As the 2025 MLB Draft quickly approaches, the Prospects Live team wants to make your life as easy as possible. In this series of articles, I'll be providing team-by-team analysis of their recent draft trends, their available draft capital for 2025, any areas of the draft they've heavily targeted, as well as a few names in this year's class that might fit into their historically preferred archetype.
Max Ellingsen
This analysis isn't sourced for the upcoming year, nor is it a guarantee the organization won't pivot from what they've done in the past. Simply put, this article aims to provide an in-depth look at teams and their recent draft classes to try and decipher trends that could help uncover players your favorite team might be targeting. It's far from a perfect science, but I've done my job if it makes things easier to follow on draft day.
Cleveland Guardians
- 2025 Bonus Pool Value - $10,198,100 (21st)
- Top 100 selections - 27, 64, 66, 70
The Guardians find themselves with four top one hundred picks, however with a late first rounder and three picks in the mid to late second round, they’re actually positioned in the bottom ten for total bonus pool allotment. In stark contrast to last year’s behemoth stockpile of picks and cash that included the first overall selection, I’d expect a more muted class for Cleveland this July.
2024 Draft Overview
As previously mentioned, the Guards lucked out and secured the first overall pick in 2024, selecting Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana ($1,620,000 underslot). Following with Braylon Doughty (slot) in the Comp A round and Joey Oakie ($1,095,000 overslot) in the third, Cleveland opted for two prep hurlers early and sandwiched NC State catcher Jacob Cozart ($110,000 overslot) in between them. A pair of college hurlers in Rafe Schlesinger ($195,000 underslot) and Aidan Major ($40,000 underslot) came next, though the story of the later rounds came with another pair of prep arms signing for a considerable chunk of change. Seventh rounder Cameron Sullivan ($245,000 overslot) and tenth rounder Chase Mobley ($1,770,000 overslot) each have considerable upside and could become monsters with the help of Cleveland’s pitching development. It’s hard to mess up a class with this much capital, but Cleveland brought in an absolute haul of talent they can dream on for years to come. Only time will tell if it pans out, but they gave themselves about as many shots as you could hope for.
2023 Draft Overview
Cleveland opted for the polished Ralphy Velazquez ($880,000 underslot) in the first round of the 2023 draft, turning those savings around and taking the incredibly raw but tantalizing lefty Alex Clemmey ($900,000 overslot) in the second. They continued to save with a pair of Miami Hurricanes in Andrew Walters ($315,000 underslot) and C.J. Kayfus ($25,000 underslot) as well as Clemson catcher Cooper Ingle ($126,000 underslot), however the savings slowed down with Christian Knapczyk ($14,000 overslot) and Tommy Hawke (slot) and ultimately dried up with sophomore signee Alex Mooney ($770,000 overslot) out of Duke. They had some nice late round hits with Jonah Advincula ($41,000 underslot) and Matt Tugboat Wilkinson ($45,000 underslot) as well, joining 13th round splurge Jacob Bresnahan ($225,000 overslot) amongst Cleveland’s talented system. Another class that featured a nice blend of prep and college talent that’s netted Cleveland several legitimate big league pieces for the future.
2022 Draft Overview
The Guardians scooped up the injured Chase DeLauter ($190,000 underslot) in the first round for a deal and continued to save early with college arms Justin Campbell ($400,000 underslot) and Parker Messick ($110,000 underslot). Outfielder Joe Lampe ($130,000 overslot) followed with an overslot deal while Nate Furman ($200,000 underslot) and Guy Lipscomb ($95,000 underslot) saved them some cash. The savings were allotted to two prep pitchers, sixth rounder Jackson Humphries ($420,000 overslot) and tenth rounder Jacob Zibin ($1,050,000 overslot). This 2022 class was probably the weakest of the three we’ve covered thus far, but the key point we can take away from this is whether or not the immediate impact of their drafted players is immediately felt or not has little effect on how they choose to play their cards. They’re going to move money around, they’re going to take a relatively safe bat early, and they’re going to take at least a couple shots on prep pitchers. It’s clockwork.
Early Round Demographics
As previously stated, the Guardians love to take a hitter early, particularly a hitter with an above average hit tool and some level of power projection. They’ve been far less concerned with positional versatility as most other clubs, with none of their first three picks playing a truly premium position. After that, it’s all about pitching. They’ll mix in some college bats to save some money here and there, but Cleveland loves to develop pitching and will take as many swings at it as they can.
Late Round Demographics
It continues to be all about pitching here, with Cleveland routinely dropping a million or more of their bonus pools in the later rounds of the draft on prep pitchers. When they target hitters, they’ve liked to prioritize the hit tool, however the core of their draft strategy revolves around the pitching talent. They want to move money around and maximize the number of upside plays they can make, and I wouldn’t expect that to change whatsoever. There’s plenty of interesting arms for their development program to sink their teeth into.
Names to Know
Devin Taylor, Indiana OF - It’s iffy on whether Taylor would be available, but if he was, I’d think Cleveland would love to bring him into the organization. Seems to fit like a glove.
Ethan Conrad, Wake Forest OF - The DeLauter pick shows they don’t mind taking an injured player with a somewhat unproven track record, and Conrad certainly fits that description. He could easily be one of the bigger steals of this draft.
Kayson Cunningham, High School SS - It’s possible Cunningham pops in the early teens of this first round, but I don’t think it’s out of the question he slips to the back half and Cleveland is able to scoop him up. I like the organizational fit here.
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