2023 MLB Draft: Arizona’s Chase Davis projected to go in first round, several other current/future Wildcats expected to get picked

The 2023 MLB Draft is on tap over the next three days in Seattle, and there should be several players with Arizona ties getting their names called.

Topping that list is outfielder Chase Davis, a consensus All-American whose monster 2023 season elevated him into the first round in nearly every MLB mock draft you can find.

CBS Sports has Davis going the highest, at 14^th to the Boston Red Sox, where he could command as much as $4.6 million for a signing bonus. Baseball America has him going 21^st to the St. Louis Cardinals, while ESPN has him going 23^rd to the Cleveland Guardians and The Athletic has him at No. 27 to the Philadelphia Phillies.

If Davis goes in the first round it will mark two straight drafts with a UA player going that high, following catcher Daniel Susac going 19^th to the Oakland Athletics last season. The last time the Wildcats had first-round picks in back-to-back was 1989-90, though in 2008 they had two first rounders in pitchers Ryan Perry and Daniel Schlereth.

Susac and outfielder Tanner O’Tremba (15^th round, San Francisco Giants) were the only UA players drafted last year, though Arizona did lose a couple prep/junior college signees who turned pro and also saw former slugger Jacob Berry (who transferred to LSU) go ahead of Susac in the first round.

Expect at least four members of Arizona’s 2023 squad to get drafted, if not more, plus a couple incoming freshmen.

Besides Davis, who is 28^th on Baseball America’s list of top 500 draft prospects, the next-highest ranked is prep right-hander Blake Wolters at No. 50. The 50^th pick comes with a bonus “slot value” of nearly $1.7 million, with projected seven-figure payouts for the top 72 selections, and 2019 was the last time a high school pitcher drafted in the first 10 rounds ended up sticking with his college choice, so Wolters pitching for the UA in 2024 is a long shot at best.

Also in BA’s Top 500 are righty TJ Nichols (159^th), prep OF signee Easton Breyfogle (171^st), OF Mac Bingham (369^th), first baseman Kiko Romero (425^th) and righty Chris Barraza (459^th). Barraza is out of college eligibility, while Bingham and Nichols are in the NCAA transfer portal.