Don’t be surprised if you hear one of these names called during the All-Star Break for Cleveland
The MLB Draft is right around the corner, and at this point in the Guardians season, it may just be the most exciting time for fans compared to anything we’ve seen recently.
Anyways, the Guardians have the 27th pick in the first round of next month’s Draft, along with three picks (64, 66, 70) between the second round and competitive balance round B. Their first round pick sees many potential selections in what’s set to be a pretty diverse, balanced first round with both prep and college bats. Among them, there are eight names I’ve cut into three groups of two players each: ‘Dream Scenario’, ‘My Picks’, and ‘The Guardians Pick’. As we reach each tier, I will explain what each means and what’s to seek within them.
Let’s kick things off with the first tier:
DREAM SCENARIO
This tier is pretty simple. It’s two players who I strongly want in Cleveland’s farm system who I could almost guarantee won’t fall to 27.
Wehiwa Aloy — SS: Arkansas
The interesting part of middle infield prospects in this draft is that a large portion of the top 10 to 15 picks will be flooded with prep shortstops like Ethan Holliday, JoJo Parker, Eli Willits, and Billy Carlson as well as a handful of college arms, and the benefit for the teams picking in the middle to bottom third of the first round is that a lot of really good middle infield bats will be falling into their laps. The exception to this will be Oregon State’s Aiva Arquette, but outside of him, the best college shortstops are going to dip below that top 15 range.
Now, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Wehiwa Aloy will not be available when the Guardians pick. His profile plus production at both Arkansas and on the Cape are an elite combination. The 6-foot-2 Hawaiian junior slashed .350/.434/.673 for the Razorbacks with 21 home runs.
Aloy has been routinely mocked to the Cubs at pick 17 as, much like the Guardians, the Cubbies tend to highlight players who excel in the Cape Cod Summer League like Aloy did. The profile would be a lot more digestible if Aloy were one of those prep shortstops as there is a lot of swing and miss with his approach as he is a very aggressive hitter who strives to get the ball in the air pull-side, but he is a good defender with lots of raw power and athletic traits to stick at short.
Tyler Bremner — RHP: UC Santa Barbara
The Shane Bieber UCSB tree is strong here. I’d be lying if I said Bieber’s success here after his time as a Gaucho wasn’t a strong influence on me wanting Bremner, but Bremner’s stuff and command overall is great.
A mid-90s fastball and what’s possibly the best changeup in the entire draft (65-70 grade) would already be an eye-opener for a college arm in the draft, but his command is stellar. Bremner ran a near 90% first pitch strike rate this season, and the changeup is quite literally a strikeout pitch to either lefties or righties. A fastball with a more consistent shape will likely be something his drafting team looks at tinkering with, but for my money, Bremner is the best bang for your buck past the top 10, if he gets there.
Despite consistently being ranked below the constant steadies of college arms in this draft (Anderson, Arnold, Doyle, Witherspoon), I firmly think Bremner goes within the top 10-12 picks of this draft. Mocks haven’t agreed, but between his size (6’2”, long limbed) and possibly outlier changeup, Bremner should go a lot higher than the 15-25 range he’s consistently projected at, which is what lands him here. He’s a total pipe dream for Cleveland, but so was Gavin Williams.
MY PICK
This section is pretty self-explanatory. These are the two players who, above everyone else, I would realistically like to see the Guardians take at 27 should they be there. We’ll kick this off with the first of three Tennessee Volunteers I’ll talk about.
Gavin Kilen — mIF: Tennessee
Kilen has been a name on my radar since the offseason, ironically since he struggled on the Cape the way he did. In 2025 after transferring to Tennessee, the left-handed hitting shortstop absolutely mashed. He put together 32 XBH in 53 games, 15 of which were homers, and at every turn, he impressed.
His two stints on the Cape were met with mixed results (he was teammates with Travis Bazzana in 2023), but while the Cape is a Summer League the Guardians value a lot, Kilen’s overall data is still very strong. At Louisville as a sophomore, his bat-to-ball data was terrific, and his ability to put together an aggressive profile with an approach that rarely swung and missed within the strike zone led to a .330 average. That aggression backfired on the Cape the second time around, and more polished arms took advantage of that. The concern then became how he’d fare against SEC pitching after transferring. He had no issues.
