Texas pitcher Tanner Witt selected by Baltimore Orioles in 2023 MLB Draft

Texas Longhorns pitcher Tanner Witt has to be feeling pretty fantastic as his professional baseball dream is coming true, with the flamethrower selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the 541 in the 18th during the 2023 MLB Draft.

Over three seasons with the Longhorns, Witt amassed a 9-1 record and an ERA of 4.00 while taking the hill for Texas. Additionally, he struck out 95 battings over 78.2 innings pitched with the program.

While he missed some time with injuries during his time in college, Witt will hope to stay healthy at the MLB level, reaching his full potential in his next stop in his baseball journey.

Tanner Witt flashed throughout his time with Texas, and now he’ll hope to take those lessons learned with the Longhorns with him to the MLB, where he’ll hope to be even better on the mound.

More on the 2023 MLB Draft

The 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will begin during All-Star week, with the first two rounds getting underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. Rounds 3-10 will then begin at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, with rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 11.

This year’s MLB Draft is a historic one, as a draft lottery was used to determine the order for the first time. The Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics each had a 16.5% chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. Ultimately, Pittsburgh won the right to have the first selection, with Washington finishing right behind them at No. 2. Oakland, however, fell all the way down to No. 6 overall.

While the MLB Draft is always unpredictable, the consensus is that this year’s top prospects both hail from LSU, who won the 2023 College World Series. Pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews headline this year’s class, which is considered a deep one.

Within the first ten rounds of the draft, each slot is assigned a certain value. Each team has a bonus pool that they are able to spend on these picks, and players will sign at, above or below their assigned slot value.

In rounds 11-20, there is no assigned slot value and MLB teams are free to spend up to $150,000 to sign their picks from the second half of the draft. If they exceed the $150,000 mark, that added amount will be deducted from their bonus pool.

Following the final day of the 2023 MLB Draft, selected players will have until August 1 to sign a contract.