MASN: Steve Meleswski with Brian Graham - We are absolutely one of the premier development systems

[weams]

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2015/02/draft-41.html

We are absolutely one of the premier development systems in baseball.

"So, I mean, to say our minor league system has been productive is an understatement," Graham said. "Our minor league system has been extremely productive. Our development system is really good. It is easily one of the best development systems in baseball. On top of that, we've drafted good players with the picks that we've had.

[Beef Supreme]

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2015/02/draft-41.html

Seems the Orioles are more reliant on recycling talent from other systems...which is OK by me.

I hope they are improving their internal development of players they draft, too.

[33rdst]

Good article. One of Steve's better interviews. Grahm sounds like a future GM.

[weams]

"We are good because we have really good coaches and managers. We have a really good system in place and we have a strong influence from Buck (Showalter), Brady (Anderson) and Dan (Duquette). They have a strong influence on the minor league system.

"Our development system is tremendous. We do a really good job of making our players be the very best they can mentally, physically and fundamentally. Of bridging the gap between a player's potential and a player's performance. I'm proud of what we are doing.

"I challenge any major league team to match up with us in how productive we've been in helping the big league club get to where they are."

We draft well.

[Beef Supreme]

We draft well.

And that's a good thing. But isn't drafting different from developing? (not trying to play semantics here)

[weams]

And that's a good thing. But isn't drafting different from developing? (not trying to play semantics here)

We develop well.

[25 Nuggets]

And that's a good thing. But isn't drafting different from developing? (not trying to play semantics here)

Absolutely. I thought the Orioles drafted a lot of good pitchers during their lean years, but they either weren't developed right or were pitched to injury.

[MrOrange82]

We develop well.

I'd like to read a thorough defense of that assertion that actually analyzes the O's productivity (or lack thereof) relative to the rest of MLB. The article was pretty awful, and basically boiled down to "what do you mean we've done a bad job? I can name, like, a bunch of guys who're on the O's thanks to...in some way or another...the minor league system. Also, playoffs, man. Playoffs!"

[Number5]

We develop well.

[weams]

I'd like to read a thorough defense of that assertion that actually analyzes the O's productivity (or lack thereof) relative to the rest of MLB. The article was pretty awful, and basically boiled down to "what do you mean we've done a bad job? I can name, like, a bunch of guys who're on the O's thanks to...in some way or another...the minor league system. Also, playoffs, man. Playoffs!"

Other teams trade us useful pieces for the pitchers that we have developed.

[jtschrei]

I'd like to read a thorough defense of that assertion that actually analyzes the O's productivity (or lack thereof) relative to the rest of MLB. The article was pretty awful, and basically boiled down to "what do you mean we've done a bad job? I can name, like, a bunch of guys who're on the O's thanks to...in some way or another...the minor league system. Also, playoffs, man. Playoffs!"

Agree with this. Graham points out Machado, Wieters, Matusz as evidence of how productive our system is. You could actually look at it like, we didn't do a good job developing Matusz (#4 overall pick) or Wieters (#4 overall pick). Those guys are contributors, but people, including myself were hoping for "superstar." Jury is still out on Machado, who I hope will be a "star."

[weams]

Agree with this. Graham points out Machado, Wieters, Matusz as evidence of how productive our system is. You could actually look at it like, we didn't do a good job developing Matusz (#4 overall pick) or Wieters (#4 overall pick). Those guys are contributors, but people, including myself were hoping for "superstar." Jury is still out on Machado, who I hope will be a "star."

I think that development goes way beyond the 10 "can't miss" prospect that miss half the time. I think development goes to a Tim Berry level.

[weams]

Agree with this. Graham points out Machado, Wieters, Matusz as evidence of how productive our system is. You could actually look at it like, we didn't do a good job developing Matusz (#4 overall pick) or Wieters (#4 overall pick). Those guys are contributors, but people, including myself were hoping for "superstar." Jury is still out on Machado, who I hope will be a "star."

Matusz, Wieters, Machado have all achieved what their draft slot wuld project for them. Successful major league careers. Arbitration wealth for two of them. Contributors on playoff teams.

[Ohfan67]

Sounds good, but the data don't really match the bravado. if I remember an analysis that Frobby ran a few years ago, the average farm system produces two or three contributors per year. The O's system is obviously much better than it was 7-10 years ago, but only 3 out of the 9 starting hitters were developed by the O's and Schoop didn't exactly tear it up last year. Maybe five of the 12 or 13 pitchers that break camp will have been developed by the O's. I suspect that's average or below average for MLB and definitely nothing special for the "elite" farm systems. And "developing" Wieters and Machado wasn't exactly a challenge.

[weams]

Sounds good, but the data don't really match the bravado. if I remember an analysis that Frobby ran a few years ago, the average farm system produces two or three contributors per year. The O's system is obviously much better than it was 7-10 years ago, but only 3 out of the 9 starting hitters were developed by the O's and Schoop didn't exactly tear it up last year. Maybe five of the 12 or 13 pitchers that break camp will have been developed by the O's. I suspect that's average or below average for MLB and definitely nothing special for the "elite" farm systems. And "developing" Wieters and Machado wasn't exactly a challenge.

We developed Jones and Tillman. We developed several pitchers that have had value to other teams. You are talking about developing position players. Which we only recently started drafting again.