TOP DAY ONE DRAFT BY A TEAM:

David Seifert: The Rockies selection of Charlie Condon third overall, Brody  Brecht 38th and Jared Thomas a few picks later at 42 overall was my favorite for its combination of present tools and future upside. Condon and Thomas are going to hit and where better to do it than Coors Stadium. Brecht is a high likelihood big leaguer, maybe not as a starter, but that’s a big, big arm with a swing/miss slider.

I also really liked the Reds balancing the high upsides of Chase Burns and Nebraska prep Tyson Lewis with the present abilities/stuff of Luke Holman. The LA Angels, true to form, drafted potential quick movers in Christian Moore, Chris Cortez and Ryan Johnson.

And the Twins were sneaky good with three high floor college picks of Kaelen Culpepper, Kyle DeBarge and Billy Amick with prep lefthander Dasan Hill.

Shooter Hunt: The Pirates have long been notorious for attacking high school upside in the competitive balance and second rounds, but began the day with Prep Baseball’s No. 2 player in the high school class, SS/OF Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep, MS). The 6-foot-4, 215-pound right-handed hitter holds premium five-tool potential with an incessant motor and elite athleticism. His ceiling is that of a potential 1:1 pick, so to get him at #9 might ultimately look like a steal even for any who may have minor questions about the hit-tool. However, it was the next two picks that pushed the Buccos over the top as they selected RHP Levi Sterling (Notre Dame HS, CA) at #37 and SS Wyatt Sanford (Independence HS, TX) at #47. All three young prospects entered the spring as Top 10 high school prospects, and while Sterling scuffled some, his youth (will not turn 18 until September) combined with the workload of a true two-way athlete should provide for much bigger jumps in the professional ranks with a greater focus on pitching. He holds a four-pitch arsenal with the quick arm of a shortstop and fluid movement patterns. Sanford, a clear first round talent, is likely to command well over slot and had some whispers floating around that he might opt to honor his commitment to Texas A&M. While high school talent is inherently risky, snagging three first round talents is a strong haul, even if the payout hinges on future advancements.

Kendall Rogers: Colorado. I really struggled to choose between the Rockies, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Angels for the best day one of the MLB Draft, but I'm leaning the Rockies for a couple of reasons. First, you've got a bonafide superstar in hard-hitting Charlie Condon. The Golden Spikes Award winner had an incredible offensive campaign and fits perfectly with the offensive environment in the Mile High City. Texas lefthanded hitting slugger Jared Thomas is another stellar pick. Thomas is a hitting machine, is athletic and is an all-around very good baseball player. Then, you have a Top 10 pick type of talent in Iowa righthanded pitcher Brody Brecht going to you in the second round? Brecht needs to be more consistent, but you're talking about an arm with a fastball that touches triple digits and quality secondary offerings. The ceiling is huge for Brecht as he begins his professional career.

The Guardians get serious credit for taking Travis Bazzana No. 1 overall, while NC State catcher Jacob Cozart going to them in the second round is an outstanding selection.

The Angels also caught my attention with the additions of pitchers Chris Cortez (Texas A&M) and Ryan Johnson (Dallas Baptist) and Christian Moore (Tennessee). Moore was an electrifying college player this past season, while Cortez and Johnson are both fireballers who can help the actual big league team sooner rather than later -- especially Cortez. The Athletics also stand out as a solid draft. Tommy White has all the pieces you want, Nick Kurtz is a big-time hitter and LSU lefthanded pitcher Gage Jump has a fastball up to 95-96 mph and a nasty slider and changeup combination. He had a sneaky excellent 2024 campaign, especially late spring.

Aaron Fitt: Cleveland. There was no clear consensus No. 1 prospect in this draft, but Travis Bazzana was No. 1 on my personal board, and I thought the Guardians made the right pick in taking him at that spot. He’s a can’t-miss perennial All-Star, in my opinion. And Cleveland followed that up by getting one of the best values in the draft with pick No. 48, taking NC State’s Jacob Cozart — who might wind up being the best catcher to come out of this draft, when it’s all said and done. Cozart entered the year regarded as a mid-first-rounder by many evaluators, and he still had a solid year even though he did not quite live up to his preseason All-America billing. I think he’ll be a stalwart everyday catcher for years in the big leagues. In between those picks, Cleveland also took an intriguing high school arm in Braylon Doughty — a righty who can touch 97 and spins the heck out of his curveball and slider. Sign me up.

