Nebraska junior Max Anderson was selected in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Detroit Tigers on Sunday night. Anderson, who became the fifth second-round selection in NU history, was the No. 45 pick overall in the draft, which is being held in Seattle.
With the selections of Brice Matthews and Anderson, the Huskers become the first program to have their middle infield drafted in the first two rounds since 2015, where Arizona State’s Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman were picked up in the first and second rounds.
Anderson becomes Nebraska’s fourth selection in the top three rounds since 2021, following Matthews earlier tonight and Spencer Schwellenbach (Second) and Cade Povich (Third) in 2021. The last time the Huskers had two draftees in the first two rounds was back when Darin Erstad and Alvie Shepherd were selected with the first and 21st overall picks in the 1995 MLB Draft.
The Omaha native is the third Husker to be selected by the Tigers in the draft. The NU junior was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy and consensus second-team All-American by all media outlets after batting .414 with 20 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs, 70 RBI and 51 runs scored in 2023.
The junior became the first player in the country to reach 100 hits and finished with 101 hits on the season, which is sixth-most by a Husker in a single-season in program history. Anderson is the first Husker to conclude the season hitting above .400 since John Cole’s .418 batting average in 2001.
Anderson became the first Big Ten player with 15 home runs in a conference season with a traditional schedule. He finished the 2023 campaign ranked fourth on the single-season charts in program history with 188 total bases while climbing to fifth with 21 home runs and 43 extra-base hits.
Tabbed a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2023 and the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year in 2021, Anderson hit .350 with 40 doubles, six triples, 38 home runs, 146 RBI and 133 runs in his three seasons with the Huskers.
Excluding the shortened draft in 2020 due to COVID-19, Nebraska has had at least one draft selection in 29 of the last 30 drafts since 1992.