The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the first overall pick.

The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East Division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadium while a new stadium was being built. In 2008, they moved to Nationals Park, located on South Capitol Street in the Navy Yard neighborhood of the Southeast quadrant of D.C., near the Anacostia River.