, we're back at it.  The Guardians opened yesterday with 4 picks:

1. Liam Peterson - RHP - Florida: This year's version of Jace Laviolette, Peterson is coming off a disappointing year.  He has great upside.  If you believe in high ceiling low floor in your first round college pitcher draft choice, Peterson is your guy.  There is nothing NOT to like about this pick but, at the same time, Dietz or Rabe would have been much better selections to me as they just need tweaks whereas Peterson needs an overall.

2.Logan Schmidt - LHP - HS - An absolutely great pick here except that by the time Schmidt makes it to majors, Jose Ramirez will be 38 years old.  And that doesn't even count the poor percentage of HS pitchers that make the majors and the even worse percentage of Guardians HS P draft picks that are ML successes.

3. Tre Broussard - OF - Houston - His one plus tool is his speed and he plays good defense, meaning we have drafted a Petey Halpin clone.  And, for a 3rd round pick, that's not the comp you want to have in your 3rd round pick. Did I mention he is yet another LHH?

4. Kade Lewis - 1B - Wake Forest - Lewis is a first baseman w/o much power.  Think CJ Kayfus.  I would feel better about this if the Guardians had a better development record with hitters.

So, we go to day 2 with a very underwhelming group of prospects where only one, Peterson, has much of a chance to positively impact the franchise during the Jose Ramirez contract window. In addition, they have done only a little to address the LARGE void of starting pitching prospects in this organization.

Let's go to Day 2:

 5. Lucas Moore - OF - Louisville - Another LHH outfielder with great speed and ZERO power,  it's hard to believe that they have niw drafted TWO Petey Halpin clones in their first 5 picks.

6.  Delten LaChance - C - Oklahoma - What position in this organization did we not need to draft?  Well, with Bailey, Hedges, Naylor, Huff, Ingle, Cozart, etc., the answer is obvious: CATCHER.  What position are we most in need: College starting pitcher.  So we drafted an incredibly slow-footed catcher meaning a position switch is also problematic.  At least he hits RH and has some power.  My impression of this pick is that the Guardians are chasing ranking numbers to make their draft look better.  You certainly can't say that the Guardians are drafting for need.

7. Savion Sims - RHP - HS - Another highly rated HS pitching prospect, Sims, if he signs, will need a lot of work in the Guardians' pitching lab as his control of his 100 mph fastball is suspect.  This is a good pick except we haven't drafted any good college SPs except for Peterson and we don't have a lot of excess draft pool since we traded away a first round pick with a $3.2 million pool value.

8. Matt Scott - RHP - Georgia - So we start the parade of low ranked college juniors or, in this case, college senior pitchers who have low potential.  This is not what I meant by adding college pitching.  Scott is a reliever and profiles like most round 5-10 college relievers we have drafted: organizational fodder.  Money-saving pick #1

9. Matt Pesca - RHP = Oklahoma State - The second non-descript college senior pitcher in a row, This schtick is a staple of Guardians' drafts but is even more irritating as this draft, so far, has offered very little that will help Cleveland in the next few years.  C'mon guys, it's a little early to start drafting organizational guys, right?  Ovviously trying to save money to sign Sims and Schmidt.

10. Ryan Bilka - RHP - Miami - Another college senior signing.  Just padding the war chest for Schmidt and Sims. Totally nothing for the ML team for years to come, though.

 

2026 Draft - Day 2 Opening Post

 HOW WOULD I HAVE DONE USING MY DRAFT BOARD

I was to going with an all college pitcher draft through round 10.  Like other teams, I wanted my guys and was only moving off them if they had been drafted.  So, let's see what my first 4 rounds would have looked like:

1. Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas

2. Adam Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston St.

3. Nathan Taylor, RHP, Cincinnati

4. Cal Randall, RHP, UCLA

These 4 guys would have been there when I drafted in each round and there the guys I wanted.  Obviously guys like Maxx Yehl, LHP, West Virginia and Josh McDevitt, RHP, Missouri were way overdrafted and so were gone when I would have picked them in my last mock draft.  So I had to pivot.

Right now I am looking at the following picks tomorrow.

5. Cal Randall and, if not, Eric Nachtheim

6. Cam Johnson and, if not, Zane Adams

7. Gage Peterson and, if not, Tyler Fay

 

8. Aiden Weaver and, if not, Beau Bryans

9. Gavin Van Kempen, RHP East Carolina

10. J.P Robertson, RHP, Ole Miss 

My last 10 from my most recent mock draft are still intact after the first day of the draft so as we get through round 10 we'll see how that goes.

2026 Draft - End of First Day Post

 SUMMARY

I think you can summarize the Guardians draft today in four bullets and a note:

1. They drafted Peterson, who is going to require some work to avoid being a bust.  That being said, he was one of the top college pitchers in the draft. If they think they can get to his upside AND if they think he has a better chance to get to that upside than some other college pitchers in this draft, then I hope they are right.

