The Windup: The MLB Draft's biggest surprise (2024)

By Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal

Jul 15, 2024

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The Guardians drafted Travis Bazzana with the first pick, the Nats and Royals hooked up on a trade, it’s an All-Star extravaganza and we have an oral history on my favorite player: Adrián Beltré. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

MLB Draft: Bazzana goes No. 1, Reds surprise at No. 2

The mystery has been revealed: The Guardians took Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana withlast night’s first pickof the 2024 MLB Draft. The Australian becomes the second Oregon State player to be taken first overall (Adley Rutschman, 2019), and joins a fellow Beaver in the Guardians organization: Steven Kwan was taken in the fifth round in 2018.

Similar to Kwan, Bazzana has shown a knack for plate discipline throughout — over three years at Oregon State, he walked 180 times and struck out just 146 (in his final year, the contrast was even more stark: 76 walks to 37 strikeouts). As Zack Meisel writes,he’s the sort of player whofits Cleveland’s identity.

Staying in Ohio, the Reds had the second pick, and many people expected to hear the name of Georgia outfielder Charlie Condon. Instead,Cincy swervedby pickingRHP Chase Burnsof Wake Forest. It’s the Reds’ second year in a row taking a Wake Forest starter in the first round; last year, it was Rhett Lowder.

Ken’s Notebook: The high price of bullpen help

I can already hear the complaining from baseball executives who will try to add relievers before the July 30 trade deadline:Did you seewhat the Royals gave up for Hunter Harvey? They set the market too high. And now the asks for bullpen pieces are exorbitant.

The Royals seemingly did give up a lot to the Nationals for Harvey on Saturday — third baseman Cayden Wallace and their No. 39 pick in yesterday’s draft. But they believe Nick Loftin will be a better long-term third baseman than Wallace, according to sources briefed on the club’s thinking. And by moving early, they will get almost two extra weeks of Harvey, who is not simply a rental. The Royals also gained club control of him for 2025.

In a seller’s market, the Nationals indeed could set a high price for Harvey. The Royals, in a heated race for an American League wild card, entered Sunday ranked next-to-last in the majors in strikeout rate. They needed the help.

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Entering the season,The Athletic’s Keith Law indeed had Loftin (No. 3) rated higher than Wallace (No. 9) on his list of theRoyals’ top 20 prospects. Wallace will rank behind Brady House, the No. 11 pick in 2021, in the Nationals’ system. But both teams consider Wallace a solid prospect, and the rebuilding Nationals gained a third pick in the top 44, which they used on California catcher Caleb Lomavita. They also added $2.395 million to their bonus pool, increasing their flexibility for negotiation in the draft.

The deal signaled the Nationals’ willingness to move not just rentals, such as outfielder Jesse Winker and reliever Dylan Floro, but also veterans under additional control. Like Harvey, outfielder Lane Thomas and closer Kyle Finnegan will be entering their final year of arbitration in 2025. Both are in play as the deadline nears, and both could bring back additional young players who would expand the Nationals’ burgeoning young core.

The trades are coming. And as the Royals-Nationals deal showed, relievers will not come cheaply.

Festivities: All-Star catch-up

Let’s see … we’ve talked about the draft, the trades are beginning, what else? Oh, right: The All-Star break officially begins today, though the activities have been happening all weekend.

In Friday’s HBCU Swingman Classic, the American League emerged victorious, 5-4. You cansee highlights here. The Futures Game was Sunday, and the NL dispatched the AL, 6-1. Keith Law was there andhas some takeaways, as was Jim Bowden, who gives ushis superlatives here. There was even a celebrity softball game on Saturday, which featured a (staged) mound charge that wasreminiscent of Don Zimmer.

The festivities will continue tonight with the Home Run Derby, for which Gunnar Hendersonhas prepared “relentlessly”to take on two-time Derby champ Pete Alonso, hometown hero Adolis García and others. (Don’t worry about the “curse” —it’s not real.)

The actual game happens tomorrow night. A few updates since Friday’s newsletter:

Paul Skenes will start the game for the NL, becoming the fifth rookie pitcher to start an All-Star game.
A few more injury replacements, as Corey Seager will replace Carlos Correa, who had a flare-up ofplantar fasciitis, andMax Fried will replace Ranger Suárez of the Phillies (who isn’t “injured” but may be dealing with fatigue).
Additionally,Cristopher Sánchez replaced Chris Sale(who pitched on Sunday), meaning the Phillies have tied an NL record witheightAll-Stars.

Other notes:

As Ken writes, the game just isn’t quite the same without Jose Altuve, who will bemissing the occasion for the third time since the sign-stealing scandal.
Twenty-five years ago, the 1999 All-Star game featured one of the most memorable moments in the history of the sport, as Ted Williams — surrounded by the “All-Century Team” — threw out the first pitch. Doug Haller interviewed many of the players and others involved in what became aspontaneous moment of magicat Fenway.

Oral Histories: The legend of Adrián Beltré

I can say it now that he’s retired and on the cusp of being inducted into the Hall of Fame, but my favorite player of all time was Adrián Beltré.

It wasn’tjustthat he was putting up Hall of Fame offensive numbers. Nor was it merely his otherworldly defense. Nor that he played through some injuries that would have sent — and I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic — any other player to the injured list. Northat he seemed to be having the most fun of anyone on the field, or that he was also the most respected player on the field in his later years.

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It was also the stories from teammates, coaches, clubbies and broadcasters about what a good guy he was off the field.

Fortunately, we havean oral historytoday where you get to hear some of those stories yourself.

From the infamous dragging-the-batting-circle incident to the playful-but-serious don’t-touch-my-head bit, to a time when he covered the entire restaurant bill for the Oakland A’s (whom he had never played for) years after his retirement, it’s the sort of feel-good story that reminds you: Sometimes sports heroes are worth rooting for.

Handshakes and High Fives

The Yankees and Orioles had a good old-fashioned division-rivalry series over the weekend.The benches clearedon Friday, and the Yankees took two games out of three.

Cautiously good news in San Diego: Fernando Tatis Jr. could be backearlier than expected.

Weird injury alert:Dodgers starter Dustin May will miss the rest of the season after emergency surgeryto repair a torn esophagus.

If you’ve ever looked at a piece of art and dismissively thought “My kid could have drawn that,” you’re gonna hatethese baseball cards.

After a bump in the road, Luis Gil appears to beback to his dominant waysfrom earlier this season.

The “Rally Pimp,” Grimace, “Glizzy Iggy” —as Tim Britton says, this Mets season “needs its own ‘Know Your Meme’ site.” But they’re a game up on Arizona for the third wild-card position.

(Photo: Gene Wang/Getty Images)