2024 Draft Grades

Here are the grades from my eyes, this is for pure entertainment value.

Arizona - First round pick of Manuel Untiveros is the only player of value. Should be a good power guy but not sure if he will ever develop into a contact and eye guy.
grade - C

Atlanta - First round pick of Kenneth Dorton is an ok pick. Could be a good middle rotation pitcher if he develops in the system. He just turned 20, so he does have time to develop and he has a decent health rating at 73. He is a left handed power pitcher and those are hit and miss but his HR to IP ratio does not appear to be bad from his HS days. I feel there were a few better SP candidates that went after this pick. Not a fan of the 3rd round pick of Swint.
Grade - C +

Balt - no picks
Grade - inc

Boston - Cusack has a ton of potential but is very raw at 16 years old. On my draft board I saw him as too much of a risk and I thought he was more bust candidate. He is averaging giving up a home run for every 12 innings pitched. The 2nd round pick of Murphy is another pick that I am not a fan of. He should have good power and eye numbers but his contact numbers will never get there.
grade - D

Chicago Cubs - In the first round the Cubs took a pair of RF's in Hopley and Johnson. A little fan of Hopley not so much in Johnson. If hopely can develop an eye and contact will be a deadly threat in a lineup. However, their best pick came in the 2nd round of Were. Big fan of Were and was hoping he would last another 10 picks till my next pick. I think Were will be a better player than Johnson.
Grade B-

Chicago White Sox - No first round picks but he picked up a tremendous steal in the start of the 2nd round of Pat Larking. Thought he was a mid first round value that droped to the early 2nd round. Not a fan of the pick of Nuttle, low health numbers for a player that will take a long time to develop. Wickstead is an interesting pick, could be a back of the rotation pitcher.
Grade B

Cincinati Reds - No first round pick, Brian Adams is not a bad 2nd round pick, At 18 years old has solid contact and eye numbers and good defensive numbers. Could be a good catcher when he hits the ML level. Could be a superstar if his contact number ever improves. Stanbury is a good 3rd round pick, if he had power or speed would have been a 2nd round value. If he gets a favorable jump could be a real good player.
Grade B

Cleveland Indians - Denis Helmuth in the first round is not a bad choice. He has good eye and power numbers for a 21 year old. He should develop into a good player. Stan Skiper was interesting to me, he is most likely a SP candidate over being a RP. Reddan was another pitcher on my radar, should be a good RP if he can last 2-3 years without hitting his peak. Whisenant is another pitcher I considered a few times, think he is another pitcher that can be moved from RP to SP.
Grade B

Colorado Rockies - 1st round pick of Zlotnick is a bit interesting, when I first looked at it thought it was a bit of a reach. When I looked at him, he is very interesting. Limits home runs well and very good power numbers. Should be a solid strike out pitcher. Not sure if he is a candidate to be converted to a sp but he is a very good hitter (91 rating), if his gb% was a bit better it would be a no brainer. Parsons in the 2nd round I am not a fan of but at 16 years old, has a long time to mature.
Grade B

Detroit - no picks
Grade inc

Florida Marlins - Their first pick of the draft was at the end of the 2nd round and he was Edmund MacIntyre. Which drew the ire of a few owners in the league as did the 5th round selection of Bruce Feldman. Feldman is a prospect that should be converted to a SP and Macintyre is an interesting prospect that if he jumps could be a mid rotation type of pitcher.
Grade - C

Houston Astros - Last pick of the first round was Fernando Ezquerra. Good contact and speed numbers but the low health number is a concern. Dj then loaded up on arms in Waterman, Hefferan, Benn and Lomax in the 2nd and 3rd round. All of which are interesting prospects that could develop over time. Clement is interesting as well, if he can ever develop his contact and eye will be deadly with that speed.
Grade B+

KC Royals - First round pick of Gravitt is a good pick at where he obtained him (pick 27). At only 17 he has a long time to develop and I love his 60% GB. Bagnell is another interesting prospect, like players with speed in that MI. If he can develop his contact and eye, should be a good player. Donahue was a player on my radar that I liked. Think he will be a solid RP.
Grade B

