2025 Guardians Amateur Draft - Part 9 - Why You Should Never Look at My Mock Drafts - A History Lesson

 OK, looking at the college world series and the 2025 draft combine, I am looking pretty smart as a lot of my draft choices are making noise!

But I wanted to bring this back to earth with a history lesson on my mock drafts.  Let's look back at the drafts I suggested making. Some were mock drafts prior to the draft like this year and some were immediately post-draft mock drafts.  I'll let you know which is which below.

2023 (post-draft retrospective based on available players)

1. Hursten Waldrep:
2. Zack Gelof
2C. Joe Whitman
3. Levi Wells
4. MIchael Carico
5. Jace Bohrofen
6. Alex Mooney
7. Ross Dun
8. Blake Dickerson
9. Matt Etzel
10, Tanner Witt (did not sign)
11. Johny Tincher
12. Keegan Zinn
13. Jacob Bresnahan: 
14. Zane Morehouse
15. Kyle Scott
16. Mac Heuer (did not sign)
17. Barrett Riebock
18. Matt Jachac
19. Josh Harlow
20. Ryan Marohn (did not sign)

Comments: Almost every single pick from my draft has been terrible or injured.  Had the Guardians done my draft it could have gone down as one of the worst drafts in Cleveland history.

2022 (pre-draft)

Round 1 (16 overall) - Zach Neto - SS (went 3 picks before this)

Round 1S (37 overall) - Gabriel Hughes, RHP (went 27 picks before this)

Round 2 (54 overall) - Jud Fabian - OF

Round 3 (92 overall) - Luke Gold - infielder

Round 4 (122 overall) - Xavier Isaac - 1B HS (went 112 places earlier)

Round 5 (152 overall) - Jayson Jones - 3B, HS

Round 6 (182 overall) - Chris Villamin LHP, college

Round 7 (212 overall) - Jorel Ortega 2B, college

Round 8 (242 overall) - Nate Baez - C college

Round 9 (272 overall) - Riley Cornelio - RHP College

Round 10 (302 overall) - Tyler Schweitzer, LHP college

 

Comments - This is a mixed bag for me.  I like parts of my draft (Fabian and Isaac and the lack of slap hitters) but it is hard to argue with DeLauter and Messick and even the Campbell pick.  Bottom line: Other teams liked guys more than I did so my pre-draft strategy would have fallen apart and I would have, from the get-go, been looking for alternatives meaning I did not read the market for these guys correctly.  On the upside, at least I picked guys who were highly valued and valued well above their pre-draft rankings.  So there's that as a consolation prize.

SUMMARY

Here's a hot take: I am really not very good with mock drafts. I either draft the entirely wrong guys (2023) or project the guys who won't even be there when I get to that pick (2022). Despite my complaining, the Guardians tend to do better than me. Duh, they're professionals and I am just a fan.

So, when I do a mock draft...realize that it is going to be wrong.  Ahhh, I feel a lot better now.