Below you can find Baseball America’s 2025 MLB Draft report card for the Guardians, which features picks for 11 key superlatives such as best pure hitter, best defensive player, best fastball and more.
You can find 2025 Draft Report Cards for every team here and complete draft results here.
Best Pure Hitter: Cleveland’s top two hitters, OF Jace LaViolette (1) and SS Dean Curley (2), might not have the best pure contact skills in this class, but both should be well-rounded offensive players in part because of their consistently impressive swing decisions and offensive approaches. If you’re looking at pure contact skills in this class, both Luke Hill (4) and Riley Nelson (5) have strong cases. Hill is a career .315 hitter in college who walked at a 13.3% clip compared to a 14.0% strikeout rate. After putting up video game numbers with Yavapai (Ariz.) JC, Nelson was one of the best performers in the SEC this spring with Vanderbilt. He hit .366 in conference play with a 15.2% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.
Best Power Hitter: Cleveland secured two of the better power bats in the class between LaViolette (1) and Oklahoma State OF Nolan Schubart (3). LaViolette has 70-grade raw power from a 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame and became the Texas A&M record holder with 68 career home runs. Schubart is capable of hitting some of the most impressive home runs you’ll see and also boasts 70-grade juice from an imposing 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame. Schubart homered at least 17 times in each of his three seasons and finished with 59 total.
Fastest Runner: Cleveland views both LaViolette (1) and Arizona OF Aaron Walton (2S) as plus runners. Both players are fast enough to stick in center field as good defenders, and they should also contribute on the bases. Walton was a consistent basestealer throughout college and finished his career with 36 bags in 41 tries (87.8%). LaViolette was less active, but not by much, as he went 32-for-39 (82%) in his career and had an 18-steal season as a freshman in 2023. Hill (4) is not a burner, but he is a savvy baserunner who will steal more bases than his speed might suggest.
Best Defensive Player: Walton (2S) has experience in center field, and the Guardians believe he can be quite good at the position. The team also drafted a couple of strong defenders at up-the-middle positions later in the draft. TCU SS Anthony Silva (14) has impressive defensive actions at shortstop with above-average arm strength, and Tennessee C Cannon Peebles (14) has a strong arm behind the plate to go with great reviews for his receiving ability.
Best Fastball: Oregon State LHP Nelson Keljo (6) has a fastball that has been up to 99 mph. The pitch is probably the most impressive in this class from a velocity perspective, but it also has great riding life and averaged more than 20 inches of induced vertical break this spring. Ole Miss RHP Will McCausland (7) won’t light up a radar gun, but he gets tremendous results with an invisible fastball in the low 90s that generated a 38% miss rate this spring—more than any other pitch type. He has above-average extension and an elite vertical approach angle. RHP Luke Fernandez (16) and RHP Zane Petty (18) both have fastballs that get into the upper 90s.
Best Secondary Pitch: RHP Will Hynes (2S) has tremendous capacity to spin the baseball and has a slider that gets plenty of plus projections with spin rates in the 2,900 rpm range. The pitch has the potential to become a lethal sweeper or a hard-biting breaking ball with both power and movement as he gets bigger, stronger and adds more velocity across his arsenal. On the college side, Oklahoma State LHP Harrison Bodendorf (10) has a plus changeup in the low 80s. He used it to generate a 49% miss rate this spring and throws it against both lefties and righties, who collectively slashed just .149/.194/.190 against it.
Best Pro Debut: The Guardians saw more debuts than has been typical for them in recent years, perhaps in part because they drafted a college-heavy class. Schubart (3), Hill (4) and Nelson (5) each produced an OPS north of .850, but Hill led the trio at .969. He slashed .347/.459/.510 with one home run, one triple, three doubles, seven stolen bases and as many walks as strikeouts with a Low-A Lynchburg team that won the Carolina League championship.
Best Athlete: LaViolette (1) has the rare size, speed and power combination that makes him an unusually gifted athlete even among professionals. Walton (2S) had multiple Division I offers to play football in college and shouldn’t be slept on in this category either, as he shows a solid blend of speed and strength.
Most Intriguing Background: Bodendorf (10) is a Temecula, Calif., native who didn’t have much college interest coming out of high school. He was a preferred walk-on at Hawaii, where he pitched for two years before transferring to Oklahoma State and immediately becoming a key piece of the Cowboys’ rotation and leading the team with 92.2 innings and 102 strikeouts. Nelson (5) also had an interesting college path. He was born in Toronto, grew up in Texas and played baseball at multiple junior colleges—Western Texas JC and then Yavapai (Ariz.) JC—before joining Vanderbilt in 2025 when he didn’t flinch at the competition jump and was one of the most impressive performers in the SEC.
Closest To The Majors: LaViolette (1) has shown an ability to be an impact, middle-of-the-order hitter in three seasons in the SEC and has the sort of power and physicality that would play in the majors right now. As long as he continues tapping into that power and getting on base at a healthy clip in pro ball, he could move quickly.
Best 11+ Round Pick (Or UDFA): The Guardians are excited about the defensive chops of Peebles (17) and also think he could have some underrated bat speed and offensive upside. Iowa RHP Aaron Savary (13) is a low-slot pitcher who can create a number of different shapes to keep hitters off-balance and has some physical projection remaining. RHP Derek Munoz (19) was one of just two high school players Cleveland signed in this draft class. He was relatively unheralded coming out of South Florida, but has been up to 95 mph in the bridge league with a three-pitch mix, a 6-foot-2, 196-pound frame and a clean and repeatable delivery.