strategy for next year's draft:

[DocJJ]

draft only position players.

Forget pitchers altogether. Except for Reimold, there's no one above Delmarva that can hit to save his life. And even including Delmarva, there seems to only be 2-3 "maybe" hitters. Each night I check the box scores on minorleaguebaseball.com and I see each O's affiliate team with it's usual paltry 2-3 hits, 1 run. It's actually getting a little embarassing.

:(

[Gurgi]

Sorry but that is a mental idea.

[orioole28]

draft only position players.

Forget pitchers altogether. Except for Reimold, there's no one above Delmarva that can hit to save his life. And even including Delmarva, there seems to only be 2-3 "maybe" hitters. Each night I check the box scores on minorleaguebaseball.com and I see each O's affiliate team with it's usual paltry 2-3 hits, 1 run. It's actually getting a little embarassing.

:(

You are so right!!!! The hitting is so pathetic that they couldn't hit there way out of a paper bag!! It must put alot of pressure to pitch in the system knowing if you give up 2 runs or could possible lose. If you make one mistake you could lose a game. We need hitter badly!!

[wayne25]

At least the first 10 picks should be hitters.

Then they can draft all the 22 year old rhp they want and put them in Bluefield. Hopefully they won't be afraid to draft a high school kid in the first 10 rounds either.

[Duke2010]

well at least we have a chance to see the fruits of this draft much earlier then say if we drafted 13 straight high schoolers. We have a legit chance to see Bascom, Arrieta, Wieters, Angle, and Mahoney all on the roster by 09 or 2010. You would have to be crazy to think this is a bad thing. But with that said, nexts years draft has to be fully centered around hitting, as we already have to great young arms in the system and at Baltimore

[Wingman]

I'm not so much concerned about who we draft next year as long as we don't sign FA's in the offseason that cost us draft picks I will be happy...

Don't get me wrong I think the positional talent in our minor leagues is pretty awful but IMO our pitching isn't that great either...

[odogs101]

I think next year you will also see some of the guys drafted this year move quickly. I think you will see a lot of the "filler" talent released.

[mapierce]

draft only position players.

Forget pitchers altogether. Except for Reimold, there's no one above Delmarva that can hit to save his life. And even including Delmarva, there seems to only be 2-3 "maybe" hitters. Each night I check the box scores on minorleaguebaseball.com and I see each O's affiliate team with it's usual paltry 2-3 hits, 1 run. It's actually getting a little embarassing.

:(

Obtaining pitching in the free agent market it so much more expensive that hitting I'd have to disagree. But it does depend on where our first round pick is and who is projected to be at that pick. I do agree that we should focus more on offensive players but to totally rule out drafting pitchers is a little ridiculous. I do agree that our hitting in the minors sucks. :mad:

[Jammer7]

Actually, I think there are several hitters in this organization. It has been a very disappointing season for many of them no doubt. :(

*Top 30 (or so) prospects are in Italics

Norfolk: J.R. House, Luis Hernandez, Eider Torres, Adam Stern, Jon Knott, Jason Dubois and Mike Cervenek. My problem here is most of these guys have a track record of hitting, so why are several of them struggling? They obviously can hit so you can't say they don't have the talent. Most are too old to be considered prospects though. On a positive note, it seems like Dubois, Knott and Stern are showing they are coming out of their slumps.

Bowie: Nolan Reimold, Val Majewski, Jeff Fiorentino, Blake Davis, Paco Figueroa, Oscar Salazar and Luis Jimenez. Injuries have wreaked havoc on this group. Salazar and Jimenez are not prospects and Davis and Figueroa don't hit for any power. Majewski and Fiorentino are showing signs that they are getting hot like they always do in June. Hopefully Reimold will get back to playing soon.

