ESPN graphic appears to spoil Paul Skenes pick during MLB Draft

It’s pretty hard to spoil the night for the No. 1 overall pick in any sports draft. But ESPN’s coverage of the 2023 MLB Draft came as close as humanly possible to ruining it for former LSU ace Paul Skenes.

The star pitcher was selected with the first overall pick on Sunday night, taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates. While there was an assumption that Skenes would be the top prospect, it was not yet an official decision when ESPN’s graphic posted the pick.

So, before MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made his way to the podium to make the news official, ESPN spoiled the moment. Awful Announcing shared the clip from Sunday night.

An ESPN graphic during the first round of the MLB Draft Sunday revealed that the Pirates were picking Paul Skenes before the pick was officially announced. pic.twitter.com/6BNwKPKMzK

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 10, 2023

ESPN provides coverage for the NFL, MLB and NBA drafts, you’d think it’d have this type of thing down. But, instead, it played spoiler for the Skenes pick on Sunday night.

Skenes transferred from Air Force to LSU, where he played for one season. He made the most of it, too. He set a new SEC record for most strikeouts in a single season, totaling 209 Ks. That mark surpassed a record set by Ben McDonald in 1989.

He helped lead LSU to a national championship, as well. After the season, Skenes earned National Pitcher of the Year and D1Baseball Player of the Year honors.

In his lone season with the Tigers, Skenes owned a 12-2 record in 19 starts. He maintained a 1.69 ERA and surrendered just seven home runs and 20 walks.

ESPN’s spoiler of Sunday’s No. 1 overall pick wasn’t the only mistake made during the MLB Draft.

Rob Manfred has embarrassing moment during MLB Draft

Just a few picks after ESPN spoiled the Skenes announcement, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had a blunder of his own. When the Oakland Athletics selected shortstop Jake Wilson out of Grand Canyon University, the commish had an embarrassing gaffe.

Manfred referred to the school as “Grand Union University.”

It’s easy to see how that mistake could’ve been made. Manfred probably just combined the words “canyon” and “university” and misspoke. It happens to the best of us. But because he’s MLB’s commissioner — and not a very popular individual — nobody is going to cut the guy any slack.

We’ll say this, the blunders during Sunday’s first round coverage of the MLB Draft certainly kept things interesting! But ESPN and Manfred may want to try and clean things up before next year’s event rolls around.