Here’s which MLB team drafted Wake Forest High star Kahlil Watson in the first round
Wake Forest High School shortstop Kahlil Watson achieved his dream Sunday when the Miami Marlins called his name as the 16th overall selection in the 2021 MLB Entry Draft in Denver.
Watson, a 5-foot-9 shortstop, was ranked fourth by MLB.com among 2021 prospects. The 18-year-old, whose stock rose sharply through the spring and early summer, initially committed to N.C. State, but soon found his stock rising and reconsidered turning pro early.
Sunday, with a handful of off-the-board picks early, Watson slipped below his latest national mock draft projections, but still is among the highest drafted players in North Carolina prep history at No. 16.
Former NC State pitcher Joey Devine is serving as his adviser. Devine played for the Pack from 2003-05 and was a first-round pick of the Atlanta Braves.
Watson averaged .477 for Wake Forest High, including .513 as a senior. He also had 61 steals in 66 games for the Cougars.
According to reports, scouts are enamored with his athleticism — he also starred at receiver and defensive back on Wake Forest’s two-time state champion football team.
“I knew the kind of player he was, with his speed and being a left handed hitter, that this would be a distinct possibility one day,” Wake Forest coach Mike Joyner told the N&O earlier this week. “You never know exactly where it’s gonna fall, but I’m not surprised that he’s going to be picked in the top probably the top seven or whatever that is. I’m not surprised me at all.”
Watson is the first North Carolina high school player selected in the first round since Wilmington pitcher Blake Walston, who played at New Hanover High, was taken 26th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019.
ECU pitcher joins Watson in first round
East Carolina’s Gavin Williams was considered one of the hardest throwing pitchers in college baseball this season. The 6-foot-6 right hander was projected as high as the 20th pick to the New York Yankees in The Sporting News mock draft, to No. 26 MLB.com and No. 28 in Bleacher Report.
Williams heard his name Sunday at No. 23, a selection of the Cleveland Indians. ESPN commentators were effusive in their praise of Williams, his decision to wait a year, and the Indians for selecting the hard-throwing hurler.
In 2021, Williams finished with a 1.88 ERA for the Pirates, earning 10 wins against one loss.
Wake Forest University pitcher to the Braves
Ryan Cusick of Wake Forest University was selected at No. 24 by the Atlanta Braves on Sunday night. Clocked in the low-100s off the mound, Cusick was rated the No. 16 draft prospect by D1 Baseball, the 26th-best prospect by MLB.com and was voted among MLB personnel to possess the best fastball in collegiate baseball prior to the 2021 campaign.
The Demon Deacons’ righty struck out 206 in 158 innings and earned 10 victories in 35 appearances. The Massachusetts native holds the third-highest strikeout per nine innings mark (11.73) in Wake program history.
Cusick’s selection in the first round gives Wake Forest its second first-rounder in as many drafts.
Top draft picks selected
In other news from the draft Sunday, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected catcher Henry Davis first overall. Davis, a catcher at Louisville, was the fifth-ranked prospect overall per MLB prospect rankings, and is the second first-round catcher from Lousiville selected in the past six years.
The Texas Rangers picked second, and snagged Vanderbilt star pitcher Jack Leiter, the prized pitching prospect in this year’s draft, alongside teammate Kumar Rocker.
At No. 3, the Detroit Tigers selected pitcher Jackson Jobe, a high schooler from Oklahoma. At No. 4, high school shortstop Marcelo Mayer fell to the Red Sox. Mayer, thought by many to be the top prospect in the draft.
Late mock drafts had the Orioles selecting Watson at No. 5. Instead, they went with Colton Cowser, a centerfielder from Sam Houston State, a Golden Spikes Award finalist and the Southland Conference Player of the Year.
Jordan Lawlar, another of the top shortstops available in the draft and one of the best pure defenders, went at No. 6 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Royals went way off the board to select Frank Mozzicato, a left-handed pitcher from Connecticut, at No. 7.
The Rockies selected Benny Montgomery, a centerfielder from Pennsylvania, with the eight overall pick, and the Los Angeles Angels tabbed pitcher Sam Bachman at No. 9.
With the No. 10 pick, the Mets picked Rocker, who inexplicably fell to the bottom of the top 10. At the eleventh pick, the Washington Nationals added Brady House, a high school shortstop from Georgia.
Harry Ford, another high school position player from Georgia — a catcher — was the Seattle Mariners’ selection at No. 12, while right-handed pitcher Andrew Painter of Florida went No. 13 to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Will Bednar, a pitcher at Mississippi State, went fourteenth overall to the San Francisco Giants, and Sal Frelick from Boston College was the pick of the Milwaukee Brewers at No. 15.
Here is a list of all of the players with ties to North Carolina drafted in this year’s MLB Draft.
This story was originally published July 11, 2021 at 8:59 PM.
