The Cleveland Guardians hold the 27th pick in the 2025 MLB draft, giving them an opportunity to select an above-average player who could potentially make their debut much quicker than other players have in the past few years.
With the Guardians needing talent and players being called up quicker than ever before, there’s reason to believe that the Guardians could get creative in this pick.
The Athletic recently predicted that they’d select Ethan Conrad out of Wake Forest. Conrad began his career at Marist, lighting up the MAAC with a .389 batting average during his sophomore season.
At Wake Forest, Conrad played in only 21 games due to a shoulder injury, but he still hit .372 with seven home runs. He hit 19 home runs in his college career.
“Conrad, who won’t turn 21 until July 5, was surging towards the first round when he hurt his shoulder, requiring surgery that ended his season before scouts could see him against the heart of the ACC. The Guardians have done this before, taking an injured Chase DeLauter, who was still 20 years old at the draft, with their first-round pick in 2021. They’re as model-heavy a drafting team as there is, which could juice guys with good batted-ball data like Mason Neville, Charles Davalan, Devin Taylor, or maybe even Luke Stevenson,” they wrote.
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Had Conrad gotten hurt a bit earlier than he did at Wake Forest, there would be some question marks about him heading into the draft.
However, he also impressed in the Cape Cod League, hitting .385 with two home runs.
Conrad had decent power numbers throughout his career and looked set to hit 15-plus home runs during the 2025 season before the injury.
However, he’s an elite bat-to-ball hitter, a skill the Guardians have valued in recent years.
