Guardians Land Steal in ESPN's MLB Mock Draft

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

The Cleveland Guardians are one team that's had more success than expected during the 2022 MLB season. Young core pieces like Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor have played a notable role in Cleveland's decent start, and now the club can add to that group with the 2022 MLB Draft around the corner.

The Guardians hold the No. 16 pick in the first round of next month's draft and ESPN's latest 2022 MLB mock draft sheds light on which player they may take. Analyst Kiley McDaniel is projecting for Cleveland to use the pick on Texas Tech second baseman Jace Jung.

Guardians Mock Draft

Jung falling to the Guardians at No. 16 would be an absolute steal. The 21-year-old is seen by many experts as a top-10 selection, making it a no-brainer for Cleveland to snag him if he falls that far.

The San Antonio, TX native was money during his three seasons with the Red Raiders. Over that stretch, Jung amassed 39 home runs, 147 RBIs and a .328/.468/.612 slash line in 136 career games. Another positive is that he had more walks (126) than strikeouts (102).

Jung is also a solid base-runner, leading to 314 total bases and 139 runs scored over the last three years. He still needs to show more consistency on defense as some are questioning his fielding. Nevertheless, MLB.com's scouting report on Jung suggests that he could bat ".300 with 30 homers" annually.

It likely wouldn't take long for Jung to become a fan favorite in Cleveland if he brings what made him successful in college to baseball's biggest stage. Fortunately, Guardians fans won't have to wait long to find out where the Texas Tech product is going.

The 2022 MLB Draft begins on Sunday, July 17 in Los Angeles, CA.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.