Major League Baseball's 2023 draft kicked off on Sunday night. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected LSU right-hander Paul Skenes with the sixth No. 1 pick in franchise history. LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, considered by most to be the best player in the class, subsequently went to the Washington Nationals at No. 2. In turn, Skenes and Crews became the first set of teammates in MLB draft history to be selected with the top two overall picks.
If you enjoyed Sunday's proceedings, we have good news for you: there's plenty more coming. The draft will resume Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET and run through the 10th round. The draft will then culminate with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday.
Below, CBS Sports has highlighted 10 notable players who remain on the board entering the second day. Do note that these are not necessarily the 10 best players left, and that the players are presented in alphabetical order.
1. Maui Ahuna, SS, Tennessee
The elevator pitch for Ahuna is that he's a lefty-hitting shortstop with a good glove who posted a .962 OPS after transferring from Kansas to the SEC. That sounds like a first-round pick to us. Alas, we included Ahuna as one of our potential fallers because of hit-tool concerns. He struck out in more than 30% of his plate appearances overall, including 33% against SEC competition. Among qualified big-league shortstops this season, only one has struck out anywhere close to that often -- and that's Gunnar Henderson, who finished the first half at 30%.
You never want to close the door on a player improving, but it's fair to write that extreme strikeout rates in college seldom result in a prolific career at the big-league level. Some team will end up taking a chance on Ahuna on Monday. For his sake, here's hoping it works out.
2. Eric Bitonti, 3B, Aquinas High School (CA)
When we ranked Bitonti in the 30th slot on our preseason list, we noted the following: "The final spot is always reserved for either promoting a pet favorite or taking the coward's way out on a polarizing player. This is the latter." Bitonti has been on scouts' radars for a while now. If you're a believer, you see the makings of a slugging third baseman; if you're not, you might see him as a future corner outfielder with a wee bit too much swing and miss to his game. The truth is often somewhere in between. Bitonti has a commitment to Oregon.
3. Steven Echavarria, RHP, Millburn High School (NJ)
We included Echavarria as part of our draft risers piece. (The other four were selected on day one.) He was clocked into the upper-90s this summer, and he shows a feel for spin. Echavarria has a fluid delivery and a history of throwing strikes. He won't celebrate his 18th birthday until August, either. Prep right-handers are a risky group as a whole, so you can understand why he slipped out of day one. It seems likely that someone will take him early on day two with an eye on luring him away from his commitment to the University of Florida.
4. Will Gasparino, OF, Harvard-Westlake HS (CA)
Gasparino has a few notable big-league connections. Foremost, his father Billy is the Dodgers' scouting director. He also hails from the same high school that has produced Jack Flaherty, Max Fried, and Lucas Giolito, among others. Gasparino is more than a fun-fact machine: he's a 6-foot-6 outfielder with good raw power and speed. As is almost always the case with batters of this height, there are concerns about his hit tool, and whether or not his swing will be exploitable at the highest level. The upside here is such that some team will be willing to take the plunge. Shy of that, Gasparino has a commitment to Texas.
5. Jack Hurley, OF, Virginia Tech
Back in the spring, it was conceivable that Hurley would become the second consecutive Virginia Tech center fielder drafted in the first round after the Royals popped Gavin Cross with the No. 9 pick last summer. Hurley had out-OPSed Cross in his draft year, and his athleticism advantage provided him with a better chance of sticking in center. The risk was that his approach paled in comparison to Cross.
Hurley is still on the board after day one, and that's in part because of year-to-year declines in batting average (50 points) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (from 1.59 to 2.00). To be fair, Hurley's OPS went up by 12 ticks thanks to a career-high 17 home runs, and there's still a lot to like about his game. He just didn't show enough growth in the area that teams wanted him to in order to justify selecting him on the first day.
6. Cameron Johnson, LHP, IMG Academy (FL)
Johnson is an enticing southpaw with a commitment to LSU who checks most of the boxes teams are looking for in starting pitchers. He has the size (he's listed at 6-foot-5); he has the strength (his fastball has been clocked into the mid-90s); and he has the spin (in the form of a swing-and-miss breaking ball). Johnson did miss a few appearances down the stretch because of elbow tendinitis, otherwise he might've snuck into the back of our top 30. Depending on how teams feel about his health, he could be one of the first prep arms taken on Monday.
7. Cooper Pratt, SS, Magnolia Heights High School (MS)
Pratt, a Mississippi commit, was in contention to make our preseason top 30 thanks to his well-rounded game. He has a good feel for contact and the strike zone, and his large frame teases that he could have more power potential in the tank. There were two concerns among scouts who liked Pratt. The first is that he may have to slide elsewhere on the infield. The second is that he lacked the upside of some of his peers. This was a great class of prep shortstops, making it inevitable that someone would slip as part of the numbers game.
8. Travis Sykora, RHP, Round Rock High School (TX)
We highlighted Sykora as a potential faller heading into the draft. He's a big right-hander with impressive arm strength. The catch is that teams have grown weary of taking prep righties in the first round, on account of their wicked attrition rate. It doesn't help Sykora's case that scouts have flagged his command projection because of a few mechanical tics. He's committed to Texas, and at some point we reckon he'll decide that he's fine suiting up for the Longhorns and trying his luck again in a future draft. Even so, it only requires one team to meet his price.
9. Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP, Oklahoma State
Watts-Brown made our preseason top 30 list after posting the third-highest strikeout percentage among qualified pitchers in 2022. He continued to miss bats with great regularity after transferring from Long Beach State to Oklahoma State, striking out a higher share of batters (33%) than anyone else in the Big 12. Unfortunately, he also missed the zone too often to merit a first-day selection.
Watts-Brown walked more than 16% of the batters he faced in conference play; for reference, Padres lefty Blake Snell has the highest walk rate among qualified MLB pitchers at 12%. There's still a belief that Watts-Brown, a three-sport athlete in high school, will be able to make improvements to his delivery and his command. There's substantial relief risk here as he is, however, and that's why he remains available.
10. Tanner Witt, RHP, Texas
Witt, whose father Kevin played in nearly 150 big-league games, appeared to be a future first-round pick as recently as spring 2022. He then required Tommy John surgery that limited him to 10 combined appearances over the last two years, including a stint in the Cape Cod League. Control is often said to be the last thing that returns for a pitcher following the operation. Witt will need to validate that belief after walking or plunking 16 of the 81 batters he faced this year. We've seen plenty of evidence in recent years that teams are willing to take pitchers on the way back from Tommy John surgery -- Grant Taylor, whom the White Sox selected in the second round, missed the year because of the operation. It's possible that clubs will want to see more of Witt before they spend premium draft capital on him, but it also takes just one to be enamored by his size and his promising fastball-breaking ball combination.