Did ESPN Accidentally Leak The #1 Overall Pick Before The Selection Was Announced?

Sunday Night, Night One of the 2023 Major League First-Year Draft occurred in Seattle, Washington. The event happened at Lumen Field, the Home of the Seattle Seahawks. During the ESPN Broadcast of the game, there may have been a major slip-up in the production truck before the #1 Overall Pick being announced.

There had been a major debate over the last few days and weeks over who would be selected #1 Overall in the MLB Draft. The selection was held by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The debate was between the LSU Superstar teammates Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes, Florida's Wyatt Langford, or high school prospects Max Clark and Walker Jennings.

The Major League Draft is very different than the NFL Draft. In the NFL, the teams just select the best available player, whereas, in the MLB Draft, each pick has a slotted dollar amount. When a player is drafted, the organization and player negotiate a deal and the player can either accept and begin his pro-baseball career, starting in the Minor Leagues, or refuse and try entering the draft the next year and secure a better deal.

Last Night, ESPN was broadcasting the first night of the MLB Draft when they may have had the biggest slip-up of the night. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had just opened the MLB Draft and the Pirates were on the clock when the graphic on the bottom of the screen on the ESPN broadcast showed something very puzzling.

The graphic reads 1.1 Paul Skenes

This happened MINUTES before the Pittsburgh Pirates had officially made the selection to select LSU's Ace Paul Skenes.