2. They drafted a HS pitcher in the 2nd round.  While he was a good value for the slot, value in the draft is only good if value in the major leagues is obtained.  The Guardians are historically so bad at obtaining ML value from HS pitcher draftees you have to ask yourself if this was a good value pick or just a good window dressing pick. When you consider that Doughty is the only HS pitcher who they have recently drafted who looks like a sure major leaguer, color me unconvinced that this pick was the best resources.

3. Their next two picks were LHH slap hitters.  Did they not learn how fruitless that was from Lampe, Furman, Hawke, Knapczyk and others they recently drafted in the top 5 rounds?  High floor, extremely low ceiling.  Not good!

4. All 4 of their picks today were very young for their class.  That sounds like trying to show you are the smartest guys in the draft.  Here is a thought. Some of the proposals for the next CBA involve free agency after 5 ML seasons and arbitration for everyone after 2 seasons. Thus, by drafting young guys, we could be paying these guys when they are very young and losing them another year before their prime if these rules go through.  Both of these are exacerbated by drafting younger than average guys.

NOTE: Had we had our CB-A pick we could have had our choice of Taylor Rabe or Hunter Dietz with that pick to go with Peterson. 

For comparison sakes, let's compare my last mock draft to this one:

#19: Me: Dietz (#17, went #35)  Guardians: Liam Peterson *#20)

#59: Me: Ryan Peterson (went #71)  Guardians: Logan Schmidt

#99: Me: Mass Yehl (went #91)  Guardians: Tre Broussard

#123: Me Nathan Taylor (went #101)   Guardians: Kade Lewis

So my draft was blow up early as Yehl and Taylor were snatched before I could get them. 

CONCLUSION

Frankly, I don't know where they go from here.  They are in the middle of the top 10 rounds now and this has been increibily unproductive over the past 3 years because of stupid draft strategies like LH slap hitters and pitchers who are way overdrafted.  

Let's hope they can pull their collective heads out of their butts and actually come up with a good draft strategy that will be successful for the next 16 rounds because, right now, this draft is very, very underwhelming and discouraging to me.  Not that it is bad, just that it has a better than average chance to turn out bad and it is based on a failed premise that LH slap hitters will work as a strategy and that we can develop HS pitching prospects into productive major leaguers.  The only group that we have shown the ability to develop is college pitchers and we only drafted one of them in 4 rounds.  So, no, I don't want any Aiden Majros, Dylan DeLucias, etc. tomorrow.  I don't want any more hit-over-power college hitters.  And I doubt that there are any quality college pitchers left.

So where does that leave us?  I don't know but I know that our history in these rounds suck and, somehow, these idiots need to figure out how to save this draft from turning out like 2022, 2023, 2024 and, maybe (time will tell) 2025.  

At leaset the Guardians won today because their draft room didn't, repeating the same things they have failed at in the recent past.

2026 Draft - Day 1 Live Post

 As the 2026 draft is about to begin I am doing what has become a yearly tradition for me: a live blog.

Before we start here are some general thoughts:

1. Draft picks should not be traded.  If you are a Cleveland fan of all their teams all I have to do is mention two names: Ted Stepien and DeShaun Watson.  Teams, especially CB draft choice teams should NEVER be allowed to trade draft picks.  Non-CB teams should only be allowed to trade draft picks for the next draft and only draft picks from rounds 11-20.

2. We need to eliminate the ML R5 draft.  When you draft a guy, you should get get the entire length of his control, including the time before he can become a minor league free agent. 

3. There are two basic draft strategies, quantity and quality.  The former relies on cost-saving picks and, recently, even obtaining CB picks to generate a large later round bonus pool for more flyer picks who require overslot bonuses.  The quality approach involves drafting the best player available, no matter the bonus demand. It is what you could refer to as grabbing the brass ring.

4. Watch the Guardians, maybe not in the first round, but overall to see if they are going cheap.  They have the bonus pool to go for ONE big HS flyer.  Whether it is Waechter, Frishkorn or even Thome, they should go for one of these guys.

5. If you see a draft pick delayed, it may have to do with pre-draft decisions.  If a guy has dropped and that team didn't anticipate that player being there, they might be on the phone negotiating to make sure they can sign that player.  If they can't agree on the bonus, they will go a different direction and that player who has dropped, will be talking to the next team interested in him.

6. I see so many college baseball games being streamed now, don't we think it is possible that AI could be used to d0 3/4 of the scouting?

So, we're off.

Picks 1-4 

These were all as predicted for a long time.  Nothing to talk about here.  Likely quality-based picks althought the top 4 picks almost always save huge amounts of pool, just based on the larger bonus slots of these 4 picks.

