The O’s drafted several highly regarded youngsters last night, but the less said about the team’s on-field performance, the better.
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The first half of the Orioles’ 2025 season has drawn to a close. Good riddance.
The O’s, after losing two out of three to the Marlins, head into the All-Star break with the third-worst record in the American League (43-52). They’ve got the fifth-worst run differential in baseball at -90. Any hopes of contention are well and truly cooked. This season has been cursed from the get-go and there’s no hope of salvaging it in the second half.
It’s only fitting that the Orioles ended their first half with a lopsided, uncompetitive loss, one of many they’ve suffered in this miserable campaign. The O’s put up a pathetic offensive effort, committed multiple baserunning blunders, and were saddled with another atrocious pitching performance. Frankly, they looked like a team that had already mentally checked out. Most agonizingly, it was Kyle Stowers, a player the O’s dealt last year after giving him precious little playing time, who crushed three home runs to lead the Marlins rout. Check out Alex Church’s recap of the carnage and be thankful that we now get a four-day break from this woebegone team.
Seeing Stowers single-handedly destroy the Orioles has only increased fans’ dissatisfaction with Mike Elias, the man who traded him away. If Elias wants to get back into their good graces, he’s got to nail it with this year’s MLB Draft, which began last night with the O’s holding four of the top 37 picks.
The early returns, at least, are promising. The Orioles selected the delightfully named Ike Irish with their first pick, #19 overall, then came away with another trio of position players — Caden Bodine, Wehiwa Aloy, and Slater de Brun — with the 30th, 31st, and 37th picks, respectively. They even drafted pitchers in the second round (Joseph Dzierwa) and competitive balance round (JT Quinn), the earliest they’ve ever selected a hurler.
Keep in mind that I know nothing about any of these players and had never heard their names before last night, but based on the draft experts’ evaluations, the Orioles appeared to get good value with their picks. The Athletic’s Keith Law, in his final mock draft, predicted Irish as the #2 overall pick and both Bodine and Aloy in the top 17. The Orioles, who didn’t pick until 19th, ended up with all three. Sources such as FanGraphs and ESPN were similarly bullish on the players the O’s ended up drafting. Rounds 4 through 20 will take place this morning, and perhaps the Birds can find some hidden gems in those rounds as well.
It’ll be several years, of course, before we can fully evaluate this draft. But the O’s seem to have added an intriguing stable of talent so far, and hopefully a few of the youngsters will emerge as promising prospects to stabilize the Birds’ minor league pipeline. With everything that’s gone wrong for the Orioles this year, they could really use an organizational win with this draft.
Links
Orioles draft catcher Ike Irish in first round (updated through 93rd pick, and Blood quotes) – School of Roch
When a player is announced as a catcher/outfielder, spoiler alert: he’s going to end up as an outfielder. But the Irish pick still seems to be a pretty good one.
Baltimore Orioles: Stowers collects 3 homers, 5 hits vs. former club – The Baltimore Banner
Good for Kyle! I didn’t think Stowers would ever have a season as good as the one he’s having now. Something tells me Mike Elias didn’t, either.
Orioles eyeing second-half reset after rooting on O’Hearn in All-Star Game – MLB.com
I think there will indeed be a reset for the Orioles in the second half. Mostly a reset of the roster after they trade away like 5-6 veterans at the deadline.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! There are NINE former Orioles with a July 14 birthday. Seriously! The sizable group includes infielders Joey Ortiz (27), Andrew Velazquez (31), Bernie Castro (46), Victor Rodríguez (64), and Billy Smith (72); outfielder Derrick May (57); right-handers Isaac Mattson (30) and AL Cy Young winner Steve Stone (78); and the late catcher Earl Williams (b. 1948, d. 2013). Of those nine, the only two who ever overlapped as O’s teammates were Smith and Stone, who both played for the 1979 Orioles.
On this date in 2012, the Orioles won a wild game over the Tigers when backup catcher Taylor Teagarden, making his O’s debut, swatted a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 13th. That 2012 team really embodied the “every day a different star” mantra, huh? The Birds had twice fallen behind in extras before rallying back both times. It was the Orioles’ 10th consecutive extra-inning win, a streak that would extend to 16 by the end of the season.
On the other end of the spectrum, on this day in 2019, the O’s nearly became the victims of what would have been the first combined perfect game in MLB history. Rays opener Ryne Stanek retired the first six batters of the game and Ryan Yarbrough set down the next 18, bringing the perfecto to the ninth before Hanser Alberto and Stevie Wilkerson led off with back-to-back singles. The O’s lost, 4-1.
Random Orioles game of the day
On July 14, 2017, the Orioles lost to the Cubs, 9-8, in their first game after the All-Star break. This was a heartbreaking game in which the O’s fell behind 8-0 after three innings, then pulled off an incredible comeback to tie the game at eight on Mark Trumbo’s eighth-inning dinger, only to give up the game-losing run in the top of the ninth on an Addison Russell home run. Russell’s homer was the fifth of the game for the Cubs, after four went deep off of starter Kevin Gausman. Former Oriole Koji Uehara got the win for the Cubs while future Cub Brad Brach took the loss for the Orioles.