MLB draft 2024: Scouting college hitters who could go No. 1 - ESPN

The strength of the 2024 MLB draft is the top tier of college position players, five hitters who are all legitimate candidates to go No. 1 overall on draft day.

You can also see all five of these emerging stars in action this weekend as their teams have all reached the super regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament and will be playing with hopes of leading their teams to the Men's College World Series in Omaha.

Given the data- and video-rich environment that we now have in modern college baseball, along with my own in-person looks and thoughts from evaluators around the league, we are able to take a deep dive on the important baseball traits that separate this group from the rest of this year's draft class and also break down the deciding factors that could ultimately decide which of them the Cleveland Guardians select with this July's No. 1 pick.

Starting with an SEC slugger who made NCAA home run history this season, here's a look at the players slugging their way to the top of this year's MLB draft.

Mock Draft 1.0 | Ranking top 150-plus prospects

Summary: Above average at everything in the batter's box, some defensive value and big power as a separator.
Excels At: Plus-plus raw power that he gets to in games, along with solid bat-to-ball ability.
Needs to Improve: Defensively at third base

Hitting grades
(50 is MLB average, graded in 5 point increments, 10 is a standard deviation)
Bat control: 55
Pitch selection: 55
Game power: 65 (about 30 homers annually)
Raw power: 70

Condon was getting Wyatt Langford comps last season because of his similar lack of hype before breaking out in college baseball's best conference (Condon redshirted as a true freshman, while Langford had four plate appearances as a true freshman