Ben McDonald

Larry Benard McDonald (born November 24, 1967) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. The first overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft, he played for the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers from 1989 through 1997.

After graduating from Denham Springs High School, McDonald was the 670th selection in the 27th round by the Atlanta Braves in the 1986 MLB draft. He elected not to sign despite the Braves' $75,000 offer ($218,350 in 2025) which at the time was given to second-round draftees. He felt he was not ready for professional baseball and that he wanted to matriculate at Louisiana State University (LSU) instead.

McDonald played two sports at LSU. He was a reserve forward with the Tigers basketball team, appearing in 32 games with five starts as a freshman before his playing time diminished to six games exclusively off the bench during his sophomore year.

McDonald led the 1988 US Olympic Team to a gold medal for baseball, winning complete games against host South Korea and Puerto Rico. During his three-year college career at LSU, McDonald twice helped his team reach the College World Series. He gave up a walk-off grand slam to Stanford's Paul Carey in the 1987 series. His best collegiate season came in 1989, which he finished with a 14–4 record, a 3.49 ERA, and a then-Southeastern Conference record 202 strikeouts. That year, he was selected as a member of the All-America team, and won the Golden Spikes Award. In 1989, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, recording one start.

The Baltimore Orioles made McDonald the first overall selection in the 1989 June draft. He is the first of two LSU Tigers to have been drafted number one, joined by Paul Skenes in 2023.

He signed with the Orioles on August 19, and on September 6, he made his major league debut. McDonald was the second member of his draft class to reach the majors, coming up three days after his Olympic teammate John Olerud.

In the finale of the 1989 season, McDonald tossed one scoreless inning of relief versus the American League East champion Toronto Blue Jays, logging his first career win. He became the sixth player to make the majors in the same season that he was selected as the number one overall pick in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

McDonald joined the Orioles' starting rotation in 1990, and in his first major league start on July 21, he threw a complete-game shutout against the Chicago White Sox. At the end of the season, he finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting, with the award going to catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. McDonald would go on to spend seven seasons with the Orioles, before leaving as a free agent in 1996 to join the Milwaukee Brewers. He never led his league in a major category, but ranked among the top 10 at various times in categories such as complete games, wins, ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts. McDonald was the first #1 draft pick to win his first three starts in Major League history, a feat which has been equalled by Gerrit Cole.