Less than two weeks after winning the College World Series, LSU teammates Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews made history at the 2023 MLB Draft.
With the first pick of the draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Skenes, the hard-throwing right-handed pitcher. One pick later, the Washington Nationals made Crews — the five-tool outfielder — the second selection. There were some discussions and debates before the draft as to the order that the Tigers teammates should be selected, but the LSU duo going first and second in some order was largely expected.
But what the picks lacked in surprise, they made up for in history.
Skenes and Crews were the first college teammates to be selected with the first two picks of the MLB Draft.
LSU’s Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews are the first pair of teammates in MLB Draft history to go 1 and 2 overall ⚾ pic.twitter.com/7WD2n823Ay
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 9, 2023
Skenes posted a 1.69 ERA and 0.750 WHIP with 209 strikeouts over 122.2 innings and went 12-2 in 2023. Over his three-year collegiate career between Air Force and LSU, he went 23-6 with 335 strikeouts in 235 innings and notched a 2.18 ERA and 0.940 WHIP.
Crews, meanwhile, slashed at .426/.567/.713 during the 2023 season and hit 18 homers. In three seasons with the Tigers, he hit .380/.498/.689 with 58 home runs.
With numbers like that, it’s easy to see why LSU had such success in 2023 — and why Skenes and Crews were so heavily prized in MLB.
