2024 MLB Draft - July 14-16...

[ptrich]

There are a lot of player rankings out there going into the draft. D1Baseball released their list of the top 200 college prospects for the draft. IU led all B1G schools with five players on it and was right there at the top with the power schools that dominated the tournament this season. Here are the schools at the top of their list in numbers.

Texas A&M and LSU lead all schools with seven apiece in the Top 200, while Tennessee finishes third with six. Arkansas, Florida State, Indiana, Mississippi State, Oregon State, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest placed five prospects each.

Iowa was 2nd to IU out of the B1G with four players on the list to include their entire weekend rotation of Brecht, Morgan, and Obermueller, as well as OF Sam Petersen. Iowa's RHP Brody Brecht ranked the highest of the B1G players on it at No. 18.

IU players that were on it:

No. 54 - Connor Foley

No. 97 - Luke Sinnard

No. 182 - Brock Tibbitts

No. 186 - Tyler Cerny

No. 192 - Carter Mathison

 

[ptrich]

Slot value for each round of the upcoming draft. Link:

Here's every team's 2024 Draft bonus pool and all pick values

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www.mlb.com

 

[ptrich]

Day one of the draft is over after going through the 2nd round. Ten of the first 30 players taken were prep players. As expected, Iowa's Brody Brecht was the first and only B1G player taken in the first two rounds. Brecht actually fell back a little bit from where most mock drafts had him as he was the 38th player taken and that was in one of the supplemental 1st round drafts following the first 30 picks which was called the Competitive Balance Round. All of the mock drafts I saw had Brecht going between No. 18 and No. 28.

 

[rcaulfie]

Sinnard was the first Hoosier selected. He just went in the 3rd round, 99 overall.

 

[rcaulfie]

Nick Mitchell off the board, 3rd pick of round 4C, 136 overall. To the Blue Jays.

 

[rcaulfie]

Mathison to the Phillies and Foley to the Diamondbacks, both in round 5.

 

[ptrich]

Mathison to the Phillies and Foley to the Diamondbacks, both in round 5.

Four players taken in the first five rounds. Nice recruiting pitch.

 

[gonnerm]

I’d imagine Griffin Tobias is gone, unfortunately.

 

[ptrich]

I’d imagine Griffin Tobias is gone, unfortunately.

I guess the odds are that he is gone. Tobias went to the Brewers in the 9th round as the No. 275 pick.

Another pick of interest, Luke Hayden went to the Reds in the 8th round as the No. 239 pick.

Iowa has probably lost their top recruit in Joey Oakie who went in the 3rd round as the No. 84 pick.

 

[Charlesroast]

I guess the odds are that he is gone. Tobias went to the Brewers in the 9th round as the No. 275 pick.

Another pick of interest, Luke Hayden went to the Reds in the 8th round as the No. 239 pick.

Iowa has probably lost their top recruit in Joey Oakie who went in the 3rd round as the No. 84 pick.

Hard to turn down the bird in the hand. We have at least 3 more question marks wrt next year, all different: Thomas, Cerny, & Pyne

 

[TomEric4756]

Hard to turn down the bird in the hand. We have at least 3 more question marks wrt next year, all different: Thomas, Cerny, & Pyne

IU was deep in position talent… this year … recent recruiting classes will have opportunities in prove they can start in the fall.

 

[rcaulfie]

I guess the odds are that he is gone. Tobias went to the Brewers in the 9th round as the No. 275 pick.

I guess it just depends on where he wants to develop - college or the minors - and how important money is for him in the short term. His current slot value is $190.9K. Let's say he goes to develop in college and in 3 years he improves to the 4th round, an increase of 5 rounds. This year, that slot value would be $583.4K. That's a nice increase, well worth the wait. Of course, it could go in the opposite direction. Especially with our pitching coach, lol.

 

[Orford]

Hard to turn down the bird in the hand. We have at least 3 more question marks wrt next year, all different: Thomas, Cerny, & Pyne

Thomas? Is that another incoming freshman who might get drafted

 

[Orford]

Looks like Tibbitts went to Blue Jays in round 13 according to Carl James

 

[ptrich]

Looks like Tibbitts went to Blue Jays in round 13 according to Carl James

He was the 397th overall pick in that round.

