Up top: Guardians own No. 1 pick in upcoming MLB draft, a selection that could alter team's future

CLEVELAND (AP) — Top of the AL Central. Top of the MLB draft.

It's been a season of firsts for Cleveland.

Along with opening a surprising lead in their division with a strong three-plus months under rookie manager Stephen Vogt, the Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick in next week's draft. It's a selection that has the potential to alter the franchise's trajectory for years to come.

As long as they make the correct one.

No pressure.

“We look at this as an extraordinary and exciting opportunity for us,” said Chris Antonetti, the team's president of baseball operations. "Often times when you’re thinking about your first pick, you’re trying to guess who’s going to be off the board before you get an opportunity to select.

“This year we don’t have to guess.”

This year's draft will begin on July 14 in Arlington, Texas with the event serving as a leadoff into All-Star festivities.

Cleveland has never picked first (the team has chosen second five times) and the chance to acquire a talented player who could quicken the team's pursuit of its first World Series title since 1948 is both exhilarating and terrifying.

Antonetti, though, isn't sweating it.

With only a 2% chance of landing the top pick, the Guardians had it fall in their lap when they won the draft lottery at the winter meetings in December. That moment of good fortune was followed by the club's unexpected surge in 2024.

It's a good time to be in Cleveland.

Along with his usual duties of managing the roster, scouring the transaction wire and weighing the team's options before the trade deadline, Antonetti has been immersed in the draft process as he and the club's personnel and scouting departments brainstorm.

They've had meeting after meeting after meeting. A plan has been hatched.

“First and foremost, the thing we are trying to solve for organizationally is use the resources and draft capital we have available to us to bring in the most talented group possible,” Antonetti said. “That's really what we’re solving for and we think when we look up at the end of the draft, we’ll feel good about the group of players we bring into the organization.”

While there's no consensus top pick, there are some great choices.

The Guardians have narrowed the talent pool to just a few possibilities at No. 1 with Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and West Virginia middle infielder JJ Wetherholt believed to be the frontrunners.

The Australian-born Bazzana has all the tools. He hits with power to all fields, possesses speed on the bases and makes every defensive play.

The 21-year-old may be the most major-league ready, and from Cleveland's standpoint, it helps that he's coming from the same program that produced Guardians All-Star outfielder Steven Kwan (MLB's current leading hitter) and Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 pick in 2019.

The 6-foot-6 Condon fits the profile of what the Guardians have been seeking for years: an athletic power hitter they could plug in at first or a corner outfield spot. Condon won the Golden Spikes Award this season after leading the nation in average (.433), homers (37), slugging (1.009) and OPS (1.565).

Wetherholt led the country in hitting a year ago with a .449 average. He was slowed by a hamstring injury to start this season and missed 24 games. But the 21-year-old still put up solid numbers to keep his name in the mix.

An argument could be made for any of the three — even a few others.

As is almost always the case, money will shape the Guardians' decision.

Cleveland will have a record $18.3 million bonus pool to spend on 21 picks, with $10.5 million as the assigned slot value for the first pick. The team can use the money as it wishes but can't exceed the bonus pool or face penalties.

It's a much more complicated system than used by the NFL or NBA and will require some financial strategy, something Antonetti, general manager Mike Chernoff and their staffs usually excel at.

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a $9.7 million slot value on the top pick and selected LSU's Paul Skenes, who got a $9.2 million signing bonus, a record that could be eclipsed by the Guardians' pick.

It would be hard to imagine Cleveland's selection having the same impact as Skenes, who Sunday was named an All-Star just eight weeks after his debut.

Vogt, who joked that he was taken No. 1 — "in the 12th round' — knows there will be massive expectations on the top pick. It comes with the territory.

“The outside pressure can get to you at the end of the day,” he said. "The way I look at it is you earned yourself to be the best player in the country. The No. 1 overall pick, you did that. Now it’s just go play baseball. So much of that pressure comes from the media, comes from the outside, but in the baseball world it’s no, dude, you earned that money.

“You earned that right to be the No. 1 pick. Just go be yourself and play and continue to develop and get better just like the rest of the people going to go to the minor leagues. And it’s easier said than done, but that’s the way I view it.”

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Cleveland Guardians Jose Ramirez (11) is congratulated by hitting coach Chris Valaika (45) after scoring off a Josh Naylor single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

FILE - West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt in action against Xavier during an NCAA baseball game on March 26, 2023, in Morgantown, W. Va. The Cleveland Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick in next week's draft. They have narrowed the talent pool to just a few possibilities with Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and West Virginia middle infielder Wetherholt believed to be the frontrunning options. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan, File)

FILE - West Virginia's J.J. Wetherholt watches his home run against Baylor during a college baseball game, April 26, 2024, in Morgantown, W.Va. The Cleveland Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick in next week's draft. They have narrowed the talent pool to just a few possibilities with Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and West Virginia middle infielder Wetherholt believed to be the frontrunning options. (William Wotring/The Dominion-Post via AP, File)

FILE - Georgia's Charlie Condon hits the ball during an NCAA regional baseball game against Army on May 31, 2024 in Athens, Ga. The Cleveland Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick in next week's draft. They have narrowed the talent pool to just a few possibilities with Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Condon and West Virginia middle infielder Wetherholt believed to be the frontrunning options. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File)

FILE - Oregon State infielder Travis Bazzana bats during an NCAA baseball game against Arizona State on April 6, 2024, in Corvallis, Ore. The Cleveland Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick in next week's draft. They have narrowed the talent pool to just a few possibilities with Oregon State second baseman Bazzana, Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and West Virginia middle infielder Wetherholt believed to be the frontrunning options. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.

The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.

The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.

In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Here is the latest:

BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.

Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.

Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.

France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.

Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”

In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”

“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.

The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.

Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.

The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.

The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.

BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)