Honorable mention to the Rockies (Charlie Condon, Brody Brecht, Jared Thomas), Athletics (Nick Kurz, Tommy White, Gage Jump) and Angels (Christian Moore, Chris Cortez, Ryan Johnson) for mining the college ranks very effectively and finding some outstanding values outside the first round.

SURPRISE PICKS:

David Seifert: Ben Hess is immensely talented, but his selection 26th overall by the Yankees gave me a quick double-take. Again, very talented with some upside, but at that point there were, in my opinion, better options on the board, including Brody Brecht who went a dozen picks later. As far as a surprise second round pick, Kentucky’s Emilien Pitre stood out to me when the Rays called his name 58th overall. A defensive wizard and bat-to-ball stalwart, Pitre was a likely budget saver as Tampa Bay chose a pricey prep shortstop in Tyler Bell with its next pick and needed to free up some cash.

The Pirates didn’t surprise me with any individual pick, but they did shoot for the moon by selecting higher risk prep prospects with all three of their Day 1 picks.

Shooter Hunt: JD Dix (DBacks, 35th Overall). This is one of those good surprises. Dix had a real shot at being the No. 1 player in the country prior to a shoulder injury, and while he was hobbled throughout much of the summer circuit and had surgery after the Prep Baseball All America Game last fall. However, the strong underclass track record that he provided gave plenty of reason for area guys to circle back as he regained full strength this spring, and in the end he might be one of the bigger steals of the draft.

Kendall Rogers: Jac Caglianone No. 6 overall to Royals, Ben Hess No. 26 overall to the Yankees. We discussed who should go No. 1 overall in the MLB draft leading up to Sunday night. There are plenty of factors on who a team picks No. 1 overall. Sometimes, it's just preference, while other times, it's a combination of preference and potential money savings. Caglianone, our No. 1 overall college prospect, didn't go No. 1 overall. He didn't even go in the top five. Somehow, the Royals snagged him as the 6th overall pick in the draft. Cags, for my money, is the surest high-impact college hitter in this draft, and I think time will prove that to be true. The Royals will gladly take other teams passing on Cags in the top five. As for Hess, who doesn't love a 6-foot-5, 250-pounder who throws absolute jet fuel? I know I do. As much as I've loved some looks at Hess when he's clicking, he also tends to be somewhat inconsistent, which could be problematic at any level -- much less in the big leagues. Hess is a talented arm that would not have looked out of place toward the back end of the second round, much less the back end of the first round.

Aaron Fitt: Ben Hess to the Yankees with pick No. 26. I actually like the pick fine — if you saw Hess on the right day, as I did at the Frisco Classic, you would have walked away saying he’s a no-brainer first-round pick with Lance Lynn-type potential. In fact, after seeing him dominate Indiana back in March, I wrote that Hess “looked the part of a high first-round pick in his five overpowering innings of work, racking up 10 strikeouts against just one walk and one hit.” I saw him hold 94-97 with serious riding life and feel to spin two distinct knockout breaking balls. But he did not have a very good junior year overall, and he ranked as the No. 37 college player on our final Top 200 list (which does not include high school players), so his selection in the first round was really the only surprise among college first-rounders.

FIRST PICK ON DAY TWO & WHY:

David Seifert: The highest ranked prospect remaining on the Prep Baseball Draft Board 150 is Johnny King, a Florida prep and Miami recruit. The lefthanded pitcher is a first round talent. From the college ranks Ryan Forcucci (UC San Diego) is the highest ranking prospect on the draft board. He was injured after making five starts this spring and underwent Tommy John surgery. However, from what I’ve personally seen of all the remaining talent, Connor Gatwood, a prep righthander from Alabama blows away everyone else. The Auburn recruit is likely not signable for the slot as the first pick of Day 2, but if he is, I’m all in.

Shooter Hunt: Ryan Forcucci (Oakland Athletics). The A’s likely have spent a fair amount of the pool with Nick Kurtz (4th overall, $8.37m slot), Tommy White (40th overall, $2.33m slot), and LHP Gage Jump (73rd overall, $1.08m slot), so sticking close to slot at #75 ($1.04m) feels like a safe bet. This likely eliminates a slew of the talented prep arms still on the board. However, a guy like Forcucci who has fallen because of a late injury/surgery, feels like a massive value pick who likely would have commanded at least double this slot value without the injury.

