Tony-OH

Perhaps, who knows. I know he was shut down pretty quickly and maybe the kid had some discomfort before he was drafted or shortly after but before signing? Who knows? Honestly that's not really the point nor does it matter at this point. Sticking with the facts: Elias has drafted two pitchers that fit into our current Top 50 and one has undergone TJ surgery. It's pretty clear that he wants to develop a hitting pipeline and use that to acquire pitching, since I doubt he'll have much luck acquire top level pitching talent through free agency since the Orioles have no history of going after the best pitching available on the market. Saying that, I'm going to be really interested in seeing the signing bonuses of these top ten guys this year to see his plan.

The one thing that is obvious with this draft is Elias and company definitely believe in grow the bats, acquiring the ready arms. Elias has now drafted just 4 pitchers (McLarty and Gillespie in 2019, Baumler in 2020, and Carlos Tavera in 2021) in the top ten rounds in 3 drafts. The only high schooler selected (Baumler) needed TJ surgery before he threw a professional pitch which might have been why he was available and willing to sign despite having some upside (most upside High school seniors went to college after the short 5 round draft last year). Right now, the best pitching prospect drafted by Elias company is probably Baumler based off his potential, but currently is currently Griffin McLarty who comes in currently at #48 in the system. Though Brandon Young, the free agent signee last year is #35 currently. If the past is any indication, the team will go pitcher heavy in the next ten rounds.

Updated as of 12 July with the additions of Hernandez and Basallo. Basallo went 2-for-3 with a double in his professional debut. Other movement with Felix Bautista becoming interesting throwing 97-100 MPH and throwing strikes.

Initial thoughts: Pavolony definitely is one of those defense first catchers though he had some upside with the bat prior to the draft.

Initial Take: This is probably an overslot high school guy that comes with an impact bat potential. The question is why did he fall? What is his number? His perfect game percentages puts him as one of the best exit velocity hitters in high school. Good arm too so it will be interesting to see if he sticks behind the plate. He's certainly built like a catcher but reportedly shows good athleticism.

Initial take: A college senior who turns 23 this October. Per Brad Ciolek: sits 92-94, touches 96, has feel for the slider and a plus changeup. Heard from another scout that he has really good stuff so he's a legitimate 5th rounder, not a senior sign 10K guy.

Initial Take: A 22-year old senior with good on base skills, this could be a cost saver pick. Not a ton of power or speed so I'm betting this is a cost saver pick.

Initial Take: Elias must be into Grow the bats, trade for the arms because here's another college outfielder. Rhodes is an interesting toolsey guy who hit well as a Freshman in the shortened 2020 season but hit for a low average (.251) as a young draft eligible sophomore. He has some leverage to go back to school and improve upon his numbers and try to get a bigger deal in 2022, but I imagine Elias knows his number to sign him. He doesn't turn 21 until August so he has more time to develop and won't be a guy that will be pushed through the system most likely. Saying that, he showed decent plate discipline and did have a .398 OBP despite the low average. Definitely some upside here but also more risk of being a wash out.

Initial Take: Switch hitting toolsy outfielder with power as his main plus tool, but some questionable plate discipline. Will be interesting to see how he translates to pro ball but there's some upside to this pick. He's solid defensively including the arm, so there's some 4th outfielder floor comp. After going with two polished guy, this looks like their shot at a toolsy guy who will need to develop.

Initial Take: Another advanced bat to ball polished hitter who had really good success this season and also against some top pitchers like Leiter. His college coach says he's the best right handed hitter he's ever coached and he coached D.J. LeMahieu. He's going to be limited to second base most likely due to his arm, but he sounds like a guy who can move quickly to the big leagues.

My Initial take: Looks like Elias is going with someone who can move quickly through the minors and be able to get and produce at the major league level quickly. While scouting takes on Cowser are a bit all over the place, he's a three year producer even though his conference is not very strong. He appears to be a high OBP guy with some pop and speed and even if Mullins is still center, he would like real good in Camden Yards spacious left field. He appears to b a lower risk guy though with a bit of a lower celling than some other players still available. I wonder though if Kjerstad was playing whether he would be the pick or not?

Updated through round 7. Special thanks to @lovetoasterfor jumping in a posting each new draftee! Please square him away with some rep!

Easy with the personal attacks Rob. We can all have differing opinions without resorting to getting personal.

He's not a pitcher so there's no reason to worry about rest. I imagine he will start at Delmarva maybe with a warm up for a game or two in the FCL perhaps. I would expect he will start next year in Aberdeen and end up in Bowie next year. If he's as advanced as he's supposed to be, I could see them push this timeline and have him start next ear in AA depending how he hits this year.

I think that's what he was thinking, plus he had a full bullpen that needed some work before the 4-day break. The 10th inning mound visit and positional adjustments may have taken Wells out of his zone. Sometime I think managers over think things too much. But, at the end of the day, Wells is the one that got behind 3-1 and grooved one for Engle. It would have been nice to have gotten one after going 0-for-140 pitches in the middle of a game, but alas, these are the Orioles and expecting much from this crew is a recipe for disappointment.

Listening to the Kevin Brown call on Mancini's two-out game tying homer was worth the rest of the game. Great excitement in that call for an exciting moment. Too bad the pen was so bad once again. Really need to make some adjustments out there in the second half.

Perhaps a better way to help out would be to start a thread that links to the draft forum. Appreciate you trying to to start conversation but just trying to keep things organized.

I'll combine this this time but will delete any future conversations on the main board.

Really frustrated that you start draft talk in this forum.

There should only be this thread. Everyone knows to have the conversation about each pick on the draft thread for each player. any other conversation is wasted.

I said last year I preferred Lacy overall, but I understand what Elias was doing when he went for Kjerstad. Unlike some of you, I don't pretend I know everything about these guys because I read a few mockdrafts. It's easy to bash on Elias when he doesn't follow your favorite mock drafts, but we know right now any criticism is just an opinion at this point because it will take years to know whether the drafts were good or not.

You keep saying this like it's fact, but are you talking about the Austin Martin with two home runs and slashing .773 in 198 AA PAs while splitting time between SS (.908 Fld %) and CF? Clearly with Kjerstad's illness, and Baumler's injury, it certainly doesn't look good, but Martin has already shown some of the issues people had concerns with including a lack of position and power. Whether Elias did the right thing will be determined years from now, but it's not like he passed over a Machado-like talent to draft Kjerstad.

I'm not sure I ever remember a team making a top 5 pick taking an underslot player so they scan spend more later. Typically teams save money by taking $10K players in rounds 5-10 in order to save money. Guess we'll see how it works out. Last year there was the partial year and only five rounds so it made a little sense. I'm not saying this is a bad pick or a bad strategy, it's just unique. I probably would have wanted a little more impact with a top five pick. At least Kjerstad, prior to his illness, had top level power.

Cough.. Heston Kjerstad ... cough

Nope, no idea. Not sure I even understand this strategy in a 20 round draft.