LSU teammates can make history in MLB Draft

The top pick in this year’s Major League Baseball draft will likely come from the Louisiana State College World Series winning team. The only question seems to be which player will go to the Pittsburgh Pirates at number 1 and which will go to the Washington Nationals at number 2.

Outfielder Dylan Crews, who won the Golden Spikes award for his incredible mix of patience and strength, was the first choice in The mock design from FanGraphswhile Paul Skenes, a right-handed starting pitcher who averaged 15.3 strikeouts per nine innings and had a 1.69 ERA last season, was first off the board in Keith Law’s fake design for The Athletic.

The MLB’s draft is much less predictable than the draft in other sports, so things can certainly change, but Crews and Skenes, who are both 21, have a chance to be picked as first teammates with the top two picks. This would be especially impressive considering this year’s version is packed with high-end college talent.

LSU may not stop there, as right-hander Ty Floyd could also be a first-round pick.

The draft, which has been shortened to 20 rounds, begins Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern as part of MLB’s All-Star weekend. Besides Crews and Skenes, there are a few key names you should know about when you head to the event.

Wyatt Langford, OR, Florida — Langford, 21, has the talent and production to be a No. 1 pick in most years, and is the best bet to shatter LSU’s dream of taking the top two spots. He had a .364 batting average and 47 home runs during his last two college seasons and while accounts of his speed seem to vary, he may be much faster than his 16 stolen bases in college would suggest.

A high school student to watch.

Walker Jenkins, VAN, Southport, NC — Jenkins, 18, an elite runner early in his high school career, has already begun the process of bulking up to improve his powerful 6-foot-3 frame, which could lead to him playing right field instead of on the center, and more of a slugger rather than an all-around star. If that process turns him into a 40-homer batter, no one will mind.

Jacob Wilson, SS, Grand Canyon – Every design has its share of family ties – last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Jackson Holliday, is the son of former major leaguer Matt Holliday – and the top of the bunch this year is Wilson, the son of Jack Wilson, an All -Star shortstop for the Pirates in 2004. The younger Wilson could be a top-10 pick, easily trumping his father, who was a ninth rounder in 1998. Other notable players in this category include Myles Naylor, a high school third baseman whose brothers Josh and Bo play for the Guardians; Homer Bush Jr., a college outfielder whose father, Homer Sr., played for the Yankees and the Blue Jays; and Braden Halladay, a high school pitcher whose father, Roy, was a Hall of Fame starting pitcher.

That’s not famous. This is famous.

Jaden Agassi, pitcher, USC – He won’t be selected on the first day of the draft, and there’s a good chance he won’t be picked at all in the 20-round era, but no player will qualify for the draft – and there are only few people in athletics in General – who can claim to have more famous parents than Agassi, whose mother is Steffi Graf, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, and whose father is Andre Agassi, who won eight Grand Slams. But perhaps the athletic, which hopes to move to Las Vegas in a few years, would take a flier over the child of one of the city’s most accomplished families.