Information from Arizona’s media-relations department contributed to this report:
Arizona outfielder Chase Davis, one of the most prolific sluggers in program history, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 21st overall pick in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft on Sunday night.
Davis is the 276th MLB Draft selection in program history and the 13th taken in the first round.
Following Davis’ pick and Daniel Susac’s selection last year, the Wildcats have now had players selected in the first round of back-to-back MLB Drafts for the first time since Alan Zinter and Lance Dickson were picked in the 1989 and 1990 drafts, respectively.
Davis, a consensus All-American, finished his Arizona career with 39 home runs, the third most in program history. His 21 home runs this year were tied for the conference lead with teammate Kiko Romero and were tied for the third most by a Wildcat in a single season.
With the 21st pick in the 2023 #MLBDraft, the #STLCards select OF Chase Davis! pic.twitter.com/lzZTL2IsqR
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 10, 2023
Across 147 games and 120 starts at Arizona, Davis posted a remarkable .319 batting average to go along with 132 runs, 33 doubles, four triples, 39 home runs, 132 RBIs, a .444 on-base percentage, and a .644 slugging percentage.
Following an impressive sophomore season in 2022, Davis put together a breakout performance as a junior this spring.
The bonus slot value for the No. 21 pick is $3,618,200. If Chase Davis signs for full slot value with @Cardinals it would be the largest signing bonus for any Arizona player, topping the $3,531,200 that Daniel Susac got for going 19th to the @Athletics last year.
— Brian Pedersen (@realBJP) July 10, 2023
He led the Wildcats in batting average at .362, a significant increase from his .289 the year prior. Virtually every offensive metric that can be tracked made a notable jump during his second year under head coach Chip Hale and hitting coach Toby DeMello.
Davis earned four All-America selections, Pac-12 All-Conference honors, and semifinalist recognition from the Golden Spikes Award.
With the 21st pick, the @Cardinals select @ArizonaBaseball outfielder Chase Davis, No. 22 on the Top 250 Draft Prospects list.
Watch live: https://t.co/1s1j9XMnG5 pic.twitter.com/kKnmHgEuKv
— MLB Draft (@MLBDraft) July 10, 2023
The powerful left-handed hitter logged just 30 at-bats as a freshman on the Wildcats’ 2021 College World Series team before taking over as the program’s every day left fielder in 2022.
As a sophomore, he scored 56 runs with 32 extra-base hits and 54 RBIs. Some of his best performances came against difficult Pac-12 competition when he hit 10 of his 18 home runs, tied for a program record.
His defense in left field was invaluable to Arizona’s success over the last two years as well, contributing countless highlight reel catches and seven outfield assists. Davis’ career fielding percentage of .973 came on 256 total chances.
.@ArizonaBaseball outfielder Chase Davis talks about participating in the #MLBDreamSeries, getting comfortable at the plate this year and going through the draft process.@MLBDraft | @MLBDevelops pic.twitter.com/m2fjQLT0rf
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 21, 2023
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