The countdown to the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft has turned from days to hours as the best amateur baseball players in the country will soon learn which of the 30 MLB organizations have called upon them to guide the team into the future.
Of the hundreds of young players that wait in anticipation to hear their name called this week, 13 members of the 2018 USA Baseball 18U National Team are draft-eligible in 2019 after guiding Team USA to its fifth consecutive at the COPABE U-18 Pan-American Championships in Panama.
For the lucky 13, there is no doubt that being competing on the international stage with Team USA has given them confidence that they can compete against anyone in the world, but it also comes with a long history of great success in the draft.
Since Brad Brink was selected No. 7 overall in the first round of the 1986 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, 174 18U alums have been selected in the first round of the draft. Dating back to 1976, a total of 743 alums have been drafted to play professionally for an MLB club. The 18U National Team also boasts nine No. 1 overall picks, after Royce Lewis heard his name called first in 2017.
Follow along with all the selections of the 2019 MLB Draft here.