Frederick: Ryan Finan, Mark Fleisher, Arturo Rivas and maybe Jon Tucker. That's it! By far the worst hitting team in the system, yet they won their division title for the first half. That speaks volumes of how good their pitching is. Rivas is out again and Fleisher may be just warming up. Finan has been solid, but not spectacular by any means. Now this team just plain lacks the talent base, plain and simple. They are what they are.

Delmarva: Billy Rowell, Brandon Tripp, Chris Vinyard, Brandon Snyder, Pedro Florimon and Miguel Abreu. This is the most promising group without a doubt. Rowell, Tripp and Vinyard are top 10-12 prospects. Snyder is just outside that group, but seemingly improving rapidly and heading back into that group. Florimon has struggled badly, but Abreu is rising.

All in all, not a bad group. The upper levels have underperformed this season, no doubt. Injuries have hit many of them hard. I look for a much better second half from all teams except Frederick. I'll leave the draft to Joe Jordan, but I look for him to have his usual balanced draft next season. I would like to see more HS talent next season, but we'll see if we can keep our picks.:rolleyes:

[Ri1951]

This years hitting class are off to a hot start. Plus when wieters is signed (hoping), most likey he will be our top prospect.

[orioole28]

Actually, I think there are several hitters in this organization. It has been a very disappointing season for many of them no doubt. :(

*Top 30 (or so) prospects are in Italics
[
Frederick: Ryan Finan, Mark Fleisher, Arturo Rivas and maybe Jon Tucker. That's it! By far the worst hitting team in the system, yet they won their division title for the first half. That speaks volumes of how good their pitching is. Rivas is out again and Fleisher may be just warming up. Finan has been solid, but not spectacular by any means. Now this team just plain lacks the talent base, plain and simple. They are what they are.


You hit it right on the nail with all teams but specificly the Frederick team. Good job!!

[Leitch]

Draft the best available talent

[Camden_yardbird]

Draft the best available talent

Hey, I was going to say that....

Oh well. Your right though. Draft the best available talent, and if it turns out that is entirely pitchers and not a single position player than I still say do it. With the contracts of pitchers getting so high, lower level pitching talent will soon become the necessary means for change.

So what if you have 20 good pitching prospects...they will net you more in trades then 20 good hitting prospects will. If there is a lack of hitting, then they need to make trades to fix it.

[glenn__davis]

Draft the best available talent

Absolutely. While we may be better off in terms of pitching than hitting, it's not like we have a huge surplus of top pitching prospects. The baseball draft is such a crapshoot, you have to take the best you can get.

What we really need is for one of our mid-rounders (10-30 or so) to be a pleasant surprise. Seems to me we're well overdue for something like that.

[orioole28]

Hey, I was going to say that....

Oh well. Your right though. Draft the best available talent, and if it turns out that is entirely pitchers and not a single position player than I still say do it. With the contracts of pitchers getting so high, lower level pitching talent will soon become the necessary means for change.

So what if you have 20 good pitching prospects...they will net you more in trades then 20 good hitting prospects will. If there is a lack of hitting, then they need to make trades to fix it.

If they are equal in talent then who do you take, pitcher or hitter?

[wayne25]

You know, for years people have been saying all our pitching prospect (surplus) will net us some fine young talent. But can anyone tell me the last time we traded young pitching for a really good bat? or for that matter a really good pitcher? And if anyone feels like mentioning Benson, please note that that might be one in the last 8 years or so.. And as far as seeing the fruits of this draft faster, when was the last time we saw the fruits of any draft? Ray , hoey, markakis , Lowen,since the 2000 draft. what a basket of fruit we have harvested. They took all these colleges guys (in my opinion) to stock the lower rosters, Most will not even be prospects 18 months from now.Most who are still orioles will be 24 or 25 years old in Frederick. If you doubt, go look at the ages of Aberdeen, Blue and Sarasota. Almost one third of the roster at Sarasota are 22 or older already. Get some KIDS like Henson and Erbe and watch them grow! No way 14 college guys in a row , without an alternative purpose.!