Pick 5-6

Curiel and Rose were the first surprises. People love to use 'overdraft'.   Heck, I do it, too. These were both quantity approach picks.

Picks 7-8

Booth and Burress are on-slot picks.  These are quality over quantity picks

Pick 9

Gracia is another quantity pick.  

Pick 10 

Colorado picks the safe SS, Tyler Bell.  I would have gone George Lombard if I was them so I think this was slightly quantity over quality draft but it shouldn't impact, one way or the other, on their ability to draft aggressively later in the draft.  And they DO need to draft aggressively from here on out.

Pick 11 

Hacopian is a quanitity pick.

Pick 12

Gridlinger to the Angels is more of a quality, brase ring grab pick.  They are looking at a long rebuild and need star=quality prospects, not just good, solid prospects.

Pick 13

Thirteenth player selected, thirteenth-ranked prospect.  Solid, long-term play for the Cardinals.  

NOTE: Lebron & Helfrick are still on the board.  It will be interesting to see if they fall like rocks due to worries about their junior year hitting.  

Pick 14 

Clearly the most aggressive, quality pick in this draft so far.  Miami fans should be excited.  

Pick 15

Just like the Miami fans have to be ecstatic, the Diamondback fans have to have mixed emotions right now.  He has a floor of Austin Hedges but the question is how much better than Hedges will he be as a hitter.  I would have been disappointed if the Guardians drafted him in the firsst round but obviously the D-bakcs think like the Guardians do.  Defense at catcher is uber important.

Pick 16

Texas goes for the best HS pitcher in the draft.  Again, this is a quality pick but within slot.  It is a long-term play as the Rangers do not appear concerned with stuffing the top of their pitcher prospect list with players closer to the majors,,,or they just don't like any of the college pitchers left.

Pick 17

Houston picks the 42nd best player in the draft to get a college bat.  Seems like a quanitity over quality pick.  He is a solid prospect that should save Houston some money.

NOTE: I see teams mavbe saving money for HS flyers later, maybe a little more than normal.

Pick 18

Wow, Lebron to the Reds.  This is a gamble from them.  I hope it works out.

Pick 19 

There were FIVE pitchers the Guardians could have gone with: Peterson, Flukey, Dietz, Kuhns, Carlon.  They picked Peterson.  In theory, there were no bad picks here.  I have to think that his upside was what they want and they feel they can fix him to reach that upside.  Look for the Red Sox to pop Dietz.

Picks 20-28

I am lumping these together as I move on to other things in my day.  Here are my thoughts:

Schaffner - Clear quanitity pick, saving money for later

Borthwick - Quantity pick

Flukey - Tigers getting a solid college pitcher with a gamble level about the same, on paper, as Peterson but 3 picks later.  Again, no wrong pick in this range for college pitchers, just who you think you can develop in your system

Townsend - What I just said about Flukey

Reese - Good college hitter. Likely undervalued as his position may end up being 1B but a good vlaue.

Ebel - Long term quantity play here.  Lowest ranked pick drafted so far.  Teams like who they like.

Beck - As in most drafts, at some point, things go off the rail.  This is the case with Beck. Clearly an extreme quantity play.  Head scratching decisions are made by teams every draft and this is one of them.  

 Wiggins - Wow, not only an overdraft but a draft OVER his highly ranked college teammate, Dietz.  Now I am starting to think something medical is going on with Dietz.  Time will tell.

Radel - Interesting.  Probably quantity over quality but the back story with Kuhns, Dietz, Rabe, etc. becomes even more interesting.

NOTE: Remember when we traded for Bailey and I didn't like it.  Well here we are at 29 and we could have had our choice of Dietz, Rabe, Kuhns, Carlon and Edwards, to say nothing about Daniel Jackson on the position player side.  Really wish I had the #29 pick instead of Bailey.

2026 Draft - Part 7 - Final Pre-Draft Thoughts and Final Mock Draft

 FINAL PRE-DRAFT THOUGHTS

This is the time of the draft cycle where I get the most nervous.  The Guardians, ever since the 2021 draft, have, in my opinion, acted like they are the smartest guys in the draft.  The 2022 and 2023 slap hitter drafts were very ill conceived.  The 2025 draft of college hitters in a college pitcher heavy draft felt the same way and still does, despite those guys feasting on inexperienced pitchers in the Midwest League.  The Guardians have been tied to HS hitters, college contact hitters and even some college power hitters in the first round of the 2026 draft.  People have claimed that they are looking into the power hitter demographic in college and in high school.  The phrase, you can never have too much pitching, should be on a big banner in their draft room.  Since 2022 with Campbell and Messick, they have not drafted a quality college starting pitcher and it shows in their minor league depth and pitcher prospect pipeline close to the majors. Their minor league rotations are full of lower level college pitchers, none of whom is having much, if any, success.  

