2023 MLB mock draft: Kiley McDaniel predicts the first 40 picks - ESPN

The 2022 MLB draft is just a few weeks away, and it's time for my second mock draft projecting the first 40 picks of this year's event.

This is usually the time when my mock drafts are most accurate — teams have been in meetings for a couple of weeks, settling where they stand on players and communicating it to agents. The draft ecosystem is finding equilibrium. From here until the draft, plenty of what I hear is recycled rumors or intentional nonsense as teams coordinate messaging to suit their ends.

So even though you'll get another version of this mock just before the draft (Watch: Sunday, July 9, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN), this version could well be as accurate as my mocks get (and I'd wager that's true for the other ones you might read as well). Ahead of the final game of an electric Men's College World Series — one that has featured all of the players I expect to go in the top three picks — let's jump into it.

Mock draft 1.0 | MLB draft rankings 2.0: Top 160

Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU

I'd forgive you if you claim I'm just trying to put all five of the top tier of players at the top pick in various mocks and then be able to claim I was right. I'm not! It just worked out that the first mini-mock had Dylan Crews here, the first full mock had Max Clark here, and now I have Skenes. (For what it's worth, I only judge myself off the last mock.)

Let me try to explain my thinking and the industry buzz on this one — and I'll be careful not to make any of this sound more concrete than it is. There's a belief from those plugged into the Pirates pick that the Crews camp will not be willing to take whatever is offered at the first pick. Some describe it as «not interested,» some as «maybe just a negotiation ploy.» There's a spectrum of