What impressed everyone more than Kilen’s near 90% z-con rate was the power he developed. He found real, sustainable pull-side pop that he had flashed in his last season at Louisville, and as Kilen put on more muscle, the overall gap to gap power only flourished. Overall, Kilen is a safer floor than, say, an Aloy, but the overall upside here is just as strong as I believe Kilen has gone from a contact, controlled bat to a more complete profile. Kilen’s minuscule 3% walk rate as a sophomore quadrupled as a Vol with minute growth to the strikeout rate. Kilen was a lot more selective in counts, and his performance in Houston where he hit four home runs at Daikin Park sprayed across all fields, including a second deck monster shot, highlighted a total breakout power surge.
The question, again, is 1. can Kilen stick at shortstop with his smaller frame, and 2. will he fall this far? Kilen funnels between 25-35 in big boards, but mock drafts, such as Baseball America (15), ESPN (14), and CBS Sports (20) have him going prior to the Cleveland pick at 27.
Ethan Conrad — OF: Wake Forest
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Guardians draft injured outfielder poised to go top-15 pre-injury.
If this sounds very DeLautery, that’s because it is, just a different body part. Back in April, Ethan Conrad saw a blazing hot start to his 2025 season screeched to a halt after injuring his throwing shoulder diving for a ball against Miami. It was brutal for both Conrad and Wake Forest as the prized transfer from Marist lost millions while Wake lost some games due to the injury.
The power in Conrad’s profile has developed as he’s grown into his 6-foot-4 frame, and at Wake, prior to his injury, he had 7 homers and 8 doubles accounting for 15 of his 29 hits.
Conrad is almost a lock to go in the range where the Guardians could snag him at 27, and man, there is a lot to like here. At just 19, Conrad demolished the Cape. Playing alongside Marek Houston and briefly Caden Bodine, Conrad was one of just three 19 year-olds on his team, and he posted a .920 OPS with a .385 batting average. Simply put, he mashes, and he’s improved every year since high school.
My two biggest things with Conrad is firstly, he does not miss fastballs. Perhaps it’s because watching the Guardians can lull you into thinking nobody can hit the heater, but it does not matter where in the zone the fastball is. If Conrad takes a liking to it, he’s going to punish it. Lastly, he is a demon on the base baths. Across his collegiate career, Conrad swiped 40 bags to just 7 times caught, and he is aggressive when taking the extra base, traits that Cleveland salivates over. You combine that kind of hustle with what his bat could blossom into, and you have yourself a prototypical Guardians pick.
Josh Hammond — RHP/SS: Wesleyan Christian Academy (NC)
R/R | 6’1”/215
Hammond is the ultimate athlete out of the group of prep shortstops in this class. While many raved about his potential about a pitcher, Hammond has stopped throwing, and though that two-way pipe dream may be dead, he still possesses tremendous traits to be a power hitting athlete at a premier position. Would it take a good chunk of the slot money? Absolutely, but with Cleveland not picking again until 64, this is the spot to throw a good chunk of money at a prep bat. I can see the nightmarish flashbacks to Carson Tucker going through many a mind reading this. Don’t even pay attention to it.
Similar to Ralphy Velazquez, Cleveland has shown a shift in preference with prep hitters as the raw power possessed by Hammond is the focal point of his profile. A focus on lifting the ball has seen his production grow, and the more he focuses on hitting only, the quicker his development takes off.
Marcus Phillips — RHP: Tennessee
I will admit, Phillips wasn’t even on my radar here until I was shown one thing: his cutter. Well, sorta, but who loves cutters right now more than the Guardians? It seems like every starting pitcher Cleveland has throws one or is developing one, so why not have kind-of one that’s a legitimate weapon off the rip?
Phillips is a bit more raw than other college arms that would be going in this range, but he also happens to be one of the youngest college pitchers in this class as he will still be 20 on draft day. Phillips is a mountain of a man and was a two-way player at Iowa Western at the JuCo ranks, so the athleticism is very noticeable through his hips as he barrels towards the mound with a low release and long extension. His lower release height gives his cutter-ish fastball some rise effect up in the zone usually meant for more traditional fastballs, helping him generate more weak contact than swing-and-miss with the pitch. It normally sits 94-97 and has touched 99 with regularity. Phillips even touched 100 against LSU this past season.
