CARY, N.C. – Nineteen USA Baseball alumni were selected in the first round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft on Sunday night, including first overall pick Paul Skenes. USA Baseball has now had 569 total athletes drafted in the first round since 1972, and 2023 marks the 20th time in the last 23 years that the first overall pick played for Team USA.

Skenes (No. 1, Pittsburgh Pirates) is the 37th USA Baseball national team alumnus to be selected first overall and the second consecutive player to do so, joining last year’s top pick, Jackson Holliday. Other first overall picks who have donned the red, white, and blue include 2023 MLB All-Stars Gerrit Cole (2011), Dansby Swanson (2015), and Adley Rutschman (2019). Pittsburgh has now selected a USA Baseball alum four of the five times it has owned the first pick of the Draft (Jeff King [1986], Kris Benson [1996], Bryan Bullington [2002], and Cole [2011].

The next seven picks following Skenes were also USA Baseball alumni, marking the most consecutive alumni selections to open an MLB Draft since 2007 (nine). Four-time Team USA alum and 2023 Golden Spikes Award winner Dylan Crews went second overall to the Washington Nationals, followed by Max Clark (No. 3, Detroit Tigers). Wyatt Langford was the Texas Rangers’ pick at No. 4, and Walker Jenkins went to the Minnesota Twins at fifth overall.

A pair of 2022 Collegiate National Team members went with the next two picks, as Jacob Wilson went sixth to the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds took Rhett Lowder with the seventh pick. Two-time Team USA alum Blake Mitchell capped the eight-consecutive pick streak, going eighth overall to the Kansas City Royals.

Four Team USA alumni were then taken off the board consecutively beginning with the 14th pick, which saw two-time Collegiate National Team alum Kyle Teel get selected by the Boston Red Sox. Jacob Gonzalez was the next pick at 15th overall to the Chicago White Sox, followed by Bryce Eldridge going 16th to the San Francisco Giants. The Baltimore Orioles chose Enrique Bradfield Jr. at No. 17 and Brayden Taylor went 19th to the Tampa Bay Rays, making it four 2022 Collegiate National Team teammates drafted in a six-pick span.

Colt Emerson was the Seattle Mariners’ pick at No. 22 before five more USA Baseball alumni were selected in the Draft’s first round: Ralphy Velazquez (No. 23, Cleveland Guardians), Hurston Waldrep (No. 24, Atlanta Braves), Aidan Miller (No. 27, Philadelphia Phillies), Kendall George (No. 36, Los Angeles Dodgers), and Kevin McGonigle (No. 37, Detroit Tigers).

Four of USA Baseball’s national team programs were represented in Sunday night’s opening round. The Collegiate National Team had 10 representatives, the 18U National Team featured nine players, four athletes were previously members of the 12U squad, and the 15U National Team had two players chosen.

Additionally, 11 participants of the USA Baseball National Team Development Program (NTDP) were selected in the first round, including five players who participated in the 2021 event. Twenty-one players chosen in the first round played in MLB/USA Baseball’s Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) League, with 18 of those players competing at the event in 2022.

The full list of USA Baseball alumni selected in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft is as follows:

Round-Pick; Name; MLB Team; USA Baseball National Team(s)

• 1-1; Paul Skenes; Pittsburgh Pirates; 2014 12U, 2021 & 2022 Collegiate
• 1-2; Dylan Crews; Washington Nationals; 2017 15U, 2018 18U, 2021 & 2022 Collegiate
• 1-3; Max Clark; Detroit Tigers; 2022 18U
• 1-4; Wyatt Langford; Texas Rangers; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-5; Walker Jenkins; Minnesota Twins; 2021 18U
• 1-6; Jacob Wilson; Oakland Athletics; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-7; Rhett Lowder; Cincinnati Reds; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-8; Blake Mitchell; Kansas City Royals; 2021 & 2022 18U
• 1-14; Kyle Teel; Boston Red Sox; 2021 & 2022 Collegiate
• 1-15; Jacob Gonzalez; Chicago White Sox; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-16; Bryce Eldridge; San Francisco Giants; 2022 18U
• 1-17; Enrique Bradfield Jr.; Baltimore Orioles; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-19; Brayden Taylor; Tampa Bay Rays; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-22; Colt Emerson; Seattle Mariners; 2017 12U, 2022 18U
• 1-23; Ralphy Velazquez; Cleveland Guardians; 2016 & 2017 12U
• 1-24; Hurston Waldrep; Atlanta Braves; 2022 Collegiate
• 1-27; Aidan Miller; Philadelphia Phillies; 2016 12U, 2019 15U, 2022 18U
• 1-36; Kendall George; Los Angeles Dodgers; 2022 18U
• 1-37; Kevin McGonigle; Detroit Tigers; 2022 18U