Pittsburgh Pirates win MLB’s first ever draft lottery

Pirates win MLB’s first ever draft lottery originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won the first ever MLB draft lottery.

The Pirates were awarded the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft through baseball’s inaugural draft lottery on Tuesday night. The event was held at the Winter Meetings in San Diego.

This will be Pittsburgh’s sixth time selecting first overall. The Bucs most recently did so in 2021 when they took catcher Henry Davis at No. 1.

The Pirates entered the draft lottery tied with the Washington Nationals and Oakland A’s for the best odds of winning at 16.5%. The Nationals, who finished with MLB’s worst record in 2022, secured the No. 2 pick, while the A’s dropped to sixth.

The Detroit Tigers, who had the sixth-best odds at 7.5%, moved up three spots to round out the top three.

Two teams jumped up into the top six, led by the Texas Rangers who went from seventh to fourth. The Minnesota Twins, meanwhile, made the biggest leap by going from 13th to fifth. Minnesota had a 0.9% chance of moving up to No. 1.

Only the top six picks were decided by the lottery, with the rest of the top 18 set in reverse order of the regular-season standings.

Here’s a look at the order of the first 18 picks following the lottery:

1. Pittsburgh Pirates

2. Washington Nationals

3. Detroit Tigers

4. Texas Rangers

5. Minnesota Twins

6. Oakland A’s

7. Cincinnati Reds

8. Kansas City Royals

9. Colorado Rockies

10. Miami Marlins

11. Los Angeles Angels

12. Arizona Diamondbacks

13. Chicago Cubs

14. Boston Red Sox

15. Chicago White Sox

16. San Francisco Giants

17. Baltimore Orioles

18. Milwaukee Brewers