Baseball fans amazed as LSU’s Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews become first college teammates to go 1-2 in MLB Draft: "Two best players in the sport" 

The 2023 MLB Draft made history Sunday night as Louisiana State's Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews became the first teammates to go 1-2 off the board.

Skenes, a pitcher, and Crews, an outfielder, played integral roles to help the LSU Tigers to the NCAA baseball championship last month.

Skenes came off the board first, going with the No. 1 overall pick of the MLB Draft to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The move was mildly surprising as most baseball insiders expected the Pirates to go with a bat for their pick — many thinking Crews would be the selection — but Pittsburgh went with the player regarded as the top pitcher in the draft.

However, Skenes does have some offensive ability, as he was a former two-way contributor who also played catcher. In his one year at LSU after transfering to Baton Rouge from the Air Force Academy, he logged a 1.69 ERA with 15.3 strikeouts with just 1.5 walks per nine innings.

With Skenes off the board, the Washington Nationals quickly snapped up Crews with the second pick. Crews was regarded as the best player in the MLB Draft by many insiders after winning the 2023 Golden Spikes Award, which recognizes the top amateur player in the United States.

A center fielder by trade, Crews collected more walks than strikeouts in his collegiate career. He is regarded by many insiders as the most pro-ready player in the draft.

In the College World Series, Skenes started four games, all LSU wins, and allowed just four runs while striking out 42 in 32-1/3 innings.

Crews hit .426 with an on-base percentage of .567 and a slugging percentage of .713 in the 2023 season, smacking 18 homers to help lead the Tigers to the seventh national championship in program history.

Of course, there will always be naysayers, but most expect both Skenes and Crews to have tremendous major league careers.

High schooler goes third in MLB Draft

A general view during the 2023 MLB Draft presented by Nike at Lumen Field on July 09, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.

The Detroit Tigers selected Max Clark out of Franklin High School in Indiana with the third pick of the MLB Draft. Clark was considered a possible No. 1 pick, but fell to No. 3 behind the LSU teammates.

Clark has shown power when using a wooden bat, hitting home runs out of both Tropicana Field and Dodger Stadium in exhibition games.