LA Angels - First round picks of Mantle, Becker, Candelalia, Bradley are a good core to a rebuilding team. Mantle is going to be converted to a SP. in about 120 IP in high school, he has given up 1 home run. Add the fact that he is 16 and won't turn 17 till November makes him one of the youngest players in the draft with a 69 overall and a 97 peak makes him less risk with a high ceiling. Becker to me was the best hitter in the draft and Candelalia was one of the better rounded players (love that he is a switch hitter) and Bradley (would have considered him in the top 2 if he was a lefty or switch hitter) strong power numbers at 1st base. Reyes and Franco in the 2nd and 3rd round are good values in my eyes. I also picked up additional pitchers in Tista, Pena, Villegus, Craig and Nemchyonok. 4 of which are RP and only 2 will remain as RP in Tista and Craig.
Grade A

LA Dodgers - All I can say with this draft is wow. Andy did such a good job and was the clear winner in this draft. Wolfson is a very good starting pitcher and I had to think long and hard about him at 7 because I had him as a top 5 pick and was shocked that he fell. Then he adds Phillips and Bawden in the first round that I liked. Him taking Bawden is the biggest reason, I pulled the trigger and moved to 17 to pick up Bradley. His pick of Kelly I was not a fan of, I thought Reyes would have been a better option at 3rd. However, the picks of Wilkinson and Robinson in the 2nd round are very very good. 2 players that should have been taken mid/late 1st round. Shawn Deck is another really good pick that was on my radar. He should develop to a solid player that can hit in the back of the lineup. Andy also loaded up on pitchers that are candidates to be converted to SP from RP.
Grade A+

Milwaukee Brewers - Billy Crum is a very solid pick at 3, though he was the 3rd rated pitcher on my board behind Mantle and Wolfson. My concern with Crum is primarily his health rating of 63. With a player the age of 17, that is a huge risk because of the long time it will take him to reach his potential. Leaves a lot of time for injuries and injuries cause drop in ratings. Trimmel at the start of the 3rd round is not a bad choice for where he went in the draft, some good potential with him.
grade - C+

Minnesota Twins - Michael Norris in the end of the 1st round is not a bad choice, on my board I had wilkinson and robinson slightly ahead of him but he fell at a spot that I had him slotted in the draft. Should end up being a good middle rotation type of pitcher. Denson is interesting to me, real good power numbers and plays good defense already for a 20 year old. Should have very good defensive numbers and power numbers when he matures, the question will be where does his contact and eye end up. I really like Kibler in the 3rd round, he should be a very good closer or setup pitcher.
Grade B

New York Mets - Uckerman was an interesting pick over a few of the other hitters on the board at the time. He turned 21 in March, so he is a young 21. Has good contact numbers and his defensive numbers should be sound. It will depend if he can develop power and eye on the quality of prospect that he will become. Not a big fan of Wedell in the 2nd round. However, he has a long time to develop and has a good health rating, so that should help him over the time it takes him to develop. Banner is a player that I had on my list of RP to be converted to SP. He could be a good end of the rotation type of pitcher.
Grade C

NY Yankees - First pick was in the 2nd round and that was Trandel. Not a huge fan of him but with where he went in the draft it was not a bad choice because he does have some decent upside. However, there were some RPs on the board that could have been converted to SP that would have been better choices if they wanted to go the SP route. The rest of the draft are not players I had on my radar and I don't think they will amount to much.
Grade D

Oakland Athletics - Michael Grier was a little bit of a reach. I thought Larking would have been a better choice if they wanted a first base, or some of the SP's that LAD picked up in the early 2nd round. Grier could develop into a solid power hitting first base, just think there were better options. Murray in the 2nd round was a tremendous pick, he should be converted to a sp. 4 pitches and 80 health, the only thing that would have made it better was a better GB%. Manguia and Venable good choices at the end of 2nd and 3rd round. Both I think will be solid players on the major league level.
Grade B