Kendall Rogers: Drew Beam. It wasn't easy to not to go with Mississippi State outfielder Dakota Jordan. I think he's electrifying, and I also think some of his late-season struggles with the Bulldogs were more of a mirage than reality. We shall see. But for this exercise, I'm going with the Tennessee righthanded pitcher. Beam has a physical frame and had his best stuff of the year late, particularly at the College World Series. There, Beam struck out 14 and walked four and allowed just two runs in nine innings of work. If the Beam we saw in Omaha is what we see at the next level, sign me up.

Aaron Fitt: Dakota Jordan. Sure, his bat carries some risk — the track record for players who struck out at a 29 percent rate in their draft years is not great. But I think pick No. 75 is a good time for a risk/reward play, and the potential reward with Jordan is enormous: he’s a freakish athlete who has drawn comparisons to Bo Jackson for years, with a power/speed combination that is only rivaled by Vance Honeycutt among college players in this draft. Shoot the moon. 

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS FROM DAY ONE:

David Seifert: I loved the Orioles pick of Vance Honeycutt. There’s no doubt selecting any hitter with a 28% strikeout rate is a large gamble, but it makes a ton of sense for Baltimore in this case. The Orioles are the top hitter development organization at present and if anyone can squeeze the most juice out of an elite athlete and gold glove defender that Honeycutt is, it’s the O’s.

Wake Forest had two of the first four picks and three of the top 10. Besides LSU last year with Paul Skenes at one overall and Dylan Crews at two, you have to go back to 2011 for that kind of top 10 pick dominance when UCLA’s Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer went first and third overall.

All seven prospects ranked in our top seven were selected in the top seven picks. At D1 Baseball we rank our prospects a little differently than others, relying on our looks and supplementing with the industry whispers. In this case it was one and the same.

Shooter Hunt: RECRUITING CLASS RISKS: There was no surprise from some of the big dogs that were full expected to go early including the multitude of LSU prospects (Griffin-, the Texas trio (Rainer-Gillen-Sterling), or the Oklahoma State arms (Mayfield-Doughty), but there was still some hope coming out of the ACC with regards to Wake Forest and Virginia. The Demon Deacons lost SS JD Dix (35th overall), RHP Ryan Sloan (55th overall), and RHP Chris Levonas (67th overall). Sloan and Levonas, in particular, may have provided a sliver of hope after their names went uncalled through the first 50+ picks, but are likely to garner a number considerably higher than the slot values.

Similarly, Virginia saw a trio of ultra-talented players come off the board all in the second round. First, SS Caleb Bonemer (43rd overall) went back-to-back with SS Luke Dickerson (44th overall) before workhorse RHP Bryce Meccage (57th overall). However, the Wahoos did not hear the names of a handful of ultra talented recruits, and should they slip past the first couple of rounds on Day 2, the program might still make out well, especially given the current view.

Cautious Day 1 Winners:

1. Tennessee
2. Florida State
3. Clemson
4. LSU
5. Iowa

Kendall Rogers: There were few 'wow' moments on the first day of the MLB draft. Jac Caglianone dropping to the No. 6 spot in the draft created a buzz around the industry, while the same occurred when the Yankees took Alabama righthanded pitcher Ben Hess in the first round. But outside of that? Not too crazy. I did love the Orioles -- who have done a great job with college picks recently -- taking North Carolina center fielder Vance Honeycutt as the No. 22 overall pick in the first round. Some scouts knocked Honeycutt pretty good the past couple of weeks because of his propensity to swing and miss. However, Honeycutt has elite athleticism, power, and is a ++ defender out in center. He also has 'it' from an overall approach standpoint. The swing and miss does need to improve, but everything else about Honeycutt checks out ... It was interesting to me how long it took for the high school draft class to really get cooking. There were just two high school prospects taking in the first 15 picks. Overall, there were 21 college players taken in the first round, nine high school players ... Looking ahead, I'm intrigued to see where Texas shortstop Jalin Flores and Texas A&M lefthanded pitcher Ryan Prager go on Day Two. Flores is a draft-eligible sophomore who could get a handsome NIL deal by returning to Austin for another season. The same goes for Prager, who will benefit financially whether he decides to sign or return to college for another season.

Aaron Fitt: I thought it was striking how chalky the first round was — at least according to our rankings. The top seven players off the board were all among the top seven in our College Top 200 (albeit in a different order). Each of the first 17 players on our Top 200 were selected in the first round; the only college players who went in the first round outside that top 17 were Kaelen Culpepper (No. 21) and Hess (No. 37). Usually a team or two or three throws us for a loop with a major eyebrow-raising “reach” in the first round, but that was not the case this year.