The Orioles didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2014 draft or a second-round choice. They surrendered those picks to sign slugger Nelson Cruz, who led the majors in home runs with 40 that season and starting pitcher Ubaldo Jiménez, who had a disappointing four-season stint with the team.
In his only season with the Orioles, Cruz was an important part of the team’s offense because catcher Matt Wieters and third baseman Manny Machado missed large parts of the season and the postseason.
The Orioles’ chose left-handed starter John Means in the 11th round of the 2014 draft, and left-handed reliever Tanner Scott in the sixth round. Scott is the most coveted reliever on the free-agent market.
They also chose starter David Hess and utility player Stevie Wilkerson, who was the only position player to earn a save.
Ahead of all these players was Pat Connaughton, a right-handed pitcher from Notre Dame who returned to school for his senior season after throwing just 14 2/3 innings at Aberdeen, which was then a short-season team.
Connaughton, who was taken in the fourth round, has earned more than $31 million in a 10-year NBA career with the Portland TrailBlazers and Milwaukee Bucks. As a teammate of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Connaugton won an NBA title in 2021.
The Orioles’ highest draft choice that season was left-hander Brian González, who was chosen in the third round. He never advanced past Double-A Bowie in the Orioles’ organization and didn’t play professional baseball in 2024.
This week, the Orioles signed the fifth overall pick of that 2014 draft, utility player Nick Gordon, to a minor league contract.
Gordon was chosen by the Minnesota Twins after the Chicago White Sox selected left-hander Carlos Ródon and the Chicago Cubs picked slugger Kyle Schwarber. Both have had excellent major league careers.
The Twins gave Gordon, who was also picked two slots ahead of Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola, a bonus of $3.85 million. Gordon comes from an accomplished baseball family. His father, Tom “Flash” Gordon, won 138 games and saved 158 in a wonderful 21-year career with eight teams that included three All-Star appearances and a Rolaids Relief Man award.
In 1998, Gordon saved 46 games for the Boston Red Sox, most in the American League, and pitched until he was 41.
Nick Gordon’s older brother, Dee Strange-Gordon, had an 11-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami, Seattle and Washington. He was a two-time All-Star and led the major leagues in stolen bases three times and led the NL with a .333 average in 2015.
Like his older brother, 29-year-old Nick Gordon has played the outfield and infield. In three seasons with Minnesota and 2024 with the Marlins, he hit .244.
It took Gordon until 2021 to make the majors, and at this stage, he’ll come to major league camp next month with no guarantees on making the Orioles.
For the moment, if the infielders and outfielders on the 40-man roster are healthy, there doesn’t seem to be a place for Gordon.
But that doesn’t usually happen. It seems as if there is always an injury or two, or the Orioles might include one of their infielders and outfielders in a trade for starting pitching, opening a space for Gordon.
He’s not the only experienced major league player signed to a minor league contract this offseason. Recently, the Orioles signed outfielder Jordyn Adams, who was the 17th overall pick by the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, and Franklin Barreto, who played 101 games with the Athletics and Angels.
Barreto was almost exclusively a middle infielder in the majors from 2017-2020 but played the outfield in the Mexican League.
As the scouting director for the Houston Astros, Elias would have seen Gordon play in high school in Orlando. For four seasons, Gordon was a top 100 prospect in the Twins/ organization but never became a top-tier player.
In 2022, his best year, Gordon hit .272 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs with a .743 OPS for Minnesota. Gordon struck out more than five times more often than he walked that season (105/19).
The Orioles hope that Gordon can unleash the potential that earned him the high draft pick in 2014.
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