[orioole28]

You know, for years people have been saying all our pitching prospect (surplus) will net us some fine young talent. But can anyone tell me the last time we traded young pitching for a really good bat? or for that matter a really good pitcher? And if anyone feels like mentioning Benson, please note that that might be one in the last 8 years or so.. And as far as seeing the fruits of this draft faster, when was the last time we saw the fruits of any draft? Ray , hoey, markakis , Lowen,since the 2000 draft. what a basket of fruit we have harvested. They took all these colleges guys (in my opinion) to stock the lower rosters, Most will not even be prospects 18 months from now.Most who are still orioles will be 24 or 25 years old in Frederick. If you doubt, go look at the ages of Aberdeen, Blue and Sarasota. Almost one third of the roster at Sarasota are 22 or older already. Get some KIDS like Henson and Erbe and watch them grow! No way 14 college guys in a row , without an alternative purpose.!

I totally agree!! We gotten older this draft. Need to start drafting young kids and let them grow!!

[RayFink1e]

I am always for the take the best player available no matter what position. Id rather have a great pitcher being in the minors a little longer, then an average hitter. Or Vica versa.

Rather pay them now then have to spend big for guys like Barry Zito in the offseason

[Camden_yardbird]

If they are equal in talent then who do you take, pitcher or hitter?

I don't know that you could say a position player and pitcher have equal talent but for the sake of argument I think you have to look at it like this...

Someone comes up to you and offers you one of two cars, a Mercedes or a BMW. Both are of equal value and both will get you where you need to go. But he also tells you that 5 years down the road the Mercedes will have twice the trade in value as the BMW. All other things being equal which do you take?

You take the mercedes. The mercedes is the pitcher.

If I have an equal talent pitcher and hitter I take the pitcher. Provided the market projects to be the same for FA pitchers down the road.

Even if I know the pitcher will be great, and the hitter will be great. With FA the likelyhood you will keep them their entire career is nil. So when I do trade the great pitcher I know I will get more than if I traded the great hitter.

Now this simnplifies a lot. But its basic market investing, you get as much of the stock that you know will appreciate in value.

[Tomkingsize]

Of course, we could focus on drafting pitching if we were players in the international market.

No, let's forgo scouting the Dominican and Venezuela.

Who ever heard of ballplayers coming out of those countries?

:rolleyes:

[glenn__davis]

Of course, we could focus on drafting pitching if we were players in the international market.

No, let's forgo scouting the Dominican and Venezuela.

Who ever heard of ballplayers coming out of those countries?

:rolleyes:

Yep, this is still the Achilles heel of our system.

[Three Run Homer]

The problem isn't what we're drafting. This organization has invested plenty of high level draft picks on hitters. The problem is that the hitters ain't hitting. Tripper Johnson didn't hit, Larry Bigbie didn't hit, Keith Reed didn't hit, Val Majewski isn't hitting, Jeff Fiorentino isn't hitting, Brandon Snyder isn't hitting, Ryan Adams isn't hitting, and let's face it, Billy Rowell isn't hitting. Maybe Nolan Reimold would hit if he were healthy.

Either our scouts don't know what a good hitter is, or the organization doesn't know how to teach hitting. I lean towards the latter.

[orioole28]

The problem isn't what we're drafting. This organization has invested plenty of high level draft picks on hitters. The problem is that the hitters ain't hitting. Tripper Johnson didn't hit, Larry Bigbie didn't hit, Keith Reed didn't hit, Val Majewski isn't hitting, Jeff Fiorentino isn't hitting, Brandon Snyder isn't hitting, Ryan Adams isn't hitting, and let's face it, Billy Rowell isn't hitting. Maybe Nolan Reimold would hit if he were healthy.

Either our scouts don't know what a good hitter is, or the organization doesn't know how to teach hitting. I lean towards the latter.

I kinda have too agree with you on that one but they do know how to develop pitching.