BALTIMORE—While the Orioles don’t have a clear idea on the player they’ll take with their first-round draft choice in Sunday night’s draft, they do know they’ll make seven selections among the first 93 picks and have a record amount of money to spend.
The Orioles have $19,144,500 allocated for their draft picks, and thanks to the trade with Tampa Bay Rays that sent reliever Bryan Baker in exchange for the Rays’ competitive balance pick, the 37th overall, they have four picks in the first 37.
Their first pick will be 19th, and they’ll choose again at 30 and 31 in exchange for losing Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Toronto Blue Jays.
Their other picks on Sunday will be the second round (58th), competitive balance round B (69th) and third round (93rd). The draft begins shortly after 6 p.m.
The extra money could allow the Orioles to pay more than the suggested slot amount to players in later rounds, as they did with Gunnar Henderson in the second round of the 2019 draft.
“That gives us a big opportunity to flex our muscle and hopefully, if there are players that cost a little extra money because they’ve got college commitments, we’ll be able to use it,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said.
“I think that the fact that we had picks at 30 and 31 already, it makes us able to acquire a 37th pick because you’ve kind of already scouted players in that neighborhood of the draft. So, we should be pretty well prepared for the picks at 37.”
In 2020, they chose college outfielder Heston Kjerstad with the second overall pick, which enabled them to go over slot and sign high school infielder Coby Mayo in the fourth round that year.
The Orioles haven’t taken a pitcher in the first round under Elias, something that could change.
“I think it’s very possible,” Elias said. “I hope that we do. If you have a lot of picks like this, it’s nice to have a diverse set of picks. But I also, I’ve talked to people, I’ve seen drafts over the years where scouting directors will say they regret trying to diversify a group of picks for its own sake. We’re going to line up the board with how we think the talent is and we’ll take in that regard. But we definitely want to get some pitching in this draft.”
In the first six Elias drafts, the Orioles chose five college players: Adley Rutschman (2019), Kjerstad (2020), Colton Cowser (2021), Enrique Bradfield Jr. (2023) and Vance Honeycutt (2024). The only high school player picked was Jackson Holliday in 2022.
“You’d assume that college players move faster, but if you hit on the right high school player, if you choose the right high school player, they can move every bit as fast,” Elias said.
Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting, likes the potential pool of players the Orioles could select from.
“There’s a large group of players between pick 10 and 35 that I think … are kind of similar,” Blood said. “There’s a lot of depth in that range.
“When we have this many picks this high, you have this opportunity to acquire more talent than other teams have the opportunity to acquire.”
With so many recent high draft picks either playing for the Orioles or used in trades, it’s important to hit on these picks.
“There’s going to be some good options there, and we’re going to be excited about the players that we get there,” Blood said. “It’s better than picking in the 50s and 60s and 70s. I’ll take it. Three picks there is very exciting for our whole group. I think it’s a great opportunity for the organization.”
There won’t be much time to sign those picks, either. The deadline for signing players is July 28th at 5 p.m.
“I think my job is to pick the best player that we can possibly pick,” Blood said. “We have pitchers on the board. We have position players on the board. Ultimately, we’re going to be graded on the major league value that we draft. So our job is to do the best we can in major league value. If that happens to be a position player, then it is. If it happens to be a pitcher, then it is. I personally feel pressure to get major league value.”
The seven picks have Blood excited.
“We have more picks, so more chances,” Blood said. “If you’re doing the math that way, I think that we’re going to continue to follow our strategy of finding the best players we can. If you have four picks, that’s four chances instead of one.”
Blood is eager to use the large bonus pool to get the players the Orioles are coveting.
“I think what it allows us to do is be dynamic,” he said. “I think we’re going to be able to make some decisions that other teams aren’t going to have the opportunity to make and I think that based on how the draft comes to us…we’re going to have the ability to make some decisions that other teams aren’t, and that’s exciting.”
The draft, which has shortened this year from three days to two, will conclude on Monday with rounds 4-20.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.