The MLB Draft is the most unique of the big four sports in the United States. It has the most rounds by far, leading to the most players drafted as well as the most players who never make the highest stage of the sport. Whereas in other sports you might be able to evaluate the quality of a draft class a year or two later with some level of certainty, baseball draft classes take years upon years to evaluate.

While there has been a recent trend of baseball clubs promoting their prospects more aggressively, typically even the best prospects of a draft class can take a long time to not only get to the big leagues, but solidify into the player they will be over their whole careers.

2024 MLB Draft: Top 300 Players Final Update
The Draft Team releases their final edition of the 2024 MLB Draft board
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So why evaluate something that seems so futile, especially so soon? By no means can we fully appreciate and understand the 2024 draft, as we won't know the answer to that for a significant amount of time. I mean, only 6 of the 615 players drafted last year are in the major leagues and that's a really high number historically. But while a lot can change over the next few years in our opinions about last years draft class, it's important to note what teams are both scouting and developing well. It's also interesting to see what types of players certain teams are particularly excelling at drafting, which can help us appreciate the players they select in the most recent draft.

Also of note, my goal is to take a class as a whole. While the Pirates killed their first pick in the draft with Konnor Griffin and the Cubs certainly are happy they took Cam Smith (whether they traded him for Kyle Tucker or not), I'm wanting to look at the classes as a whole. So here are the teams I believed did the best in the 2024 draft, just a year later.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox had the 12th pick in the draft last year and absolutely nailed their class. The Red Sox would still be here even if I didn't count their first round pick, Braden Montgomery, who they traded in the deal for Garrett Crochet. After Montgomery, the Red Sox definitely prioritized college pitching but did sprinkle in some high upside hitters.

Of the college pitchers that the Red Sox took, none is more exciting than Payton Tolle. Tolle came into the Red Sox farm system with an unorthodox but enticing pitching motion. Tolle is an absolute unit and boasts elite extension, which helps his stuff play way up, especially when combined with low release height. Tolle has been dynamite to start this year, making it to Double-A Portland already with tons of strikeouts and doing a fantastic job of limiting walks, with an insane 32.8% K-BB%.

The Red Sox didn't just stop with an elite hitter/pitcher combo of Montgomery and Tolle. They also added Brandon Clarke who's been really solid in High-A, and while Brandon Neely has been out all year with a forearm strain, when healthy he is another arm to watch in this system. Both also have elite first names.

On the offensive side, Zach Ehrhard has had a fantastic season at Double-A showing off the power/speed combo while keeping his strikeouts in check. Ehrhard is one of my favorite pop-up guys for me this year. Conrad Cason has been hurt since early May, but he has the athleticism and tools to really blow up if everything can come together. It's not fully clear whether he will stick on the mound or in the batters box, as he did both in his 2-game stint before succumbing to an injury.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays picked 20th in 2024 and were absolutely thrilled when Trey Yesavage fell to them. Yesavage was ranked 9th on our 2024 MLB Draft Rankings where our draft team noted incredible stuff and so far that's really showing out this season. Yesavage has already reached Double-A, and while his short stint there hasn't been all that good statistically, it's only a matter of time before he dominates the level and continues to advance up the minor league ladder.

A class isn't great just because of one pick, and where the Blue Jays really succeeded last year was finding not just Yesavage but another college pitcher in Khal Stephen out of Mississippi State. Stephen was a top 100 draft prospect last year but needed to find a secondary that he could pair with his above-average fastball in order to become a mid-rotation starter. Well it looks like he might have found it with his splitter. The strikeouts have been solid but it's the walks that have been really reigned in. I'm a big believer that Stephen will reach that mid-rotation ceiling.

After talking about the first two picks for the Blue Jays, why not talk about their 3rd? Johnny King is yet another pitcher the Blue Jays selected in 2024 that's doing really well this season. While the walks have spiked since joining Single-A Dunedin, King dominated the complex and is still showing strikeout stuff after getting the call. King will likely have a long road to the big leagues but if he can reign in the control he could give the Blue Jays another member of their rotation in a few years.

The Blue Jays might have solved 3 rotation spots in just one draft last year, and while it'll be a long road to that idea coming to fruition if those 3 pitchers can stay healthy and continue to trend up the way they have been it's likely to happen.

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