Are we about to go Bazzanas in Cleveland? Or will we be Condon-ing adding right-handed power bat?
The college baseball regular season, including conference tournaments, will conclude by the end of May. For any teams who qualify, the College World Series will commence on June 14th and end on June 24th. Then, the Guardians will have their choice of any baseball player they want on Sunday, July 14th.
With limited time left to evaluate players, the Guardians’ choices seem to be narrowed down to four options: Oregon State’s left-handed hitting second-baseman Travis Bazzana:
Pretty difficult to find many warts in Travis Bazzana's offensive profile. His combination of approach and production is as elite as it gets. pic.twitter.com/6ftefhOQHH
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) April 13, 2024
Georgia’s right-handed hitting corner outfielder Charlie Condon:
Goodness gracious he did it again! Charlie Condon’s 23rd HR of the season is a 416-foot (EV of 108) missile deep into the Athens night. pic.twitter.com/h7ajSgYSce
— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) April 12, 2024
Texas A&M’s switch-hitting outfielder Braden Montgomery:
Braden Montgomery's 18th HR of the season either hit off—or went over—the train out in RF. Explosive hand speed, ultra-quick and tight turn with his hips. A lot to love when it comes to his operation. 1:1 "sleeper" pic.twitter.com/X7d2Krv0OT
— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) April 12, 2024
or Mississippi prep star right-handed hitting shortstop and pitcher Konnor Griffin
Konnor Griffin (‘24 MS) staying through the middle of the yard with two strikes. Hard line drive that looked like extra bases off the bat, great runner w/ instincts. Freak athlete and likely the first prep bat off the board in this summer’s draft. @PG_Draft pic.twitter.com/bWlenjMum5
— PG Deep South (@PG_DeepSouth) April 12, 2024
Wake Forest’s Nick Kurtz and Chase Burns are also standout performers, but I think it’s safe to assume the Guardians won’t be selecting a first baseman number one in this instance and that the risk of taking a pitcher number one will likely lead them to one of the four hitters listed above, given that the options there seem to be at least equal to Burns in talent and potential.
Let’s check in on some stat lines:
Travis Bazzana, 21 (turns 22 in August) 6 foot, 199 pounds: 32 games, 162 plate appearances: 41/13 BB/K, .458/.605/1.042 with 18 home runs, 9 steals and 3 caught stealing. Has only played second base, but is generally thought to be capable of outfield play, including centerfield, if needed.
Bazzana’s MyMLBDraft Collection of Prospect Evaluator Blurbs.
Charlie Condon 21 years old tomorrow (!), 6’6”, 216 pounds: 35 games, 176 plate appearances: 32/24 BB/K, .485/.591/1.114 with 23 home runs, 2 steals and 1 caught stealing. Condon has played six games at first base, eight in left field, 11 in centerfield and seven in right field. He profiles best as a corner outfielder.
Condon’s MyMLBDraft Collection of Prospect Evaluator Blurbs.
Braden Montgomery turns 21 at the end of April, 6’2”, 195 pounds: 34 games, 163 plate appearances: 30/25 K/BB, .392/.515/.923 with 19 home runs, 4 stolen bases and 2 caught stealing. Montgomery has been used strictly as a right-fielder.
Montgomery’s MyMLBDraft Collection of Prospect Evaluator Blurbs.
Konnor Griffin, turns 18 in May, 6’4”, 210 pounds: 31 games, 123 plate appearances, 37/8 BB/K, 5 home runs, 65 stolen bases, .515/.645/.975, 77/13 K/BB as a pitcher, 1.51 ERA. Griffin throws 96-97 mph with his fastball, though he is seen as a hitting prospect. He is mostly thought of as a future shortstop or a future centerfielder, defensively. His regular season wraps up on April 25th then his team will enter the Mississippi high school baseball playoffs for an indeterminate amount of time.
MyMLBDraft Collection of Prospect Evaluator Blurbs.
Let’s take a look under the hood at performance against offspeed pitches:
1 Month Later … https://t.co/qtjDAItIQG pic.twitter.com/45YMXAdvoM
— Peyton Sower (@SowerPeyton) April 9, 2024
And against fastballs:
Same Guys , but v Fastballs : https://t.co/SghDEgnDX5 pic.twitter.com/9RirCL5bhf
— Peyton Sower (@SowerPeyton) April 10, 2024
Finally, let’s see a combination of numbers versus level of competition and corresponding output:
New Post up on Medium: Introducing Batter Elo, a performance metric for D1 college baseball hitters, factoring in quality of competition and park factors. Hint: (Charlie Condon and Travis Bazzana are very very good). Link https://t.co/eLeCtDfsgK
— Matan K (@mk237700) April 12, 2024
It’s important to keep in mind how these prospects have performed when asked to hit with wooden bats, as that will, obviously, be what they pick up when they reach the majors. Travis Bazzana was MVP of the Cape Cod league last summer with a 1.037 OPS in 158 plate appearances. In only fifty at-bats in Cape Cod, Condon had only a .648 OPS, but in more extensive time in the wooden bat Northwoods league he hit .286 with 18 doubles, seven home runs, and 68 RBIs in 248 at-bats. In 69 plate appearances at Cape Cod last summer, Montgomery had a .900 OPS. Griffin played for the U.S. under-18 team in Taiwan last summer but I can’t seem to find any stats of how that experience went but it’s surely useful info for the Guardians to evaluate.
With the information presented above, I would tend to agree with Covering the Corner’s Brendan who is working on a piece about the two-person race for the Guardians’ number one pick - it looks to be either Travis Bazzana or Charlie Condon who will be donning a Guardians’ hat on July 14th. However, the switch-hitting ability and Cape Cod success of Braden Montgomery gives him an outside chance and there are certainly folks who believe the ceiling of Konnor Griffin is by far the highest in this class.
We will continue to monitor the performance of these four prospects over the next two months as we prepare for the first number one pick in Cleveland history. Check in on Oregon State, Georgia Texas A&M and Konnor Griffin’s MaxPrep page to keep up to date!
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