Arkansas shortstop commit Walker Martin selected by San Francisco Giants in 2023 MLB Draft

Arkansas shortstop commit Walker Martin was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the No. 52 overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Martin breaks a dry spell for Colorado high school players in the MLB Draft. The last high school position player from the state selected in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft was Greg Bird, who selected in the fifth round by the New York Yankees in 2011. The last prep player to be picked in the first three rounds was Darnell McDonald all the way back in 1997. He went No. 26 overall to the Baltimore Orioles.

The 19-year-old Martin was a two-sport star at Eaton (Colorado) High, winning three high school state championships in football and three high school state championships in baseball. This past spring, Martin hit a nation-best 20 home runs as Eaton High finished the year with a perfect 29-0 record. He was the Gatorade State Player of the Year.

He entered the draft as the No. 30 overall prospect on MLB.com’s draft rankings.

“Scouts think he has the chance to hit, with plenty of power, from the left side of the plate,” MLB.com’s scouting report reads on Martin. “He has a good swing with excellent rhythm at the plate, showing no difficulty in squaring up balls against elite competition, albeit in a very small sample size. The 6-foot-2 infielder has a lean build with plenty of room to add more strength and power.”

More on the 2023 MLB Draft, what’s next for Walker Martin

The 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will begin during All-Star week, with the first two rounds getting underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. Rounds 3-10 will then begin at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, with rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 11.

This year’s MLB Draft is a historic one, as a draft lottery was used to determine the order for the first time. The Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics each had a 16.5% chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. Ultimately, Pittsburgh won the right to have the first selection, with Washington finishing right behind them at No. 2. Oakland, however, fell all the way down to No. 6 overall.

While the MLB Draft is always unpredictable, the consensus is that this year’s top prospects both hail from LSU, who won the 2023 College World Series. Pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews headline this year’s class, which is considered a deep one.

Within the first ten rounds of the draft, each slot is assigned a certain value. Each team has a bonus pool that they are able to spend on these picks, and players will sign at, above or below their assigned slot value.

In rounds 11-20, there is no assigned slot value and MLB teams are free to spend up to $150,000 to sign their picks from the second half of the draft. If they exceed the $150,000 mark, that added amount will be deducted from their bonus pool.

Following the final day of the 2023 MLB Draft, selected players like Walker Martin will have until August 1 to sign a contract.