Pirates Select Henry Davis No. 1 in the MLB Draft

July 11th, 2021

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced they have selected catcher Henry Davis with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 First-Year Player Draft.

The 21-year-old Davis earned first-team All-American honors from both Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association this past season as a sophomore for the University of Louisville while hitting .370 (68-for-184) with nine doubles and a career-high 15 home runs and 48 RBI in 50 games.

Davis was named a finalist for the prestigious Buster Posey Award as college baseball’s top catcher in NCAA Division 1 this past season. He threw out 13 of the 28 runners (46 percent) attempting to steal against him in 2021 and 40 percent (25-for-63) during his three-year career with Louisville. Baseball America also labeled him as having the fourth-best “Strike-Zone Judgment” and as the fifth-best “Hitter” among college players in the draft.

Davis was also tabbed a semifinalist for the 2021 Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation’s best amateur player. He finished the 2021 campaign ranked first in the ACC with a .482 on-base percentage while also ranking among the top 10 conference leaders in batting average (.370), hits (68), home runs (15), RBI (48), total bases (122) and slugging percentage (.663).

During Louisville’s abbreviated 2020 season, he hit .372 (16-for-43) with five doubles, three homers and 13 RBI in 14 games. He also hit .280 (37-for-132) with five doubles, three home runs and 23 RBI in 45 games during his first collegiate season in 2019 with Louisville.

Prior to attending Louisville, Davis was a four-year letterwinner at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY, where he was named the 2018 Perfect Game New York Player-of-the-Year as well as the state’s top rated catcher by Perfect Game.