 

[Charlesroast]

Thomas? Is that another incoming freshman who might get drafted

Yes, Brayton Thomas Bishop Dwenger 6’4” 230 lb lefty.

 

[Charlesroast]

I guess it just depends on where he wants to develop - college or the minors - and how important money is for him in the short term. His current slot value is $190.9K. Let's say he goes to develop in college and in 3 years he improves to the 4th round, an increase of 5 rounds. This year, that slot value would be $583.4K. That's a nice increase, well worth the wait. Of course, it could go in the opposite direction. Especially with our pitching coach, lol.

You raise a good point, and one that will be applicable to Tibbits, Cerny, & Pyne. Some level of college financial help used to be common place with HS draftees, no idea if or how that would factor in now for Tobias. I would suggest that Yoho, Perkins, Sinnard, and Foley speak positively about development at IU.

 

[Charlesroast]

IU was deep in position talent… this year … recent recruiting classes will have opportunities in prove they can start in the fall.

Yes but a lot of the infielders are gone, which is why I would like to see Coach Mercer work more freshmen into mid-week games as rosters return to pre-covid levels.

 

[ptrich]

Brayden Risedorph just went in the final round (20) to the Cubs as the 602nd overall pick.

Added: The draft just ended and unless I missed someone, Griffen Tobias was the only IU recruit that got drafted.

 

[Orford]

Brayden Risedorph just went in the final round (20) to the Cubs as the 602nd overall pick.

Added: The draft just ended and unless I missed someone, Griffen Tobias was the only IU recruit that got drafted.

Looks like Cooper Malamazian (SS) hs recruit got drafted in round 17

 

[Orford]

Add Henry Brummell to make it three hs recruits drafted. All three hs recruits drafted by the brewers.

 

[ptrich]

Looks like Cooper Malamazian (SS) hs recruit got drafted in round 17

Add Henry Brummell to make it three hs recruits drafted. All three hs recruits drafted by the brewers.

I sure missed those guys. Brummell went in the last round. Both were drafted late so hopefully they choose to develop their game some more at IU.

 

[gonnerm]

Bit surprised that IU had 3 signees drafted and none of them were Thomas or Hanley

 

[iuin1994]

Assuming the top four guys all go pro. What about Tibbetts and Risedorph? Think they return?

 

[rcaulfie]

I was really hoping Bothwell would get drafted and given a chance. I wonder if he will sign with someone after. I selfishly don't mind when good players for us that still have eligibility left don't get drafted. I hope Pyne has a monster senior year and then gets drafted in like the 10th round. It will be interesting to see what Tibbetts does. I'm pretty surprised he didn't go until round 13.....I'm fairly certain he will improve on that if he returns for his senior year. I wouldn't be surprised if Risedorph doesn't return. Everyone points to the pitchers that "developed", Foley and Sinnard (although I wouldn't call the latter developing with just the one year) but Risedorph did the opposite going from Friday night starter to not being able to get anyone out. Whatever the coaching staff was doing to him sure didn't work.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Is it concerning we had all these guys drafted and still have arguably our 2 best players (Taylor and Cerny) returning with no more success than we had as a team? It sure seems like this roster was stacked.

 

[Charlesroast]

Is it concerning we had all these guys drafted and still have arguably our 2 best players (Taylor and Cerny) returning with no more success than we had as a team? It sure seems like this roster was stacked.

With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel, A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest.

 

[Charlesroast]

I was really hoping Bothwell would get drafted and given a chance. I wonder if he will sign with someone after. I selfishly don't mind when good players for us that still have eligibility left don't get drafted. I hope Pyne has a monster senior year and then gets drafted in like the 10th round. It will be interesting to see what Tibbetts does. I'm pretty surprised he didn't go until round 13.....I'm fairly certain he will improve on that if he returns for his senior year. I wouldn't be surprised if Risedorph doesn't return. Everyone points to the pitchers that "developed", Foley and Sinnard (although I wouldn't call the latter developing with just the one year) but Risedorph did the opposite going from Friday night starter to not being able to get anyone out. Whatever the coaching staff was doing to him sure didn't work.

Luke Sinnard WKU IU

 

[rcaulfie]

Luke Sinnard WKU IU

So I didn't look up his WKU stats

I could look up all of the ones that have had higher ERA's since coming here, or just higher ERA's from being here, like Risedorph....but I don't feel like putting in the effort.

