In the 2023 MLB Draft with the first overall pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates select…? Honestly, you cannot go wrong. If you look at mock drafts, it seems like every single one goes back and forth on two LSU Tiger legends: Pitcher Paul Skenes or Outfielder Dylan Crews. Wyatt Langford from Florida probably would be the top pick in any other draft class, but unfortunately for him, two incredible Tigers have outshined him. The consensus is that whomever the Pirates draft; the Nationals will draft the remaining College World Series champion out of Skenes and Crews. The question is who will be the first overall pick?

Paul Skenes:

One thing every single MLB team needs is great pitching. You can never get enough of it! Do you need great pitching? How does a 1.69 ERA sound? How about 209 strikeouts in 122.2 innings? Pretty great if you ask me. With the way the game of baseball is going, the MLB wants to have a more exciting game, which means more hits, more runs, and quicker games. Every other player will have themselves a day where they will hit homers but not every team will be able to keep up with pitching. Skenes has shown time and time again he can dominate even into late games. Even in high pitch count situations, he would still throw in the triple digits. This does not happen often for pitchers. Of course, there are always concerns with drafting a pitcher so high with the wear and tear over time but talent like this for pitchers are pretty scarce. Many believe that Skenes has potential to be one of the best pitchers not only on the Pirates, but also in league. How can you turn down a prospect like that?

Dylan Crews:

There are rumors that Crews is trying to negotiate one of the largest signing bonuses in MLB history, which has caused some hesitations from the Pirates organization. Being in the bottom portion of the league, do you really have that much negotiation room though to turn down a talent like this? If you have watched even one game of LSU baseball, you can already tell this Bayou Bengal is a monster. His stat line is honestly out of this world. His batting average is .426 with 100 runs and 110 hits. To give you an idea, the second best batting average on the team was .374. It is a small percent but in baseball, that is huge! Not only did he get on base for himself a lot, he had 70 RBI’s to help put his teammates in position to score as well. One reason you can give Crews the edge over Skenes is that he can play multiple positions. He can obviously obviously hit dingers left and right, but he is also very impressive in the outfield as well. Versatility is hard to come by. Luckily, with this top tier talent known as Dylan Crews, you knock out two birds with one stone with hitting and having a cannon in the outfield.



Regardless of how the draft goes, the Pirates and Nationals will end up getting a generational talent on their roster assuming that both Tigers get drafted with the first two picks. Should you draft the best player available? Should you draft for a position you need the most help in? Does money become a factor in who you are drafting? If I had to make a choice, I would lean a little more towards Crews than Skenes but it is a close race. One thing is for sure that I am glad I am not in charge of the first pick, ha!

Who do you think goes first overall? Let us Kneaux!

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