After a good-but-not-great 2023 Major League Baseball Draft for the Pac-12 and its players, hope springs eternal that 2024 will be more fruitful in more ways than one.

This year, both of the Pac-12 first-round picks — Stanford’s Tommy Troy and Arizona’s Chase Davis — went slightly higher than expected, with Troy going 12th overall to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Davis going 21st to the St. Louis Cardinals. But that was still far removed from the league’s back-to-back No. 1 overall picks in 2019-20, when Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman went No. 1 to the Baltimore Orioles while Arizona State’s Spencer Torkelson went to the Detroit Tigers at No. 1 a year later.

No Pac-12 prospects figure to be in contention to become the league’s 9th No. 1 pick, but Stanford’s Braden Montgomery shouldn’t have to wait too long.

Here’s a look at Montgomery and the rest of the Pac-12’s potential 1st-rounders …

Stanford OF/P Braden Montgomery: Top 5

Montgomery, a 2-way star in the mold of Shohei Ohtani, is about as toolsy as they get. Does that mean Montgomery might someday hold the status as the best player on the planet? Doubtful — his pitching is nowhere near ready for professional baseball, as evidenced by his 12.21 ERA in 14.0 innings pitched this season — but his all-around game is sensational.

Montgomery followed a terrific freshman campaign in 2022 in which he hit .294 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs with a standout sophomore season, batting .336 with 17 home runs and 61 RBIs. He is considered one of the top bats in the college game, and he also possesses one of the top outfield arms in the country.

Yes, he uses that arm on the mound, as well, nearly touching triple-digits with his fastball. He figures primarily to be a corner outfielder at the next level, but his pitching prowess cannot be discounted, particularly if he gets command of his command.

Of course, in stunning fashion, we found out on Tuesday that this all might be moot.

That, of course, is earth-shattering news in the business of college baseball. Montgomery instantly becomes the most coveted player in the transfer portal, though he could certainly still return to Stanford.

Wherever he plays, he’ll need to lower his strikeout ratio, as he averaged a strikeout per game this season.

Oregon State INF Travis Bazzana: Mid 1st round

Bazzana was one of the Pac-12’s most productive players in 2023, and he did it at scale. Bazzana’s 238 at-bats ranked 14th in the conference, and he made the most of that usage, leading the conference in runs scored (78), stolen bases (36) and walks (59) and ranking 2nd in on-base percentage (.500), 5th in hits (89), 6th in batting average (.374) and doubles (20), 10th in triples (3) and 15th RBIs (55). In the field, he ranked 7th with 142 assists while sporting a .966 fielding percentage.

In recognition, the native Australian was a Collegiate Baseball second-team and ABCA All-American and a NCBWA third-team All-American.

Of course, that was not much of a surprise after one of the best freshman seasons in the country in 2022. He was a Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game and NCBWA Freshman All-American, a first-team All-Pac-12 pick and a member of the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team after batting .306 with 16 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs, 44 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

UCLA INF Cody Schrier: Mid-late 1st round

A star prospect in high school, signability issues dissuaded MLB teams from pulling the trigger on him early, and his down 2023 campaign put a slight damper on his 2024 draft prospects. He remains a likely early-to-mid 1st-rounder despite playing just 32 games in 2023 before being sidelined with a left shoulder injury, batting .278 with 6 home runs and 19 RBIs in 133 at-bats.

That was after a fantastic freshman year that saw Schrier slash .298/.383/.492 over 258 at-bats with 41 runs, 77 hits, 21 doubles, 9 home runs and 42 RBIs, numbers good enough to earn him Freshman All-American honors from D1Baseball (first team), Baseball America (first team), Perfect Game (first team), NCBWA (second team) and Collegiate Baseball, as well as a spot on the all-conference team.

If he stays healthy in 2024 and improves his power numbers a bit, he’ll earn a nice bonus.

Cal OF Rodney Green: Mid-late 1st round

Had he not missed 7 games as a freshman because of injury, Green likely would have been an all-conference pick, especially because of his impressive late-season surge. His monster final 18 games — a .362 batting average (25-for-69), with multiple hits in 7 of Cal’s final 9 games, including 5 straight to end the year — set him up for what was a breakout sophomore year.

In 2023, Green slashed .291/388.558 and set career highs with 49 hits, 9 doubles, 14 home runs (14), 37 RBI and 28 steals, which ranked 2nd in the conference.

His multi-tool potential sent him skying up mock drafts, and now he ranks as a potential 1st rounder.

Other potential 1st-rounders:

Stanford C/OF Malcolm Moore

Moore delivered on his massive expectations at and behind the plate this year, earning conference freshman of the year honors after batting .311 with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs. Despite only being a true sophomore next year, he is draft-eligible because of his age.

USC OF Austin Overn

Like Moore a draft-eligible sophomore next year, Overn was impressive for the Trojans as a freshman, leading the conference with 14 triples while batting a team-high .314 with 16 steals and 38 RBIs.

Cal C Caleb Lomavita

Lomavita had a solid all-around year, batting .316 with 16 home runs, 43 RBIs and 9 stole bases.