 

[Charlesroast]

So I didn't look up his WKU stats

I could look up all of the ones that have had higher ERA's since coming here, or just higher ERA's from being here, like Risedorph....but I don't feel like putting in the effort.

I didn’t do that well. Glant has an excellent resume and there have been many who have improved significantly under him here. Evaluating pitching and projecting from high school to college is difficult. Hancock, Risedorph, Sharp, have not prospered as I and most fans would have liked and hoped. I saw Risedorph at Conway and he was sharp starting against a good Duke team. I would have loved to see a weekend rotation of Sinnard, Bothwell, and Risedorph, this year with Foley and Kraft closing. Unfortunately the 2 guys they got to take Sinnard’s place, Grable and Bohnert, never pitched in the season, the young guys never blossomed, and I understand Risedorph had nagging injuries but ate innings.

On the other hand Craig Yoho came to IU as an injured SS from Houston and is now about to make the show having quickly advanced to AAA as a pitcher. Jack Perkins was discarded by Louisville and was drafted after a year. He speaks highly of his training at IU. So some have prospered some not with system and coaching at IU. All I am saying is where IU is in the college baseball world on balance we have been successful IMO. Nonetheless having now been to Omaha I want to go back and see the Hoosiers on the field. This year IMO that means Glant and Mercer need to find 3 weekend starters, a couple of mid-week guys who hopefully will be ready for more come May and June and 3-4 solid relievers.

 

[ptrich]

In a release by the B1G which was also posted at iubase.com, here is the complete list of players drafted out of the conference. They included the in-coming recruits, and IU had three of the four incoming recruits that were drafted. IU also had 9 of the 27 players or one-third of the players drafted out of the conference.

2024 MLB DRAFT

NAME	SCHOOL	ROUND	PICK	MLB TEAM
Brody Brecht, RHP	Iowa	CB-A	38	Colorado Rockies
Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, SS	Rutgers	3	75	Oakland Athletics
Joey Oakie, RHP +	Iowa	3	84	Cleveland Guardians
Luke Sinnard, RHP	Indiana	3	99	Atlanta Braves
Josh Caron, C	Nebraska	4	121	Seattle Mariners
Nick Mitchell, OF	Indiana	4C	136	Toronto Blue Jays
Carter Mathison, OF	Indiana	5	162	Philadelphia Phillies
Connor Foley, RHP	Indiana	5	164	Arizona Diamondbacks
Connor Wietgrefe, LHP	Minnesota	7	204	Pittsburgh Pirates
Brett Sears, RHP	Nebraska	7	221	Atlanta Braves
Sam Petersen, OF	Iowa	8	230	Washington Nationals
Donovan Zsak, LHP	Rutgers	8	235	Cleveland Guardians
Jack Young, RHP	Iowa	9	259	Chicago White Sox
Griffin Tobias, RHP +	Indiana	9	275	Milwaukee Brewers
Jack Crowder, RHP	Illinois	9	279	Baltimore Orioles
Marcus Morgan, RHP	Iowa	9	282	Philadelphia Phillies
Camden Janik, C	Illinois	12	354	Pittsburgh Pirates
Connor Caskenette, C	Purdue	12	364	Miami Marlins
Brock Tibbitts, C	Indiana	13	397	Toronto Blue Jays
Justin Sinibaldi, LHP	Rutgers	14	409	Chicago White Sox
Gavin Bruni, LHP	Ohio State	17	500	Washington Nationals
Cooper Malamazian, SS +	Indiana	17	515	Milwaukee Brewers
Tucker Novotny, LHP	Minnesota	18	526	Oakland Athletics
Tony Santa Maria, 3B	Rutgers	19	576	Tampa Bay Rays
Cade Obermueller, LHP	Iowa	19	585	Texas Rangers
Brayden Risedorph, RHP	Indiana	20	602	Chicago Cubs
Henry Brummel, RHP +	Indiana	20	605	Milwaukee Brewers

+ school signee
CB-A = Competitive Balance-A Round
4C = Fourth Round Compensation

 

[Bucket Getter]

With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel, A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest.

Maybe. What did you see?

 

[Charlesroast]

Maybe. What did you see?

