Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz break down the first night of the Major League Baseball Draft at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, TX.
Video transcript
The 2024 MLB Draft is over.
Not really, but the first round changed a lot of lives tonight, including Jordan Schusterman’s life.
Draft number one, idiot, yes I saw it, I was here, I saw the first round of the draft.
The second round is still ongoing.
We wanted to recap.
One of the most memorable and notable things that happened during the round.
Number one.
Let’s start from the top.
Travis Pisana.
Could the Australian wonder be the wonder down under, as they call it?
Killed.
My best player in this draft.
It was so cool to see Cleveland say, yes, he’s the best player in this draft.
I know it’s a discussion or maybe they go to the slot, maybe they sign a different player.
They chose Travis and I’m so excited to see what happens next with his career.
It’s been an unbelievable rise for him.
Not really a surprise in one, but we certainly got a surprise in two with the Reds pursuing Charlie Condon.
Condon was college baseball’s player of the year last season.
Most drafts had Condon going to the Reds, but instead they go with Burns, who was a pitcher at Wake Forest.
Yeah, and Burns, I mean, listen, you watch Chase Burns pitch.
It’s not that complicated.
He was probably the best pitcher in this draft, but it was a big decision.
And, and the dominoes of this are: Charlie Connon goes three to Colorado and then Jack Hagley, perhaps the most famous player in college baseball ends up going number six to Kansas City.
I want to go back to Condon for a second.
This guy hit 34 more home runs than that.
He caught a 37 and won the batting title and won the batting title and now he’s going to hit at Coors Field like we’re relatively low, relatively at Condon.
But I would say it’s a good marriage, a good place to keep putting up ridiculous numbers.
And the next thing, after going through these top picks, is the 10-year-old nationals, I think were really interesting.
Just a few days ago, they made a trade with Kansas City, traded reliever Hunter Harvey to Kansas City and got a competitive balance 39 pick.
Then suddenly, the day before the draft, they have an extra pick on the first night.
So we were very curious about what they were going to do and I’m fascinated by what they did.
They took Sever King at No. 10, an infielder or outfielder out of Wake Forest, one of the most athletic players in the draft.
And then we wait until 39, they get a catcher, Caleb Loda, these two guys, extremely athletic, really fun hitters to watch very aggressive swingers and the Nationals.
We’ll see if they’re developing hitters, we’ll see, we’ll see.
And, but if they can dial in these approaches and they’re a lot, what’s that like?
Very interesting about that.
It’s a new group of scouts for NATS, like the people making these choices, these decisions are totally different for this season.
And we saw a unique strategy from them.
Now, Jordan, the last question I have for you is a choice of light.
Let’s say the second half of the first round you really like, I’m actually going to get into the complex a little bit.
I’m going with Blake Burke, first baseman from Tennessee, going to the Brewers, their first pick, Bray and paid outfielder from Texas.
That seemed perhaps a bit of an aggressive choice.
Payne wasn’t in my top 50, although I understand why people like him.
But Burke, I love this guy who got a lot better throughout his college career at Tennessee and I think he could absolutely collect in Milwaukee.
I really liked what the Dodgers did with Kelly Lindsay, who was a high school shortstop from Florida from the middle of nowhere.
Swampland Florida, who was not seen on the exhibition circuit because he suffered a very poorly timed injury.
Last summer.
Reports started coming in this spring that this kid was truly special, of elite speed, like a top-of-the-line runner.
Can he hit?
It’s impossible to know.
I don’t know if I can get it right or if Jordan can get it right. The Dodgers can usually get it right.
So we’ll find out, and obviously, there’s a lot more to come.
We have day two and day three coming up in the next few days, but this is round one.
I’m Jordan, this is Jake and this will be the draft.
I would recruit you, man.
Thanks Bud.
Yes.
