Wyatt Langford surges late for best odds to be selected No. 1 overall in MLB Draft

After weeks of speculation, one name has become the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft: Wyatt Langford. Las Vegas currently gives the Florida outfielder -110 odds to be the first player off the draft board.

Of course, the race is tight. LSU standout pitcher Paul Skenes trails just behind, listed with +125 odds. The rest of the top five rounds out in this order: Max Clark, Walker Jenkins and Dylan Crews. For most of the season, Crews and Skenes were projected to be the No. 1 pick.

Nonetheless, the baseball world shouldn’t be too surprised. Langford batted a career-high .373 this season while recording 57 RBI. He reached base 49.8% of the time and had a .784 slugging percentage. Additionally, the 6-foot-1 junior slammed 21 home runs this year. Langford was fantastic in the College World Series.

In the CWS championship against LSU, Langford added seven hits, two of which were home runs for eight RBI on the series. Langford succeeds despite boasting a famously unique swing. MLB Network’s Dan O’Dowd recently analyzed the trademark chop.

“What I like about him are his short arms. His short arms, I feel, makes him so direct and quick to the ball that he can even be fooled with a pitch and still do damage with it. He looks different than a high pick. Like when you try to do a player comp on him, he looks like a Brian Downing.

“It’s not a real easy comp but I wouldn’t discount the fact that he also has electric hand speed and he’s very, very direct to the ball and he gets unique lag because it doesn’t really go into a lag position. It’s more from the head directly to the ball,” O’Dowd said.

Langford is a product of hard work. Exiting high school, Perfect Game ranked Langford as just the No. 144 player in the Class of 2020. Further, he wasn’t even the best player from the panhandle state.

Langford has enough trophies now to wipe his tears with gold. In 2023 alone, Langford was named a Second Team All-American (Collegiate Baseball), Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist and First Team All-SEC member.

Being the first Florida player ever to be drafted with the No. 1 pick could be another milestone secured for Langford. If Vegas is correct, Pittsburgh could be home to the Florida legend. Round 1 of the MLB Draft starts at 7 p.m. ET. The draft will be broadcast on ESPN.