What Auburn baseball fans should expect at 2023 MLB Draft. Which Tigers will get picked?
AUBURN — Following a run to the College World Series in 2022, Auburn baseball saw eight players picked in the MLB Draft last year, the second-most in program history.
In this year's draft, beginning with the first two rounds Sunday (6 p.m. CT, ESPN), the Tigers have a chance to match or exceed that number. Auburn didn't quite get to Omaha this year, but multiple Tigers stood out in a campaign that saw coach Butch Thompson's team end the regular season on a 13-4 run, including five straight series victories over Mississippi State, South Carolina, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri.
Auburn has nearly two dozen players that are draft eligible, ranging from sophomores to graduate students. Those players are broken up into two groups: Players that can return to college — Cole Foster, Joseph Gonzalez and Bryson Ware, among others — and those that are out of eligibility — a group highlighted by Kason Howell, Justin Kirby and Tommy Vail.
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Foster and Gonzalez are ranked as the No. 95 and No. 235 draft prospects, respectively, on MLB.com's rankings. Prospects Live has Foster at No. 151 and Gonzalez at No. 228, along with Ware at No. 392. MLB.com ranks the top 250 players and Prospects Live does a top 400. No other current Tigers are listed on either site.
But that doesn't necessarily mean they won't hear their names called. The draft is 20 rounds, with rounds 3-10 coming Monday and 11-20 coming Tuesday. Days 2 and 3 of the draft will be streamed live on MLB.com.
There's also the possibility that a few of Auburn's incoming freshmen in the Class of 2023 will get picked. Perfect Game has the Tigers with 18 commitments, headlined by infielders Colt Emerson and Kevin McGonigle and pitchers Griffin Graves, Cameron Tilly and Bjorn Johnson.
MLB.com has Emerson ranked at No. 29, McGonigle at No. 33 and Tilly at No. 208. Prospects Live has McGonigle at No. 21, Emerson at No. 32, Tilly at No. 223 and Johnson at No. 349. Graves, along with all of Auburn's other commitments, are unranked by both services.
If a current Auburn player with remaining eligibility or an incoming freshman is selected, they'll have a choice to either go down the professional route or return to/enter college. That decision will largely hinge on the signing bonus the team that drafts them is willing to pay.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn baseball: What fans should expect to see at 2023 MLB Draft
