Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, middle, and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, left, and general manager Mike Chernoff, right, talk to the media during an introductory press conference at Progressive Field. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Guardians shockingly win No. 1 pick in 2024 MLB Draft

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/5/23

Major League Baseball held its draft lottery for the 2024 class on Tuesday and two teams made shocking, unexpected jumps far up the draft board.

The Cleveland Guardians won the opportunity to pick No. 1 overall, moving up several spots (from ninth) after entering the day with just a 2% chance of winning the top pick.

That was not the only stunning result at the top.

The Cincinnati Reds also made a huge jump going all the way up to the No. 2 slot.

The Guardians' lottery luck was not only a shock to baseball fans, it was also a shock to Guardians president Chris Antonetti who said he was not even spending much time on Tuesday thinking about the possibility given the odds.

"Not something I was expecting AT ALL waking up this morning. In fact, wasn't really even on our radar. Knew it was happening, but given the odds, wasn't spending a whole lot of time on it." - Cleveland Guardians president Chris Antonetti after winning the No. 1 pick with 2% odds pic.twitter.com/WbLTCb2qh9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 5, 2023

While the Guardians and Reds are big winners and will have a chance to land franchise-changing talents at the top of the class, the big losers are the Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies.

They were the three worst teams in baseball during the 2023 season — by a wide margin — and all had an 18.3% chance of winning the top pick on Tuesday.

Not only did none of them win, they did not even get the No. 2 pick.

The Rockies will pick third, the A's will pick fourth, the Chicago White Sox will pick fifth and the Royals will pick sixth.

The top prospects in the 2024 class are expected to be West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherhold, Wake Forest first basemen Nick Kurtz, Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana and Wake Forest right handed pitcher Chase Burns.

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