What University of Louisville baseball players could be drafted in the 2021 MLB Draft?
The MLB Draft begins on Sunday, which means more Louisville baseball players are set to begin their professional careers. Louisville has had 31 players selected in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft and 87 drafted total since coach Dan McDonnell took over the program in 2007. Last year, Louisville saw pitchers Reid Detmers and Bobby Miller picked in the first round. The Cardinals are likely to have another first-round pick in catcher Henry Davis along with others picked throughout the 20-round draft. More:The fastest pitcher in baseball isnt in the major leagues. Hunter Greene is in Louisville  Here's a look at all of Louisville's prospects:  Henry Davis, sophomore catcher  Ranked as the No. 4 prospect by Baseball America and No. 5 by MLB.com  Davis turned himself to an elite baseball prospect in his time at Louisville. He was always a talented defensive catcher with a strong arm, but improved as a hitter with a batting average over .370 in the last two seasons with 61 RBIs. Davis finished his career as an unanimous All-American. Alex Binelas, sophomore infielder  Ranked as the No. 77 prospect by Baseball America and No. 65 by MLB.com  The left-handed power hitter shined in his time at Louisville. He was a freshman All-American after hitting 14 home runs and 59 RBIs. He missed the COVID-shortened season with a broken bone, but hit 19 home runs this past season, driving in 63 RBIs. Michael Kirian, junior pitcher  Kirian is ranked the No. 275 prospect in the MLB draft by Baseball America. Kirian's career started poorly with a 12.71 ERA, but he shined as a reliever in the Cardinals' 2019 College World Series run and though he was inconsistent at times this past season, was still a strong reliever. He'll likely finish his Louisville career with a 4.46 ERA with 63 appearances, 12 starts and 12 saves. Levi Usher, sophomore outfielder  The No. 281 ranked prospect by Baseball America. Usher began his career hitting .411 his freshman year in 56 at-bats, but he struggled with consistency this season. The Iowa native hit .216 last season with 47 strikeouts but he has a lot of speed, tallying 26 stolen bases last season. He drew 26 walks as well and scored 25 runs. Glenn Albanese, junior pitcher  Ranked as the No. 225 prospect by MLB.com and No. 338 by Baseball America. The right-handed pitcher was a bullpen arm until this past season. He entered the year as the Friday night starter but missed time with various injuries throughout the season. He made four appearances and finished the season with a 3-1 record and 3.71 ERA. Cooper Bowman, sophomore infielder  Ranked as the No. 171 prospect by MLB.com and No. 418 by Baseball America. Bowman, after transferring from Iowa Western Community College, had a good first year with the Cardinals. He hit .293 during the season with 56 hits, 42 runs, eight home runs and 22 RBIs. Jack Perkins, sophomore pitcher  Perkins is not ranked by either Baseball America or MLB.com. The right-handed pitcher had missed the 2020 season due to Tommy John surgery and never gained his footing in the 2021 season after returning from injury. He played in 11 games, started one game, and finished the year with a 7.31 ERA with 16 innings pitched. Perkins is currently in the transfer portal. Lucas Dunn, junior infielder/outfielder  Dunn isn't ranked by either Baseball America or MLB.com. The versatile Dunn played infield and outfield for the Cardinals in the last four years. Last season, he hit .266 on average with 31 RBIs. Jared Poland, sophomore infielder/pitcher  Poland was a two-way player at Louisville, playing both infielder and as a right-handed pitcher. He isn't ranked by either Baseball America or MLB.com  The Indiana native didn't have an at-bat in 2021 because of injury, but in five appearances on the mound with a 3.94 ERA. for his career, Poland has a .236 batting average in 89 at-bats and a 5.23 ERA in 41.1 innings pitched. Luke Brown, junior outfielder  The Bowling Green native had a strong season last year finishing with a .326 batting average. Brown finished the season with 66 hits including eight in two games at the end of the season. If he's drafted, and decides to leave Louisville, he'll finish his career with a .322 batting average and four triples. Luke Smith, senior pitcher  Smith wasn't ranked in either Baseball America or MLB.com. The right hander made waves in 2019 during the Cardinals run to the College World Series. He started the 2020 season strong, before it was ended due to COVID-19, but struggled with consistency this past season. His ERA rose to 5.85 in the 2021 season and he finished the year 3-4 with 11 starts. He had 32 strikeouts and walked 17 batters. Adam Elliott, senior pitcher  The left hander from Louisville isn't ranked by Baseball America or MLB.com. Elliott made 87 appearances on the mound in his five years at Louisville compiling a 2.95 ERA with 138 strikeouts and 54 walks. Elliott, a reliable reliever for Louisville, pitched 134.1 innings for the Cardinals in his career  Cam Masterman, junior infielder/outfielder  The Kentucky native started in 39 games this year, taking 125 at-bats and tallied a .240 batting average. He totaled six home runs and 21 RBIs during the season, as well. He had 39 strikeouts to just 30 hits on the season, though. He's not ranked by Baseball America or MLB.com, but could be a fringe draft pick this season. Carter Lohman, sophomore pitcher  Lohman showed potential this season as a starting pitcher, but his 5.31 ERA is a bit elevated. Two times this season he didn't make it out of the first inning, giving up four runs in .1 innings to Morehead State and three runs against North Carolina. Still, in three of his last four outing, he gave up no more than two runs. If he doesn't get drafted, a strong offseason could help both him and Louisville. The major league baseball draft starts at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 11. Just the first round will be selected on Sunday. The Pittsburgh Pirates are scheduled to draft first. Rounds 2-10 are scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, July 12. Round 11 starts at noon Tuesday, July 13. The first round will be shown on MLB Network and ESPN. Later rounds will be available on MLB.com. Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague;