Tonight, the Guardians are locked into the 19th pick as the MLB Draft lottery takes place… but just 2 short years ago, they landed the number one pick and the largest allotment of money to sign drafted players.
Although tonight’s draft lottery will hold little to no excitement for the Guardians, aside from rooting for White Sox’ and Twins’ disappointment, there is still a lot riding on how they handled having the number one pick in 2024, some of that pressure coming to bear on the 2026 season. Cleveland
fans are justifed to assume – at the most – that the team will only spend to 2025 payroll levels, so, they need to have prospects impact the major league team at a significant level. What are the chances that players from this historic draft opportunity will answer that call? Let’s take a look at how 2025 went for the 2024 Guardians’ draft class:
Cam Walty, RHP, 20th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 48 innings: 3.22 FIP, 7.08/2.05 K/BB/9.
Cam Schuelke, RHP, 19th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 22 relief innings: 3.97 FIP, 9.93/3.97 K/BB/9.
Izaak Martinez, LHP, 18th round, 24 years old – High-A stats in 52 innings: 3.97 FIP, 6.58/3.29 K/BB/9.
Logan McGuire, RHP, 17th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 67 relief innings: 2.50 FIP, 10.07/1.48 K/BB/9.
Jacob Remily, RHP, 16th round, 19 years old – Pitched eight forgettable innings in Arizona complex league.
Conner Whittaker, RHP, 15th round, 22 years old – High-A stats in 18 relief innings: 3.30 FIP, 4.91/2.45 K/BB/9.
Ryan Cesarini, LHH OF, 14th round, 22 years old – High-A stats in 25 games: 138 wRC+, 16.4/10 K/BB%.
Bennett Thompson, RHH C, 13th round, 22 years old – High-A stats in 17 games: 145 wRC+, 13.8/12.8 K/BB%.
Sean Heppner, RHP 12th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 42 relief innings: 5.79 FIP, 7.50/7.50 K/BB/9.
Garrett Howe, LHH IF 11th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 81 games: 73 wRC+, 26.8/7.1 K/BB%.
Chase Mobley, RHP 10th round, 19 years old – A smattering of unimpressive stats in complex league and single-A over 20 innings. He’s striking out over 13 batters per 9 and walking over 10 per 9.
Sean Matson, RHP 9th round, 23 years old – Single-A and High-A 86 innings, mostly in relief – 3.01 FIP, 9.97/2.8 K/BB/9.
Donovan Zsak, LHP 8th round, 23 years old – Single-A stats in 31 relief innings – 5.05 FIP, 12.48/8.13 K/BB/9.
Cameron Sullivan, RHP 7th round, 19 years old – No stats yet.
Caden Favors, LHP 6th round, 24 years old – Single-A Stats in 108 innings – 3.75 FIP, 9.42/4.33 K/BB/9.
Aidan Major, RHP 5th round, 22 years old – No stats yet.
Rafe Schlesinger, LHP 4th round, 22 years old – Stats between Single and High-A in 103 innings: 3.14 FIP, 9.72/3.73 K/BB/9.
Joey Oakie, RHP 3rd round, 19 years old – Single-A stats in 24 innings: 4.48 FIP, 11.47/5.55 K/BB/9.
Jacob Cozart, LHH 2nd round, 22 years old – Stats between High-A and Double A: 108 wRC+, 22.1/12.2 K/BB%.
Braylon Doughty, RHP 1st round, 20 years old – Stats in Single-A in 85 innings: 2.84 FIP, 10.44/2.43 K/BB/9
Travis Bazzana, LHH 2B 1st overall pick, 23 years old – In 77 games in Double-A and Triple-A: 137 wRC+, 24.3/17.6 K/BB%.
Good picks: Bazzana, Doughty, Schlesinger, Matson, Thompson, Cesarini, Whittaker, and McGuire.
Solid-so-far picks: Cozart, Oakie, Favors, Martinez, Schuelke, and Walty.
Not-looking-good-so-far picks: Major, Sullivan, Mobley, Howe, Heppner and Remily.
Top Five Most likely to impact the 2026 Guardians: 5. Cozart, 4. McGuire, 3. Matson, 2. Schlesinger, 1. Bazzana.
Analysis: So far, looking like a great class with around 2/3rds tracking to have a decent shot at making a major league roster. All eyes will be on top-pick Travis Bazzana, in 2026, who could even get a chance to make the team out of Spring Training if the stars grant Cleveland fans’ wishes. He’ll have to prove he has put his oblique injury behind him and probably find a way to reduce his strikeouts as well as getting to more of his power. Schlesinger, Matson and McGuire could help in the bullpen if they continue to grow and develop. And, finally, catcher depth is important and Cozart’s path, especially in the second half, look like he could potentially offer some of that in 2026 if called upon.
