Vanderbilt LHP Hunter Owen selected by Kansas City Royals in 2023 MLB Draft

The Vandy Boys have made quite the tradition of getting drafted. Plenty of Vanderbilt pitchers have heard their names called over the past few years, especially near the top of the draft. You can now add Hunter Owen, a left-hander, to the list as the Kansas City Royals have selected him at the 2023 MLB Draft.

Owen spent three years at Vanderbilt with the 2023 season being his best. He started in 12 games, throwing 64 innings. An ERA of 3.52 was accompanied by 76 strikeouts and just 17 walks. When opponents did put the ball in play, there was a near 50/50 split between fly ball and groundouts for Owen.

The best performance of the year for Owen came against Ole Miss, throwing a complete game shutout. A total of 11 Rebel batters struck out during the game, marking a career-high. Two other quality starts are on the resume as well, showing Owen has plenty of potential.

Now, Owen will be hoping to become the latest Vanderbilt player to make it to the big leagues. A long journey begins with hearing his name called in Seattle.

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.

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