Logan Schmidt’s brutal draft decision puts even more pressure on Guardians’ pitching factory

In the second round of this year’s MLB Draft, the Cleveland Guardians rolled the dice by taking prep arm Logan Schmidt. 

At the time, most of the potential uncertainty around Schmidt came from the fact he was a 17-year-old pitching prospect who is about as raw as they come. 

Although those concerns are still there, they ended up paling in comparison to the concerns about his signability, as he announced on Sunday that he wasn’t going to sign with the Guardians. 

After the draft, it looked like the Guardians had done a great job building out the future of their pitching staff by taking a college arm in the first round (Liam Peterson) along with two promising prep arms in Schmidt and Savion Sims. 

Although the Guardians were able to sign Peterson and Sims (along with the rest of their draft picks), the loss of Schmidt could still end up hurting the Guardians for years to come.  

Guardians draft grade is even more incomplete after Logan Schmidt's decision not to sign

One of the biggest reasons why the Guardians may not have been able to sign Schmidt could be the fact they were able to sign Sims, who they signed for $1 million despite the fact his seventh-round pick value was $280,000. 

Sims was arguably one of the biggest steals of the draft, but he seemed like a bit of a longshot to sign given his strong commitment to the University of Oklahoma. The Guardians were able to wiggle him out of that commitment by showing him the money, but it seems to have come at the expense of Schmidt. 

While Schmidt comes with the same kind of question marks that every prep arm has, hhe's still an incredibly promising arm who would have been a huge addition to Cleveland’s farm system. 

The 6-foot-4 left-hander was ranked as one of the top prep arms in this year’s draft class despite originally being a member of the 2027 class before reclassifying. 

But the Guardians seemed to have hitched their wagon to their other prep arm in Sims, who can already touch 100 miles per hour and could still get even better as he grows into his frame.

The Guardians always love the ability to add players at a discount, and their decision to spend more on Sims instead of having the money to sign Schmidt is a classic case of that.

If they view Sims and Schmidt as having the same potential, then signing Sims for $1 million instead of Schmidt for $1.60 million (his pick value) is a no-brainer.

Schmidt’s decision to not sign with the Guardians puts him in an interesting spot. He had already committed to LSU, but he wouldn’t be able to reenter the draft until 2029 if he joined the Tigers. 

He’d be eligible to enter next year’s draft if he joined a junior college, and Baseball America’s Jason Rudner reported last night that Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California is one of the options Schmidt is considering. 

The Guardians have shown they’re MLB’s gold standard for developing pitching talent, but Schmidt’s decision to not sign will push that test to its limit.

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