Miami Hurricanes Third Baseman Yohandy Morales selected by Washington Nationals in 2023 MLB Draft

Miami Hurricanes third baseman Yohandy Morales has been selected in the 2023 MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals with the No. 40 overall selection in the second round.

Yohandy Morales played three seasons at Miami. There, he consistently improved his offensive numbers with each season, culminating with an explosive 2023 season. He had a .408 batting average, a .713 slugging percentage, 20 home runs, and 70 RBIs in 61 games.

For his career, Morales hit .343 with a .635 slugging percentage and 49 home runs to 174 RBIs. That was in 174 total college baseball games.

On the defensive side of the ball, Yohandy Morales has also shown improvement throughout his time at Miami, allowing fewer errors every season. In 2023, he only had six errors over the course of the season.

“n many ways, Morales has a similar profile to what scouts thought he might be coming out of high school. He’s an aggressive hitter looking to do damage and he does consistently barrel up the baseball, showing an ability to drive the ball to all fields,” MLB.com wrote about Morales. “While he’s still power-over-hit, he has ironed out some of the moving parts of his swing that hurt him as a prepster, giving him a better chance to hit and get to that power, though some scouts worried about his tendency to chase pitches, especially up and out of the zone.”

More on the 2023 MLB Draft

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 will have until August 1 to sign a contract.