The 2016 Major League Baseball Draft begins on Thursday evening and, as always, the state of Texas stands to be well represented. And in what has been described as a deep draft class, a pair of high school pitchers are projected to be the first prospects to be selected from the Lone Star State’s talent pool.

Forrest Whitley, a righthanded pitcher from Alamo Heights in San Antonio, and Kyle Muller, a lefty from Dallas Jesuit, are listed as Top 25 prospects by Baseball America heading into the opening round. If you lined them up side-by-side, you might think they were bookends.

Both are committed to big-time college baseball programs (Whitley to Florida State and Muller to Texas). Whitley is listed as 6’7″, 225 lbs. and Muller is 6’5″, 230. Their fastballs have both been clocked in the low to mid-90s range. They’re both in Round Rock this weekend as they wait to learn their draft fates, as Whitley’s Alamo Heights team vies for a Class 5A state title and Muller’s Dallas Jesuit Rangers look for a Class 6A trophy.  Undoubtedly, they’ll be counted on to help deliver those championships.

Whitley is ranked a little higher than Muller because of his huge upside, but Muller isn’t far behind and is arguably more accomplished on the high school level as a pitcher.

Back in March, Muller had a pair of starts in which he struck out 24 consecutive batters—the last six of one game and the first 18 of the other. It was part of a streak in which he recorded 36 outs in a row by strikeout. That streak ended with a double play ground ball. With an 8-0 record and 0.46 ERA, he was named Gatorade National Player of the Year.

As we’ve seen in the past, it is very likely that draft position will determine whether these guys sign with an MLB club or opt to play some college ball next year. The good news for both is that they’re projected to learn their fates early in the proceedings.

The good news for them might also turn out to be good news for the state’s two MLB teams, the Astros and Rangers. Houston is set to pick 17th overall and Texas owns the 30th pick.

To be fair, no one is actively projecting that either of these pitchers will go in those slots. But in an interview on Astros radio over the weekend, their scouting director Mike Elias indicated that, while everyone is expecting them to build catching depth with an early pick, they haven’t necessarily tied themselves to that position for their first-round selection.

“We are picking a little later (than their high first round positions in recent years),” Elias stated, “and sometimes it tends to be that the best player on the board in that spot would be a pitcher.”

That’s not a guarantee that one of these Texas high school products has a good chance to stay within the state as a pro. There are other highly-regarding pitching prospects from outside the state to compete with Whitley and Muller for the attention of the major league squads. And coincidentally, as Jameson Taillon–a former hot prospect from the Houston area and overall No. 2 pick in the 2010 draft–finally made his MLB debut this week after six years in the minors, it’s easy to see why high school prospects are still seen as hit-or-miss selections.

“There are a lot of really good high school pitchers (among this year’s class), which is great because they’re exciting talents and you get a lot of big stars that come out of that demographic,” Elias noted. “However, it is the riskiest type of player to draft. That’s always the case.”

There are other Texas players to watch for on Thursday night, as the first two rounds (77 total picks) of the draft will be completed.

Jon Duplantier, another righthander who graduated from Seven Lakes in the Katy area in 2013 and has pitched for Rice since then, is projected as Baseball America’s No. 51 prospect and outfielders Connor Capel (Seven Lakes) and Nick Banks (Texas A&M and Tomball) are among the top 100.

But whether they’re called Thursday or not, there are plenty of opportunities and plenty of players from the state to fill them. The complete list of Baseball America prospects from Texas can be found here.

The first two rounds will be conducted on Thursday night. Rounds 3-10 will continue on Friday and rounds 11-40 will be completed on Saturday. The MLB Network will provide complete coverage.