Playing off his heater is a slider that sits in the 86-88 range that generates a lot of whiffs but not enough chase. That is largely a repertoire issue as Phillips doesn’t fully trust his changeup. Despite being an offering that sits in the high 80’s and flirts with 90+, he refrained from using it a ton, and really only broke it out to get swing and miss from lefties. The reluctance to use his changeup created a two pitch primary arsenal, and when the slider can’t get swing and miss out of the zone, either walks or loud contact tend to follow.
That being said, Cleveland is an organization known for finding a third offering within their more raw prospects, and when you combine Phillips’s age, raw athleticism, and overall stuff, finding comfort within that changeup and likely even a sinker would be real possibilities. Phillips also presents an opportunity for Cleveland to go under slot at 27 and spend more with their three picks in the 60-70 range.
THE GUARDIANS PICK
Andrew Fischer — 1B/3B: Tennessee
Andrew Fischer’s quest in becoming one of college baseball’s more balanced power bats came to fruition as a junior at Tennessee. The year to year progression, as you can see above, is not just noticeable, it’s eye-opening. Fischer is a good, but not great athlete, and the question that will follow him will be whether or not he can stick at third base. The general consensus is no, and that is going to be a pretty big reason he falls as trying to sell a 6-foot-1 first baseman solely on his bat is pretty tough.
That being said, Fischer’s bat will have any team picking from 20 and beyond salivating. The contact ability has greatly improved, and his walk rate as a junior at Tennessee surpassed his strikeout rate as a sophomore at Ole Miss. Fischer has landed in Cleveland in mock drafts from multiple outlets over the past two months, and a solid performance on the Cape from a plate discipline standpoint could have answered any questions about overall chase concerns as Fischer walked in 17.1% of his 82 plate appearances.
Watching Fischer work the zone will have Guardians fans reminisce over the prime of Carlos Santana, and that power ability first with command of the zone profile from the left-handed batter’s box is something Cleveland has targeted in recent years for their corner outfield or first base via draft or trade (DeLauter, Velazquez, Manzardo, Kayfus).
Caden Bodine — C: Coastal Carolina
Drafting a bat-first catcher has proven to be something the Guardians value. Between Bo Naylor and Cooper Ingle, catchers who can hit have always been welcomed in Cleveland with higher draft picks. You could even throw Ralphy Velazquez in that group, but they found out pretty quickly that he was likely a first baseman. Bodine was mocked to the Guardians in Baseball America’s latest mock draft, and he is a true savant with the bat in his hands. That contact ability that has seen z-con rates at or above 90% in full seasons for the Chanticleers as well as optimal spray that sees Bodine hit a lot of line drives makes his floor very high.
Bodine checks a lot of the draft boxes for the Guardians. He mashed at the Cape in 2023, hitting .384 with a near .500 OBP, and defensively, Bodine, who is already a good athlete, combines that with what has been described as soft hands as a receiver while already being a very good framer. Compared to Cooper Ingle, Bodine is much more polished coming out of college defensively.
The lack of power is what keeps Bodine from being a top-10 pick in this class. At best, it’s gap to gap because of his overall ability to find the barrel. Bodine is a switch-hitter, but he is much more proficient from the left side which is almost always a positive for any aspiring switch hitter.
Again, Bodine has been linked to Cleveland a lot both in mocks and in just overall smoke that there’s real interest. Eduardo Perez said on the College World Series broadcast that he’s spoken to Sandy Alomar about Bodine’s defense, and Sandy spoke very highly, so should he fall to 27, don’t be surprised to hear his name called.
This year’s draft is shaping up to be a very diverse back half of the first round, and that works heavily in favor of the Guardians, who will have a hopeful pick of the litter when their time comes. What the team looks for in a hitting prospect has finally modernized, and between the bats in this class and a couple arms to watch out for, this year’s pick is much more up in the air than last year’s. Can’t wait to join you all in watching during the All-Star Break!