Kiley McDaniel's ESPN 2023 MLB Mock Draft: Max Clark to Pirates, Dylan Crews to Nats

With less than two months remaining before the 2023 MLB draft, the top of this year's class is starting to come into focus.

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel released his first mock of the season Tuesday, with Indiana high school outfielder Max Clark going No. 1 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates and LSU star Dylan Crews going No. 2 to the Washington Nationals.

Rounding out the top five is Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford to the Detroit Tigers, North Carolina high school outfielder Walker Jenkins to the Texas Rangers and LSU right-hander Paul Skenes to the Minnesota Twins.

McDaniel did note Crews going to Pittsburgh is still the "most likely option" on draft night, but rumors of the Pirates being in on Clark have "been gaining steam for weeks and was the first thing a number of scouts mentioned to me at the ACC tournament this past week."

Crews is generally considered the top prospect in this year's class. He's having an incredible season for the Tigers with a .420/.567/.710 slash line and 15 homers while playing primarily against SEC competition.

MLB.com has Crews ranked as the No. 1 overall player in the 2023 draft, giving him a 70-grade hit tool and 60-grade power and speed.

Clark comes in at No. 5 on the draft list from MLB.com. The 18-year-old has a commitment to Vanderbilt and is a "no-doubt center fielder" with a tremendous hit tool and "projectable strength should translate into at least 20-homer power that he already hints at in batting practice."

If the Pirates' choice comes down to the best player, Crews would be a much safer bet because of his production in the best baseball conference in the country and potential to move quickly through the system.

McDaniel did note Clark may not cut a huge discount to go No. 1, but he did throw out the possibility of the Pirates saving $1 million they could use to sign later picks who might fall because of their asking price.

The Nationals would certainly come out of this scenario thrilled to land Crews. If he's off the board at No. 1, McDaniel wrote Crews' LSU teammate, Paul Skenes, would likely be their pick.

Skenes has a 1.89 ERA with 167 strikeouts in 90.1 innings this season. The right-hander transferred to LSU last summer after spending two years at Air Force.

The last time one school had two players go in the top three picks was 2011 when Gerrit Cole (No. 1) and Trevor Bauer (No. 3) were drafted out of UCLA.