Oklahoma Sooners’ five 2018 top-10 draft picks lead all schools
By Chip Rouse
Five Oklahoma Sooners have become top-10 draft picks in 2018, the most of any school.
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Those five include two overall No. 1s, a No. 5, No. 6 and No. 9. Those are the draft positions of quarterback Baker Mayfield and softball pitcher Paige Lowary, both of whom went No. 1 in their respective professional drafts; Trae Young, the No. 5 pick overall in the NBA Draft; Paige Parker, selected sixth overall in the National Pro Fastpitch softball draft, and Kyler Murray, the top pick of the Oakland Athletics, and No. 9 overall, in June’s Major League Baseball Draft.
Kyler Murray. who also is expected to be the starting quarterback on the OU football team this fall, could end up as a draft pick in two sports if he decides to declare for the NFL Draft next spring. Chances are high, however, that he will stick with baseball as his professional path after this fall.
The Sooners may not produce the most draft talent across all sports among the major colleges, but in 2018, at least, they have the most top-10 draft picks. How does the University of Oklahoma stack up in that regard looking back, say, over the past 10 years?
The ESPN Stats & Information group looked into the last 10 drafts, comparing the draft classes from eight professional leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, WNBA, MLL[lacrosse) and NFP [softball]).
Based on a weighted score factored on the number of draft selections during the past decade, OU still fares very well, but trails several other elite college programs.
The Sooners are ranked ninth with an ultimate draft score of 1110.9 and 102 draft selections from 2009 to 2018. Oklahoma football has produced 51 of those draft picks in the last 10 years, tied for sixth most nationally. That includes two overall No. 1s in Sam Bradford (2009) and Baker Mayfield (this season).
Baseball and softball also have been prime feeding grounds for Oklahoma draft picks. ESPN reports that 24 baseball prospects from OU have been selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft during the past decade.
Oklahoma softball, with three national championships in the past six years, has had a dozen players taken in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft.
Next: Two Sooners selected in the top 50 of the 2018 MLB Draft
North Carolina came in first in ESPN’s Ultimate Draft Rankings followed by Maryland, Duke, Kentucky and Notre Dame. You can read about the top-25 teams by clicking here.