Couple of things

I see a poster who seldom misses an opportunity to throw shade at Coach Mercer, despite the success of the program under his leadership. In this case you pick a time when we could celebrate:

1. Sinnard who had shown enough potential in one season at IU to be drafted in the 3rd round despite missing this season with an injury to his throwing arm,
2. Mitchell who worked hard, mostly at Western Illinois to grow and develop into a 4th round pick from a 155 lb catcher at Carmel into a good hitter with very good plate discipline, who showed his talent at higher level of competition at IU,
3. Mathison who steadily improved his overall game at IU in 3 years after being the only high school prospect rated in the top 500 of his class of the IU players drafted,
4. Foley a raw athlete unranked prospect out of Jasper who began to develop his potential physical tools to merit a 5th round selection,
5. Tibbitts who had to play 2 positions and the miss a month in the middle of the season and still showed enough to be drafted in the 13th round, (I hope he comes back, plays first exclusively, and moves into the top 10 rounds of the ‘25 draft), &
6. Risedorph, who has stuff but for some reason this season struggled (injuries, system, changing role?) but showed potential to be drafted in the last round.

Certainly that list has talent, and for a variety of reasons, except for Risedorph, that talent has been positively impacted during their time at IU. Is there carry the team talent thru the ups and downs of a long season talent? IMO no, with the possible exception of Sinnard who could well have been a Friday night stopper, but was out all year.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Couple of things

I see a poster who seldom misses an opportunity to throw shade at Coach Mercer, despite the success of the program under his leadership. In this case you pick a time when we could celebrate:

1. Sinnard who had shown enough potential in one season at IU to be drafted in the 3rd round despite missing this season with an injury to his throwing arm,
2. Mitchell who worked hard, mostly at Western Illinois to grow and develop into a 4th round pick from a 155 lb catcher at Carmel into a good hitter with very good plate discipline, who showed his talent at higher level of competition at IU,
3. Mathison who steadily improved his overall game at IU in 3 years after being the only high school prospect rated in the top 500 of his class of the IU players drafted,
4. Foley a raw athlete unranked prospect out of Jasper who began to develop his potential physical tools to merit a 5th round selection,
5. Tibbitts who had to play 2 positions and the miss a month in the middle of the season and still showed enough to be drafted in the 13th round, (I hope he comes back, plays first exclusively, and moves into the top 10 rounds of the ‘25 draft), &
6. Risedorph, who has stuff but for some reason this season struggled (injuries, system, changing role?) but showed potential to be drafted in the last round.

Certainly that list has talent, and for a variety of reasons, except for Risedorph, that talent has been positively impacted during their time at IU. Is there carry the team talent thru the ups and downs of a long season talent? IMO no, with the possible exception of Sinnard who could well have been a Friday night stopper, but was out all year.

I don't disagree with any of your player assessment stuff. I'd just like to see the team have a bit more overall success. With all the studs we've had (or as you believe - developed), winning a regional once during a coach's tenure ought to be a reasonable expectation. Same with winning a B1G title when you lead the conference in players drafted. Why is that shade?

Now the things I specifically have concerns about are listed above and elicited your response. Any thoughts about those things?

 

[Charlesroast]

Not clear to me what your specific concerns were that haven’t been addressed. I do think this IU staff has a well rounded program that has been an important part of developing high school players into guys who can pursue their dream at the next level. You apparently do not believe that but rather that Mercer and the now departed Simmons have brought in the cream of the crop and allowed them to underachieve. Who knows?.

IMO the 24 team of position players was the best overall offensive team in the B1G, despite missing Mitchell for a couple weeks to start the season, Shepard (intended to be 1 of the 2 primary catchers) essentially for the year after a 3 for 10 start with 2 HRs, & Tibbitts, who then shared catching duties with Stadler*, before being out of the line up for a month and not catching after he returned. * Stadler improved greatly over his production while he was at Purdue and IU would have been much worse without him IMO.

With all new personnel up the middle, shuffling players at first, & Mathison* going from DH in 23 to CF in 24 the defense was a concern and turned mediocre at best IMO. * Mathison’s defense in CF improved dramatically in ‘24 largely due to an awakening on his part about his future possibilities in baseball, congrats Carter.

Without Sinnard, & two of the transfers brought to be starters, plus lack of development for most of the ‘23 returning pitchers, and Kraft losing his agate right off the bat, pitching was bad.

