The Guardians’ scouting department can breathe a quick sigh of relief before all focus turns toward signing their 21 picks from the 2023 MLB Draft.

The organization brought in a little bit of everything this year. It selected 15 college players and six from high school (including their first two picks). It drafted nine position players and 12 pitchers. And now, the Guardians are looking forward to inking all 21 of them.

“I would say we’re super excited with who we were able to get in the Draft,” Guardians vice president of scouting Paul Gillispie said. “I’m excited for everyone around the organization who contributed so much time to getting to know the players so well on and off the field.”

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Let’s take a look at three trends the Guardians had in their 2023 Draft:

The ACC-heavy Draft
Gillispie sat down in front of his computer and joined his nightly Zoom call with local media after the second day of the Draft. He started explaining how he thought Rounds 3-10 went when he realized he should probably address the obvious after rattling off the fifth consecutive pick out of an ACC school:

“I promise we did not try to make this the all-ACC Draft, even though it might seem that way,” he joked.

After the success demonstrated among ACC teams this year, having eight teams make the NCAA Division I Baseball regional tournament, it’s clear why these players were taken so early (and frequently) in the Draft.

The Guardians hopped on the ACC train early, selecting a player from that conference in each round from Competitive Balance Round B, all the way through Round 8. Of all 15 of Cleveland’s collegiate draftees, 40 percent were from the ACC.

“I actually went to the ACC Tournament this year,” Gillispie said. “It’s like a one-stop shop. You’re in heaven.”

Contact over power
What’s the old adage? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it?

Well, clearly that’s the mindset the Guardians took when looking at their position players. Outside of first-round catcher Ralphy Velazquez out of Huntington Beach High School (Calif.), who seems to have the potential to be an impact bat in the middle of a lineup, the hitters taken in Rounds 3 through 8 all had the same characteristics: Incredible bat-to-ball skills, little power.

Third rounder C.J. Kayfus made an effort coming into this season with the University of Miami to add some power to his game, and he did. The Guardians are confident that he can continue to grow in that department. But the team has made it clear that its focus when scouting hitters is to look for the ability to bring the barrel to the ball. If an amateur has that skill, the possibilities are limitless from there.

“I think good hitters show the ability to square the ball up frequently,” Gillispie said. “It’s just something a lot of these guys have had in common. We’re excited to bring those skills into the organization to see how we can build upon them.”

A full day of collegiate pitching
Draft days are powered by a team’s front office. Big league coaching staffs don’t usually participate in this preparation. So when Guardians manager Terry Francona was asked on Sunday if he’d pop his head into the Draft room that evening, it wasn’t surprising when his answer was, “No.” But he did joke that he told his scouting department what to do.

“I already gave my two cents: College pitching,” he said with a laugh.

College pitching has worked out well for the Guardians over the last year, specifically. They’re now seeing guys like Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams in the big leagues, all of whom were taken a few short years ago out of college.

At first, it didn’t seem like the Guardians were going to have a pitcher-heavy approach. The last few years seemed to have focused solely on drafting pitching that it made sense if the club would dive into the position player market more in 2023.

Two pitchers were taken in the first three picks and then the Guardians went on a run of position players. But after the eighth round, all but two picks were pitchers. Of those 10 hurlers, six were from the college level.

“There’s talent anywhere in all rounds of the Draft,” Gillispie said. “You get later in the Draft and 16, 17, 18, 19, 20^th round, we still feel like we can get value and have shown the ability to do so. So we’re just as excited about these guys as we were for Rounds 1, 2 and 3.”