Given that the 2025 draft has the potential to be one of the worst in Guardians history (IMO, the hitters success from that draft comes against lower level competition and, even then, comes with red flags like too many Ks and bad defense).  We need to be following up that draft with a safer one that fills needs in our system, not a brass ring grab of HS players who have a high failure rate and clearly take a longer time to develop than college players.  We just can't afford to have the Guardians act like they are the smartest guys in the room or not have a solid plan to fall back on if they get punched in the mouth by not getting their guy or their backup plan to that guy, in the first 5 rounds of the draft like I am convinced happened in 2025.

Guardians: pitching and defense wins.  Draft to the part of that philosophy that involves pitching and your developmental strengths.  So, that leads me to my final mock draft before the action starts tomorrow.  As you will see, mine is a strange draft that has two parts: college pitching and lower ranked college power hitters.  That latter group is likely to littered with organizational guys but if even one or two of those picks click to produce a ML power hitter, it will be wildly successful.

FINAL MOCK DRAFT

I have described my draft philosophy which is, simply put, college pitching x9 and a HS pitching flyer in the first 10 rounds. So, drum roll please, here is my 2026 final pre-draft Guardians mock draft:

#19 - Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas (Baseball America: 35, ESPN: 15, MLB: 17,  Over-Slot: 24)

        - Alternate Selection: Taylor Rabe, RHP, Ole Miss (BA: 26, ESPN: 48, MLB: 40 , O-S: 26)

#59 - Ryan Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston State (BA: 84, ESPN: 154, MLB: 86, O-S: 151)

#95 - Maxx Yehl LHP, West Virginia (BA: 124, ESPN: 161, MLB: 217; O-S: 104)

#123 - Nathan Taylor RHP, Cincinnati (BA: 144, ESPN: 242, MLB: 215, O-S: 167)

#155 - Josh McDevitt, RHP, Missouri (BA: 197, MLB: 236, ESPN: NR, O-S: 278)

#184 - Cam Johnson, LHP, Oklahoma (BA: 184, ESPN: NR, MLB: 250, O-S: 425)

            Alternate Selection: Cal Randall, RHP, UCLA

    

#213 - Zane Adams, LHP, Alabama (BA: 221, ESPN: NR, MLB:NR , O-S: 291)

#243 - Jensen Hirschkorn, RHP, HS (BA: 43, ESPN: 58, MLB: 56, O-S: 71) - HS RHP overslot $2.5 MM flyer

#273 - Gavin Van Kempen, RHP, East Carolina (BA: 274, MLB: NR, ESPN: NR, O-S: NR)

#303 - J.P. Robertson, RHP, Ole Miss (BA: NR, ESPN: NR , MLB: NR , O-S: 387)

Seeing the BA rankings, this is an aggressive mock as some of these guys (like Yehl, for example) may be gone at the slots I picked them.  I am so locked into the first 6 pitchers that, except for the first round where we would likely have guys like Rabe, Kuhn, Townsend, Carlon, Edwards and maybe even Liam Peterson, in that order, if Dietz is gone,  if one of my picks in rounds 2-6 weren't available, I just would insert Cal Randall, RHP UCLA or move everyone up one slot and then backfill. Then I would backfill with a college pitcher or an overslot HS hitter.  

My rounds 11-20 will likely be almost all college power hitters, many of them senior signs. I am done with the HS flyer pitchers (except for one) and gimmick college pitchers (e.g., Schuelke).  If even one or two of these college power hitters pan out, this would be wildly successful.  Remember, last year I predicted Boston Smith & John Day as my late round college power hitters and both are doing very well in the minors in their first full year.  So, that's my plan.

Here is an example of what I would do, should these guys be available.:

333 - Mark Quatrani, C, Notre Dame (Note: I saw him hit a 462 foot HR)

363 - Judd Utemark, UTIL, Ole Miss

393 - Michael Anderson - 1B - Penn St.

423 - Michael O'Shaunesy - INF - Georgia

453 - Grayson Fitzwater, 1B/OF, VMI

483 - Chris Katz, LF/RF/C, Mercer

513 - Alec Welshans, UTIL - La Salle

543 - Dagen Brewer, OF, Pittsburgh St.

573 - Joe Whitaker, INF, Belmont Abbey

603 - David Hinojosa, RHP, NY HS

This group has 1 college junior (Quatrani), 8 college senior power hitters and the usual late round HS flyer (Hinojosa).  I know this is incredibly unusual but as picks 11-29 rarely pan out, these picks at least pay homage to the Guardians desire to infuse more power bats into their system.

Now the waiting starts.  Hopefully, whoever the Guardians draft, will be well thought out, balancing floor and ceiling and, in 3 years or so, we will see a lot of these guys in Cleveland helping the ML team win a WS!