The deadline to sign this year’s picks is July 25
The Orioles finished off their 2023 draft class over the All-Star break with a total of 22 players selected over the draft’s 20 rounds. They will turn their energy towards signing as many of those players as they can until the July 25 deadline for signing this year’s picks.
The team announced the signing of its top two picks, first rounder Enrique Bradfield Jr. and second rounder Mac Horvath, before Monday’s game. Horvath was introduced to the crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the game against the Dodgers. Bradfield will probably get Tuesday to himself.
In the five-round draft in 2020 and in the first 20-round draft two years ago, the Orioles signed every player they chose. That did not happen last year, as the O’s drafted a few late-round speculative players who they probably figured would go back to school. The O’s seem to have drafted similarly in 2023. They’ll probably sign at least 20 but not all 22.
The Orioles total bonus pool
The most important thing for who the Orioles will or won’t sign is MLB’s slot value system. Each pick in the first ten rounds is assigned a dollar value. Add them up and you get a team’s total bonus pool. Talk about over slot or under slot is relative to each pick’s value. Players with more leverage – just-graduated-from-high school kids and college sophomores – are more likely to get over slot. Players with less, like college seniors or players drafted in excess of a consensus view of their talent, tend to get under slot.
The first round Orioles pick at #17 had a slot value of $4,169,700. That tapers all the way down to slot value for the tenth round pick of $167,000. In all, the Orioles bonus pool is $10,534,800.
Unsigned picks in the first ten rounds result in the team losing that amount of its bonus pool. For each player taken after the tenth round, the first $125,000 of signing bonus does not apply to the pool. A team can exceed its pool by up to 5% with only a tax on the overage. There are stiffer penalties beyond that, but no team has ever chosen to pay them in a decade. With the 5% on top, the Orioles have $11,061,540 in the pool to play with.
The official signings
Reported bonuses in parenthesis where available.
- Round 1, #17: Enrique Bradfield Jr. – OF – Vanderbilt (Full slot)
- Round 2, #53: Mac Horvath – OF – North Carolina ($1,400,000 – $182,900 under slot)
- Round 6, #181: Jacob Cravey – RHP – Samford ($300,000 – $12,300 under slot)
Still undetermined
- CB Round B, #63: Jackson Baumeister – RHP – Florida State
- Round 3, #86: Kiefer Lord – RHP – Washington
- Round 3, #100: Tavien Josenberger – OF – Arkansas
- Round 4, #118: Levi Wells – RHP – Texas State
- Round 5, #154: Jake Cunningham – OF – UNC-Charlotte
- Round 7, #211: Teddy Sharkey – RHP – Coastal Carolina
- Round 8, #241: Braxton Bragg – RHP – Dallas Baptist
- Round 9, #271: Zach Fruit – RHP – Troy
- Round 10, #301: Matthew Etzel – OF – Southern Mississippi
- Round 11, #331: Nestor German – RHP – Seattle University
- Round 12, #361: Blake Money – RHP – LSU
- Round 13, #391: Riley Cooper – LHP – LSU
- Round 14, #421: Michael Forret – RHP – State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota
- Round 16, #481: Cole Urman – C – Cal State Fullerton
- Round 17, #511: Zane Barnhart – RHP – Hillsdale College
- Round 19, #571: Kollin Ritchie – SS – Atoka HS (Oklahoma)
- Round 20, #601: Jalen Vasquez – SS – North Greenville
The tough and probably unlikely sign out of this group is the 19th round pick, Ritchie, who is committed to attend Oklahoma State and may be looking for more than the Orioles can offer him.
Undrafted free agents
- Jack Maruskin – RHP – Frostburg State
- Ty Weatherly – RHP – Ball State
Maruskin had also recently been playing for the Frederick Keys in the MLB Draft League.
Officially not signings (unless there’s a surprise)
- Round 15, #451: Qrey Lott – OF – Lowndes HS (Georgia)
- Round 18, #541: Tanner Witt – RHP – Texas
Witt tweeted “unfinished business” the day after the draft, which is generally a sign a player is returning to college. However, last year the Orioles did have a late surprise signing of 17th round pick Carter Young, who’d signaled his intention to transfer to LSU for his senior year and ended up signing instead.
Lott tweeted on July 18 of his plans to forego signing and attend Northwest Florida State College, a junior college.