Cleveland Baseball Insider

ESPN, Bleacher Report Mock Drafts Split On Guardians’ Top Overall Pick

Georgia OF/1B/3B Charlie Condon and Oregon State 2B Travis Bazzana are both possibilities for Cleveland with the first overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.
Logan Potosky|
Georgia's first baseman Charlie Condon (24) with a home run on the Gators, Friday, April 14, 2023, at Condron Family Baseball Park in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost Game 1 of the weekend series to the Bulldogs 13-11. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2023 Gator Baseball April 14 2023 Condron Family Ballpark Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia's first baseman Charlie Condon (24) with a home run on the Gators, Friday, April 14, 2023, at Condron Family Baseball Park in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost Game 1 of the weekend series to the Bulldogs 13-11. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2023 Gator Baseball April 14 2023 Condron Family Ballpark Georgia Bulldogs | Cyndi Chambers / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians are just over a month away from making franchise history.

The team will make the first overall pick in the MLB Draft for the first time in the club’s 123-year existence.

Who will their selection be? Only time will tell.

But two major publications have recently released mock drafts, and they have two different players being selected by Cleveland at the top of the draft order.

On Wednesday, ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel released his 2024 MLB Mock Draft 1.0, in which he has the Guardians drafting Georgia OF/1B/3B Charlie Condon first overall. But on Thursday, Bleacher Report National MLB Columnist Joel Reuter predicted that Cleveland will select Oregon State 2B Travis Bazzana in his latest mock draft.

Georgia's first baseman Charlie Condon (24) with a home run on the Gators, Friday, April 14, 2023, at Condron Family Baseball Park in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost Game 1 of the weekend series to the Bulldogs 13-11. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2023 Gator Baseball April 14 2023 Condron Family Ballpark Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia's first baseman Charlie Condon (24) with a home run on the Gators, Friday, April 14, 2023, at Condron Family Baseball Park in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost Game 1 of the weekend series to the Bulldogs 13-11. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2023 Gator Baseball April 14 2023 Condron Family Ballpark Georgia Bulldogs | Cyndi Chambers / USA TODAY NETWORK

These two have been a pair of college baseball’s best hitters this year.

Through the games of Sunday, May 26, Condon leads Division I in batting average (.443), home runs (35), slugging percentage (1.043), and total bases (219), while ranking third in on-base percentage (.558), eighth in runs (78), and tied for eighth in hits (93). His 35 home runs have also set a new BBCOR era single-season record.

Bazzana has also fared extremely well offensively. He ranks second in Division I in both on-base percentage (.581) and slugging percentage (.939), while ranking fourth in batting average (.418), tied for fifth in total bases (184), sixth in runs (80), and eighth in home runs (26). His 26 home runs are also an Oregon State single-season record.

With the 2024 MLB Draft set to take place during the All-Star Break in July, it remains to be seen whether the Guardians select one of these two star hitters, or another premier prospect.

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Logan Potosky
LOGAN POTOSKY

Logan Potosky is an aspiring play-by-play sports broadcaster who, to date, has called approximately 350+ hours of professional, college, and high school sporting events. He is currently the Play-by-Play Broadcaster for the Lake County Captains, the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2023 with a degree in Communication, with a concentration in Digital Media, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.

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