Grade the Orioles’ draft

[Frobby]

I thought about starting this thread immediately after the draft, but decided it made sense to wait until we saw who we actually were able to sign, which factors into how a draft should be graded.   Now that we know, how do you grade our draft.  

No Keith Law pansying around without a letter grade!
 

[86this]

Can't expect to get top-end talent in the middle of each round.  I think the Orioles did the best they could and hope they have a few nuggets in the group.  Just keep infusing quantity at this point.

[RZNJ]

I give them an A based on history.   They know what they are doing.   I like the position approach with each outfielder with good tools and most with the ability to play CF down the road.  All five are either plus, double plus, or elite speed.   3 have plus power.  Josenberger has emerging power and Bradfield has maybe untapped power.

 

I have no idea on the arms but we drafted more higher round arms than ever before so we’ll wait and see.

Lower round guys who intrigue me are Etzel (10), Money (11), and Forret (14).

[Number5]

2 minutes ago, 86this said:

I think the Orioles did the best they could

Yet you gave them a B?  An A was impossible?  I guess I grade differently.  My feeling is they should be graded for what they did as compared to what they possibly could have done.  Since drafting in the top 10 wasn't an option, it's hard for me to downgrade them on that.  Frankly, I think Bradfield was a gem at 17.  He could have easily gone higher, maybe even sneak into the top 10.  I like the looks of this draft.  A for me.

[Rbiggs2525]

I gave it an A. Gotta trust the front office at this point. Two outstanding athletes to start the draft and some interesting arms. Orioles feel strongest at developing the hit tool. See Fabian, Beavers, and so on.

[clapdiddy]

B+ from me.  I think they did pretty well, picking a lot of athletes and pitching.  I'm anxious to see these guys get started.

[btdart20]

I went A.

We lucked into a top 10 talent who happens to play a position of need and took him.

Focused on toolsy types and a few potential CFs.  And a ton of shots on goal for pitchers at risk appropriate times.  Then closed with a few dice rolls.

Signed all of the top 10 rounds.

Final grades to be handed out in 10 years.

[Just Regular]

3 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

Final grades to be handed out in 10 years.

2013 draft class saw 8 guys with some WAR, but only Yaz/Mancini/Heim above the 5 career WAR level.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?team_ID=BAL&year_ID=2013&draft_type=junreg&query_type=franch_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0

Texas State University gave us Donnie Hart then....we'll see if Levi Wells does better.

[Jim'sKid26]

Not a huge fan of this draft. Lots of RH pitchers. The absence of diversity and the reliance on College pitchers concerns me. It kind of reminds me of the 1999 draft when they went pitcher heavy and fanned on almost every one. Mike Paradis, Rich Stahl, Josh Cenate, and Scott Rice were all first round picks. Only Rice ever played an MLB game and that was at age 31 for the Mets. He lasted 2 seasons and threw a grand total of 64 career innings. 

Now they did draft Eric Bedard in the 6th round that year, and Brian Roberts was the last of their 7 first round picks so I do have to temper my disapproval somewhat. Still those 4 first round picks for pitchers set the organization back big time. I know things are very different now but the choice to draft and sign 12 pitchers out of 19 total signees is a bit risky, IMHO. 

[CharmCityHokie]

I don't know enough about this draft class to feel confident giving a grade (I did a lot more reading in the past when we were top-5 picking), but it feels successful. I can't say that I'm enamored with Bradfield's profile (the lack of power worries me), but he seems like a great young man and a hard worker and honestly looking at the first round names picked after him, there is no one I would have picked over him. The rest of the guys, I ended up just looking at where they were pre-draft ranked and read their profiles after they were drafted, I am not familiar with them.

Elias has had some of the most successful MLB (not just Orioles) drafts in years, I trust his choices.

[Sports Guy]

B+/A-

[RZNJ]

2 hours ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

Not a huge fan of this draft. Lots of RH pitchers. The absence of diversity and the reliance on College pitchers concerns me. It kind of reminds me of the 1999 draft when they went pitcher heavy and fanned on almost every one. Mike Paradis, Rich Stahl, Josh Cenate, and Scott Rice were all first round picks. Only Rice ever played an MLB game and that was at age 31 for the Mets. He lasted 2 seasons and threw a grand total of 64 career innings. 

Now they did draft Eric Bedard in the 6th round that year, and Brian Roberts was the last of their 7 first round picks so I do have to temper my disapproval somewhat. Still those 4 first round picks for pitchers set the organization back big time. I know things are very different now but the choice to draft and sign 12 pitchers out of 19 total signees is a bit risky, IMHO. 

Your lost if you are comparing anything about the scouting and player development now and comparing it to 1999 or any other year before 2019.  It might turn out to be a terrible draft but I have no issues with RH pitchers, college pitchers, college position players.  It’s about talent and developing that talent.   They’ve shown they’re good at it.   I would guess they might even be getting better at picking players after 5 years of doing it.

Oh, and BTW, Stanl, Cénate, and Rice were all LHP and HS.   So much for diversity and non college pitchers.

Edited July 26, 2023 by RZNJ

[Tony-OH]

I'm going to Keith Law this one (Sorry Frobby) and not give it a grade since I don't think you can grade drafts.

Saying that, I liked the fact the Orioles went after better arms in this draft. This was a much needed bump of talent to the pitching. I also like the Bradford pick overall since he gives them a legitimate Mullins replacement in a few years when Mullins will get expensive.

 

[Tony-OH]

9 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Your lost if you are comparing anything about the scouting and player development now and comparing it to 1999 or any other year before 2019.  It might turn out to be a terrible draft but I have no issues with RH pitchers, college pitchers, college position players.  It’s about talent and developing that talent.   They’ve shown they’re good at it.   I would guess they might even be getting better at picking players after 5 years of doing it.

Oh, and BTW, Stanl, Cénate, and Rice were all LHP and HS.   So much for diversity and non college pitchers.

Not to get this too far off subject, but both Cenate and Rice were signability picks because even though DeMacio had all those first round picks, he did not have the budget to sign all legitimate 1st round picks. The funny part is Rice is the only one of the three to make the majors. 

While DeMacio gets credit for getting Brian Roberts for $650K (because there were questions about his strength pre "tried steroids once"), he really did not do well with those 7 1st round picks.

[Jammer7]

I gave them an A because they were aggressive. Their draft was about tools and specific traits. I like that they went after those things relentlessly. They bet on their player development program. They brought in players they believe they can help mold and shape into major league talent. High upside guys, with some solid floors as well.

There is no denying their development ability with position players. This draft brought in several legitimate arm talents that we should be able to fairly judge how effective their pitching development is in a few years.

Bradfield would have been drafted much higher in most years, but this draft was loaded. Horvath and Baumeister are unpolished, but have a ton of upside. The same can be said about Lord, Josenberger, Wells, Cunningham, Cravey and Etzel. Sharkey is a fairly exciting personality as a relief prospect with electric stuff. Fruit is reputed to have similar stuff. Forret is a young kid (19) with great potential.