The Pittsburgh Pirates threw a curveball in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday, choosing a college backstop to catch it. Multiple mock drafts predicted the Pirates to choose high school shortstop
Marcelo Mayer of
Eastlake (Chula Vista, Calif.) with the first overall pick in the draft, but the Pirates instead took University of Louisville catcher
Henry Davis with the first selection.
The first high school player was taken at No. 3 when the Detroit Tigers chose
Jackson Jobe of
Heritage Hall (Oklahoma City).
Jobe, a MaxPreps All-America selection, went 9-0 for the Class 4A state
champions. He struck out 122 batters in 51.2 innings pitched with a 0.13
ERA.
Davis is a sophomore at Louisville and a 2018 graduate of
Fox Lane (Bedford, N.Y.). He becomes the third college catcher chosen with the No. 1 overall pick and is the first player from New York chosen No. 1 overall since 1992 when the Cubs chose Shawon Dunston of Thomas Jefferson (Brooklyn, N.Y.). The Texas Rangers took Vanderbilt ace Jack Leiter with the second
pick.
Jobe is the highest high school draft pick from Oklahoma — Dylan Bundy of Owasso was chosen No. 4 overall in 2011 by the Orioles while Darrell Porter of Southeast (Oklahoma City) went No. 4 overall to the Brewers in 1970.
Mayer, who was the No. 1 overall choice on multiple mock drafts, went to the Boston with the fourth overall pick.
The 2021 draft marks the fourth straight season a college player was chosen No. 1 overall. Royce Lewis of JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) was the last high school player chosen No. 1 in 2017.
Jackson Jobe of Heritage Hall was the first prep player chosen in the 2021 MLB Draft on Sunday. Jobe was selected third overall by the Detroit Tigers.
File photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