With 2 of the needed 3 legs less than stellar the ‘24 team was unable to win the third regional in the storied 130 year history of the program.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Not clear to me what your specific concerns were that haven’t been addressed. I do think this IU staff has a well rounded program that has been an important part of developing high school players into guys who can pursue their dream at the next level. You apparently do not believe that but rather that Mercer and the now departed Simmons have brought in the cream of the crop and allowed them to underachieve. Who knows?.

IMO the 24 team of position players was the best overall offensive team in the B1G, despite missing Mitchell for a couple weeks to start the season, Shepard (intended to be 1 of the 2 primary catchers) essentially for the year after a 3 for 10 start with 2 HRs, & Tibbitts, who then shared catching duties with Stadler*, before being out of the line up for a month and not catching after he returned. * Stadler improved greatly over his production while he was at Purdue and IU would have been much worse without him IMO.

With all new personnel up the middle, shuffling players at first, & Mathison* going from DH in 23 to CF in 24 the defense was a concern and turned mediocre at best IMO. * Mathison’s defense in CF improved dramatically in ‘24 largely due to an awakening on his part about his future possibilities in baseball, congrats Carter.

Without Sinnard, & two of the transfers brought to be starters, plus lack of development for most of the ‘23 returning pitchers, and Kraft losing his agate right off the bat, pitching was bad.

With 2 of the needed 3 legs less than stellar the ‘24 team was unable to win the third regional in the storied 130 year history of the program.

Well, like you said, people see what they see.

 

[Orford]

Maybe. What did you see?

I think the point he’s making is valid. You step back and look at ten years big bb and we have been at or near top and I’m going to guess that we have also had amongst top drafted counts per year. We be had some guys improve significantly such as Sinnard… others have declined such as Risedorph yet they get drafted on talent and upside as well. I’m no baseball expert but

Not clear to me what your specific concerns were that haven’t been addressed. I do think this IU staff has a well rounded program that has been an important part of developing high school players into guys who can pursue their dream at the next level. You apparently do not believe that but rather that Mercer and the now departed Simmons have brought in the cream of the crop and allowed them to underachieve. Who knows?.

IMO the 24 team of position players was the best overall offensive team in the B1G, despite missing Mitchell for a couple weeks to start the season, Shepard (intended to be 1 of the 2 primary catchers) essentially for the year after a 3 for 10 start with 2 HRs, & Tibbitts, who then shared catching duties with Stadler*, before being out of the line up for a month and not catching after he returned. * Stadler improved greatly over his production while he was at Purdue and IU would have been much worse without him IMO.

With all new personnel up the middle, shuffling players at first, & Mathison* going from DH in 23 to CF in 24 the defense was a concern and turned mediocre at best IMO. * Mathison’s defense in CF improved dramatically in ‘24 largely due to an awakening on his part about his future possibilities in baseball, congrats Carter.

Without Sinnard, & two of the transfers brought to be starters, plus lack of development for most of the ‘23 returning pitchers, and Kraft losing his agate right off the bat, pitching was bad.

With 2 of the needed 3 legs less than stellar the ‘24 team was unable to win the third regional in the storied 130 year history of the program.

im thinking in retrospect Stadler might have been our mvp

 

[ptrich]

I think the point he’s making is valid. You step back and look at ten years big bb and we have been at or near top and I’m going to guess that we have also had amongst top drafted counts per year. We be had some guys improve significantly such as Sinnard… others have declined such as Risedorph yet they get drafted on talent and upside as well. I’m no baseball expert but

im thinking in retrospect Stadler might have been our mvp

Stadler was certainly a HUGE pickup for us. It looked like he was going to be our No. 3 catcher and then the injuries occurred. We would have been between a rock and a hard place if it weren't for him. Given his numbers at the plate at Purdue, he was a big surprise here with his hitting, although he didn't have near the same plate appearances at Purdue.

 

[gonnerm]

Griffin Tobias is signing with Milwaukee. Not a shock given where he was drafted. Tough loss for IU but great opportunity. Now we wait on Malamazian and Brummel.

 

[ptrich]

D1baseball listed their top 100 college prospects for the 2025 MLB draft. To include the west coast teams coming in, the B1G had just three players on the list with IU having Devin Taylor on it at No. 23 and Tyler Cerny at No. 77. Iowa's RHP Anthony Watts was the other B1G player on it at No. 88.