The Guardians officially own the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB draft, having won the lottery Tuesday despite having had just a 2% chance of coming out on top.
It’s the first time in franchise history that Cleveland will select first in the draft, and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti was over the moon after it was revealed that the Guardians would be atop the 2024 draft board.
Antonetti, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s draft lottery in Nashville, couldn’t contain himself as he ran over to Cleveland’s representative—former infielder and current Guardians minor league field coordinator John McDonald—and excitedly embraced him.
Safe to say Chris Antonetti was pumped that his Guardians landed the first pick pic.twitter.com/vDo4hAxL5x
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) December 5, 2023
During an interview on MLB Network, Antonetti admitted the No. 1 pick was not something the Guardians had given much thought to heading into the draft lottery.
“It’s hard to describe. Not something I was expecting at all waking up this morning,” Antonetti said. “In fact, wasn’t even really on our radar. Knew it was happening, but given the odds, wasn’t spending a whole lot of time on it.
“When we got that inkling it might happen, it was all I could think about because this is an extraordinary opportunity for us and an opportunity we haven’t really had in franchise history.”
Cleveland has selected with the No. 2 pick five times throughout franchise history, most recently in 1992 when they selected right-handed pitcher Paul Shuey.
Selecting behind Cleveland and rounding out the top five of the 2024 MLB draft order will be the Reds, Rockies, Athletics, and White Sox.
