Guardians make Bazzana first 2B taken No. 1

FORT WORTH, Texas — Travis Bazzana, the Oregon State star who was arguably the most polished hitter in this year’s draft class, made history Sunday, becoming the first second baseman ever to go No. 1 overall upon being selected by the Cleveland Guardians.

Bazzana, 21, a left-handed hitter, accumulated 28 home runs in 60 games this season, the most by a Pac-12 player in a quarter-century, while slashing .407/.568/.911. Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said he sees Bazzana as a second baseman at the moment but believes he possesses the athleticism to play other positions, perhaps the outfield, which might eventually be necessary given the presence of Andres Gimenez in the major leagues.

“We view him to be a dynamic player,” Antonetti said. “He’s a guy who makes really good swing decisions, controls the strike zone really well, rarely swings and misses, and can really impact the baseball. We think he has a chance to impact the game in a variety of ways.”

Chase Burns, the Wake Forest right-hander who has drawn comparisons to Paul Skenes, went second to the Cincinnati Reds, and Hagen Smith, the hard-throwing lefty out of Arkansas, went to the Chicago White Sox at No. 5. Selected between the draft’s top two pitchers were Charlie Condon, the Georgia third baseman who went to the Colorado Rockies at No. 3 and was announced as an outfielder, and Nick Kurtz, the Wake Forest first baseman who went to the Oakland Athletics at No. 5.

Florida two-way player Jac Caglianone, who is widely expected to stick to hitting in the pros, went sixth to the Kansas City Royals. The next two selections were players who attended the draft at Cowtown Coliseum, a popular rodeo venue in the Fort Worth Stockyards: West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt to the St. Louis Cardinals and Tennessee second baseman Christian Moore to the Los Angeles Angels.

Wetherholt described himself as “a five-tool player who can do it all — hits, runs well, steals, play anywhere defensively. Just a guy who’s going to win.”

Under fourth-year general manager Perry Minasian, the Angels have earned a reputation for being uncommonly aggressive with prospects, promoting first baseman Nolan Schanuel after 22 minor league games and shortstop Zach Neto after just 48. Ben Joyce, Moore’s teammate at Tennessee, was also promoted within a year of getting drafted.

“Being here is crazy,” Moore said. “I never imagined being in this situation, but I always watched it on TV.”

The first high school player, shortstop Konnor Griffin out of Jackson Prep in Mississippi, didn’t go until No. 9 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the latest the first high school player has ever been taken. He was followed by another shortstop, Seaver King out of Wake Forest, at No. 10 to the Washington Nationals.

King, an impressive athlete who might need to make some adjustments with his swing, was a surprise to crack the top 10. Condon, meanwhile, was ranked first on ESPN’s list of the top 250 draft prospects and was predicted to go second in ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel’s latest mock draft. The 2024 Golden Spikes winner fell one spot lower to the Rockies, putting the 6-foot-6 power hitter with a franchise that plays its home games 5,200 feet above sea level.

Bazzana became just the eighth second baseman to go in the top 10 and beat Rickie Weeks — the second overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003 — for the earliest selection at his position. That the Guardians even got to select him was a near-miracle. They entered Major League Baseball’s second draft lottery with only a 2% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and wound up selecting first for the first time in franchise history. Their $18.3 million draft pool, which teams spread through the first 10 rounds, is the largest since the bonus-pool era began in 2012.

The No. 1 pick is valued at $10.57 million; Antonetti said the Guardians and Bazzana’s representatives have already agreed to terms on his signing bonus but still have details to finalize.

“I never really knew if [No. 1] was possible, and at least a couple years ago I didn’t really think that that was going to be in the picture,” Bazzana said. “It probably only came into the picture upon the Cape Cod [League] last year. I just tried to go out and have a great year. This was a byproduct of it. I’m just stoked right now.”

The 2024 draft marked the first time the first two selections were born outside the United States. Bazzana hails from Australia, having played in the Australian Baseball League at just 15 years old, and is the first Australian player taken No. 1, while Burns was born in Italy. Prior to this year’s draft, only three players born outside the 50 states had ever gone within the top two spots — Les Rohr to the New York Mets in 1965, Pedro Alvarez to the Pirates in 2008 and Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros in 2012.

Burns, who possesses a power fastball and breaking ball but little-used third and fourth offerings, was the ACC Pitcher of the Year and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award after going 10-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 191 strikeouts in 100 innings as a junior this season.

“I was pretty surprised,” Burns said of going second overall. “I didn’t really know what to think. I kinda got a quick call. I’m just really excited.”

The Nos. 11 to 15 picks, respectively, were: high school shortstop Bryce Rainer to the Detroit Tigers, Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery to the Boston Red Sox, Florida State outfielder James Tibbs III to the San Francisco Giants, Florida State third baseman Cam Smith to the Chicago Cubs and Mississippi State switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje to the Seattle Mariners.

Cijntje is considered a better pitcher from the right side and mostly shelved throwing left-handed in the second half of this past season, but Mariners director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said the organization would let Cijntje decide whether he wants to continue pitching with both arms.

The first high school pitcher drafted was lefty Cam Caminiti at No. 24 to the Atlanta Braves, the latest in draft history that the first high school pitcher has come off the board. Caminiti is the cousin of longtime third baseman Ken Caminiti, who won an MVP Award in 1996.

The first two rounds took place Sunday, with the other 18 rounds to be held Monday and Tuesday.

One of the highlights of the draft came when the Minnesota Twins selected Kansas State shortstop Kaelen Culpepper at No. 21. Culpepper, tied with Jordan Wicks for the highest pick in Kansas State history, was moved to tears while up on stage with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, drawing a rousing applause from the fans in attendance.

“When you look back at the journey that I’ve been through, all those hard times, all the adversity I’ve been through — it just means so much,” Culpepper told the crowd moments later. “This is the result of it right here.”