Louisville Slugger: Henry Davis becomes first No. 1 overall pick in Louisville baseball history
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BVM) — Louisville catcher Henry Davis made school history on July 11, becoming the first Cardinals baseball player ever selected with the first overall pick in the MLB Draft when he was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the first pick. Davis joins an illustrious group of Louisville student-athletes to be the No. 1 overall pick regardless of sport, joining Pervis Ellison (NBA, 1989), Angel McCoughtry (WNBA, 2009) and Andrew Farrell (MLS, 2013) in the exclusive group. While the highest drafted player in program history, having a first rounder is nothing new for the Cardinals as the team has now seen nine players taken in the first round and seven in just the past six years.
๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฎ. ๐๐๐๐.#L1C4 โณ #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/kNWqZu9ls9
— Louisville Baseball (@LouisvilleBSB) July 11, 2021
From a draft perspective, the selection of Davis was a bit of a surprise. Not many people projected the Cardinal to be selected with the top pick, though he was almost unanimously listed among the top four players in the draft. The decision was also unlikely given the number of catchers selected with the top pick in MLB Draft history as only seven have been picked No. 1 overall, including now Davis.
โIโm pretty excited,โ Davis said during the MLB Draft broadcast on MLB Network. โIโm ready to go. Ready to get to work. Iโm really excited. โฆ [The Pirates are getting] a hard worker. I want to win. A competitor. Iโm going to do everything I can to help get this organization where it needs to be.โ
"Nobody does anything special alone."
We can already tell we're going to love this guy. pic.twitter.com/yKA2vSP7Ea
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 11, 2021
Davis is well worth the investment for the Pirates. In 2021, Davis had his best year with U of L as he hit for a team-high .370 batting average with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs. The All-American was also a defensive star as well as he threw out over 46% of base stealers and was named a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, given to the top catcher in Division I, as well as a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. In total, Davis finished his three-year Cardinals career with a .337 batting average, 21 home runs and 84 RBIs.
Louisville head baseball coach Dan McDonnell discussed Davisโ selection, the 88th player picked in his 15 seasons leading the team, during a press conference on Monday.
โItโs good to see certain players where their commitment level is and it was fun to watchย Henryโs maturation from freshman year,โ McDonnell said. โHeโs been very public about after his freshman year when he decided he could do more and he was going to live with no regrets when it comes to baseball. It just shows you, itโs an educational moment for manyโฆit takes a lot more than talent. Thereโs a next level work ethic.โ
Though Davis may be the headliner, he may not be heading to Pittsburgh alone. During the next day of the draft on July 12, the Pirates also selected junior outfielder Luke Brown in the ninth round with the No. 253 overall pick. Brown had a .322 batting average with 13 doubles, four triples and 20 RBIs in 49 starts.
For the Cardinals, they had a total of six players drafted in the first 10 rounds including Davis, Brown, junior third baseman Alex Binelas, junior second baseman Cooper Bowman, senior pitcher Michael Kirian and senior second baseman Lucas Dunn. While it is a big draft class for Louisville, it is clear that Davis is the cream of the crop and Pirates fans will wait anxiously to see if he can bring stability to the backstop for years to come.
๐ง๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐#GoCards pic.twitter.com/yJC3Ews5GG
— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) July 12, 2021
