Guardians Receive Optimistic Grade for First Round Draft Pick

The Cleveland Guardians' selection of Jace LaViolette in the 2025 MLB Draft could affect betting outcomes as he possesses considerable home run potential, positioning the team as an offensive threat and likely increasing their odds in upcoming games.

The Cleveland Guardians needed more offensive-minded outfielders in their farm system, and addressed that need, selecting Jace LaViolette with their first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

There are definitely some concerns with LaViolette and his swing-and-miss rate, but one MLB analyst is rather optimistic about his potential to be a big league slugger. R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports gave the Guardians a grade of "B+" for selecting LaViolette No. 27 overall.

"LaViolette entered the spring in the running for the top selection. He then suffered through a tough year that culminated with a fractured hand in his second-to-last game. He has extreme power and discipline and equally extreme swing-and-miss tendencies," wrote Anderson. "There's some tantalizing right-tail outcomes in play here, but there's at least an equal amount of barren left-tail possibilities. Given that it's the last pick of the first round, I don't have much issue with the swing."

LaViolette is coming off his third season at Texas A&M, where he had a slash line of .258/.427/.576 with an OPS of 1.003. These stats include 18 home runs and nine doubles. The power is there for LaViolette, there's no denying that.

If the Guardians had a top-10 pick and used it to select LaViolette, many more questions would be raised about what the front office was thinking.

However, as Anderson points out, the Guardians selected a player who was once viewed as a possible top-five pick a year ago. It's a risk, but one worth taking for Cleveland.

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