Philadelphia Phillies - At pick number 5 they went with Cam Bibbs and he really is an interesting prospect. He is going to be a power right handed pitcher and he has tremendous health ratings. I had him in my top 5 starting pitchers. I obviously would have gone with Wolfson here but Bibbs is another good pick with tremendous upside and might develop into the best K pitcher in this draft. Philly also had another 2 first round picks in Arikawa and Vrisar. I like Vrisar, he should be a real good player in a few years. Might not have the tremendous contact numbers but should have good power and eye numbers, more of a 4-5 hitter in a lineup. Arikawa, I am not really impressed with, I think there are pitchers that should have gone ahead of him here at 13, thought he was a reach of about 15 picks or so. The 4th round pick of Rincon was on my radar, he is another one of those RP candidates that are interesting to me to convert to a SP. Laverde if he takes a jump could be a nice bench player/situational starter.
Grade B+

Pittsburgh Pirates - Typically in past drafts there are 1-2 players that I say oh shit when Pitt comes up because he has a tendency to take some players I am waiting on, however in this draft I did not see much of it. However, looking at his draft, he did very well for himself. He went with 3 RP's in the 2nd round, all of which know 3 pitches. Sasaki and Barnett are people I had on my list of RP's that can be converted to SP. So it will be interesting to see if he goes that route. Phil Ray is an interesting player, very good defensive numbers. Very similar to Paul Poisal that Peter drafted a few years ago that is on Chicago now. It will depend if he can get the contact numbers like Poisal. Negrete was another good pick, 4 pitches, most likely going to transfer over to a SP. Joel Block is a guy that I liked, Was going to take him with a later pick I had in the round. I would give this class an A if Peter had a 1st round pick that was a clear impact player.
Grade B+

San Diego (whales vagina) - no picks
Grade - inc

San Francisco - Their first pick was in the fifth round and that was Peter Pilacik. Most likely he is a player that won't really amount to anything.
grade - inc

Seatle Mariners - Had one pick in the entire draft and that was Jason Blume. I love the speed on Blume. There were a couple things I did not like about him and the biggest is his age. He is 21 and going to be 22 on the season. For a 21 year old, would love to see the contact number be a little higher than that. He has drawn the comparison to Conwell from Houston but when Conwell came out, he had higher contact, power and eye numbers, along with tremendous defensive vitals. I don't see that in Blume. I think Blume is going to be good but I don't think he will be close to Conwell.
Grade - B

St. Louis Cardinals - Bruce Verbos is a good pick at where they obtained them in the draft, it is hard to find left handed bats with the upside of Verbos. He reminds me a little of a younger version of James Aitkenhead. Could end up being a very solid pick. Hanshaw I am not a big fan of in the 2nd round. Don't think he will amount to much. Tremblay is an interesting pick, if he gets a favorable jump could end up being a decent catcher.
Grade B-

Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa had 2 first round selections and they went with Sakamoto at 11 and Maehara at 25. Sakamoto went about where I figured in the draft, he was a step ahead of the 2 pitchers the dodgers obtained in the early 2nd round and behind the pitchers taken in front of him. I like Maehara but not as much as Wilknson and Robinson, however he was in line with them and this was about where I would have put him on my draft board. So it is more of a pick of preference, he does have tremendous upside with only being 17 and a good health rating of 79 to go with that age. Tampa's next picks were in the 4th round and they picked up a pair of RP that are ok looking prospects.
Grade B

Texas Rangers - no picks
grade - inc

Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto ended up with the 29th pick and they were not in a postion to acquire many picks this season, which is mainly because Andy was pulling double duty with LAD. The first round pick of Artis is a good pick, He is 20 and will turn 21 in August and he has some decent vitals for a 20 year old. The health on Laurenca scares me a little, could be an interesting pitcher if he gets a favorable jump. McCaslin is a prospect that I really like that he obtained in the 3rd round, he will be a strong power pitcher. In his Sophomore year in college had 79 K's in 47IP, the year prior he had 60 in 46IP. Cordero is a prospect that I had on my board as someone to convert to SP, could be a good back end rotation pitcher if and when he jumps. I feel Andy doing the LAD hurt his Toronto team a little in this draft.
Grade - B

Washington Nationals - Carlo Fileto is a bit of a question mark for me, he is 22 years old and he does not have the vitals for a SP that I would want to see for a 22 year old. That with his health (68) are 2 of the reasons why I think he will never hit his Peak rating. Probably will be a servicable 4-5 pitcher at the back of the rotation. Nejin is a pitcher I like for the bullpen, tremendous power and movement. Should be a real good bullpen pitcher. I would probably leave him in the pen because of his health (67).
Grade - C