Superlatives of the 2024 MLB Draft: Top bargains, most interesting picks, famous relatives and more from Day 2

Major League Baseball’s amateur draft, which began Sunday night when the Cleveland Guardians selected Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana with the No. 1 pick, continued Monday and neared its conclusion. Teams made their selections starting in the third round and ending after the 10th round. The draft will resume Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET and continue until after the 20th round is over.

CBS Sports has been analyzing the draft all summer long. Why stop now? Below is a summary of five notable Day selections, presented in superlative form. (Note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive examination of the Seco selections.)

Now that we’ve gotten the fine print out of the way, let’s get started.

1. The biggest potential fielder bargain: Dakota Jordan, OF, San Francisco Giants

Jordan had to wait until the No. 116 pick to hear his name called, or more than a swing and a drive away from the spot he was expected to occupy in the summer. More specifically, I picked him 28th in the top 30 because I felt some team would be blinded by his potential and completely ignore the red flags in his profile. I was clearly wrong.

Jordan is tremendously strong physically. He’s strong enough to hit extreme exit velocity numbers and fast enough to make an impact on the basepaths and in the outfield. When you see him at his best, he looks like a superstar. Unfortunately, Jordan’s loud skill lacks the workability needed to reach such heights. He missed on 31% of his attempts during conference play, a troubling number that doesn’t bode well for his chances of making the show. My historical research has turned up only one player who missed about that often and then had an MLB career at all: Edouard Julien, a 25-year-old Twins infielder, a former 18th-round pick who pitched in the major leagues for about one season.

If the Giants can help Jordan fully utilize his dynamic attributes, he could make the rest of the league look ridiculous. I selfishly hope they do that—not to justify my misjudgment, but because a self-actualized Jordan would be one of the most exciting players in the game.

2. The biggest potential pitching bargain: Joey Oakie, RHP, Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians and new scouting director Ethan Purser began the day having already signed three of my top 40 prospects on Sunday: second baseman Travis Bazzana (No. 1 overall, No. 2 on my list), right-hander Braylon Doughty (No. 36 overall, No. 30 on my list) and catcher Jacob Cozart (No. 48 overall, No. 37 on my list). They added another with their first pick on Tuesday, taking Oakie out of an Iowa high school at No. 84.

I drafted Oakie 42nd because he fits the modern pitcher archetype. He has a flat release point and a couple of potential plus or better traits, namely his 90-mph fastball and a slider that has led some scouts to give a plus-plus projection. (“Plus” is one step above “average”; “plus-plus” is one step above “plus” and one step away from “elite.”) Take a pitcher with those raw traits and put him in the Guardians’ player development apparatus and you have the makings of a potential mid-rotation starter.

Mind you, this isn’t a sure thing. Oakie faces all the normal risks associated with right-handed prep arms. The Guardians, as good as they are in this area, aren’t immune to those risks either. Remember Ethan Hankins? And Daniel Espino? And Lenny Torres? There are a lot of ways this can go wrong. But I’m still happy with the pick and overall I like the Guardians’ draft. How about an advantage to picking No. 1?

3. Most interesting pick: LP Langevin, RHP, Kansas City Royals

The Royals drafted Langevin, a right-hander out of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in the fourth round. Just looking at his stats, you might wonder why — he had a 3.73 ERA and a 3.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 23 appearances, only three of which were starts. The answer lies in his 90-mph fastball, which has some advanced numbers that could charitably be described as “crazy.” Langevin missed a lot of batters with his heater while generating an absurd amount of rise and run. The rest of his arsenal isn’t nearly as impressive, but as far as one-trick ponies go, he’s a compelling one.

4. Most famous choice: Will Taylor, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

In the summer of 2021, when I ranked Taylor as the 12th-best prospect of the class, I warned readers at the time that this would “likely prove to be a misclassification.” Because Taylor, a standout athlete, would be ranked either higher if he declared he wanted to go pro or significantly lower if he instead honored his commitment to play baseball and football at Clemson. He chose the latter route. Taylor subsequently suffered a torn ACL on the field that cost him most of the 2022 baseball season. Whatever the case, he posted a .954 OPS for his college career. He ran into trouble during an extended stint in the Cape Cod League last summer, and that helps explain why he slipped all the way to the Pirates with pick No. 145.

5. Best choice for “Remember your relative?”: Clark Candiotti, RHP, San Diego Padres

The Padres took Candiotti, a college senior, 135th overall in the draft. You probably remember his father, Tom, a knuckleballer who pitched in parts of 16 major league seasons from 1983 to 1999. This Candiotti is no master of the butterfly; he’s a physical right-hander with a full arsenal who amassed these numbers this season in Arizona: 3.39 ERA, 4.48 strikeout-to-walk ratio, roughly six innings per start.