NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Cleveland Guardians will select first overall in the 2024 MLB Amateur Draft next summer after winning the second draft lottery at baseball’s winter meetings on Tuesday.
The Guardians had a 2% chance of the No. 1 seed and beat eight teams with better odds — including the Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies, who all had 18.3% odds.
The Cincinnati Reds would finish second, the Rockies third, the A’s fourth and the Chicago White Sox fifth. The Royals went into the top of the sixth.
After finishing the 2023 season with a 76-86 record, the Guardians will finish first in franchise history for the ninth-worst record in the league.
The draft lottery, through which the 18 teams that didn’t make the postseason compete for the top six picks, was introduced in MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement that took effect last year.
Picks 7 through 18 are slotted by reverse winning percentage, followed by how the teams finished in the postseason.
The Pittsburgh Pirates won last year’s inaugural draft lottery and selected LSU pitcher Paul Skenes at No. 1.
The complete 2024 draft directive is as follows:
