CARY, N.C. – Six USA Baseball alumni were selected in the first round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday night, including second overall pick Jack Leiter. USA Baseball has now had 529 total athletes drafted in the first round since 1972.
Leiter (No. 2, Texas Rangers) was the first USA Baseball alum taken in the 2021 draft. The Rangers have now drafted a USA Baseball alumnus with their first-round pick in three consecutive drafts (Josh Jung, 2019; Justin Foscue, 2020). Leiter pitched for the 2018 18U National Team, striking out 20 and allowing zero earned runs to help the stars and stripes clinch gold at the 2018 COPABE U-18 Pan-American Championships.
Two more alumni were selected in the Draft’s first 10 picks with 2019 Collegiate National Team outfielder Colton Cowser coming off the board next as the fifth overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles. Kumar Rocker, who won a world championship with the 2017 18U National Team, was selected 10th overall by the New York Mets.
Two-time national team alum Brady House immediately followed Rocker, going to the Washington Nationals with the 11th pick. House is an alum of both the world-champion 2015 12U and 2018 15U National Teams. He was joined on the board two picks later by 15U National Team teammate Andy Painter, who went 13th overall to the Philadelphia Phillies.
2015 12U National Team alum Cooper Kinney was selected 34th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays to round out the first round for USA Baseball.
Four national team programs were represented in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft. In total, the six alumni selected in the opening round have won a total of six gold medals in international competition.
Nine athletes taken in the first round have participated in the National Team Development Program, including Marcelo Mayer (No. 4, Boston Red Sox), Jordan Lawlar (No. 6, Arizona Diamondbacks), Rocker, House, Painter, Max Muncy (No. 25, Oakland Athletics), Maddux Bruns (No. 29, Los Angeles Dodgers), Joe Mack (No. 31, Miami Marlins), and Kinney.
The 2021 MLB Draft will continue on Monday, July 12, at 1 p.m. ET.
The full list of USA Baseball alumni selected in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft is as follows:
- Round-Pick; Name; MLB Team; USA Baseball Team(s)
- 1-2; Jack Leiter; Texas Rangers; 2018 18U National Team
- 1-5; Colton Cowser; Baltimore Orioles, 2019 Collegiate National Team
- 1-10; Kumar Rocker; New York Mets; 2017 18U National Team
- 1-11; Brady House; Washington Nationals; 2015 12U National Team, 2018 15U National Team
- 1-13; Andy Painter; Philadelphia Phillies; 2018 15U National Team
- 1-34; Cooper Kinney; Tampa Bay Rays; 2015 12U National Team
