Michael Forret 2024

[Tony-OH]

It would be easy to look at his pitching line and think he stunk it up, but he actually pitched pretty well overall and was let down by a terrible Delmarva defense. 

Again, take the MPH with a grain of salt but the announcers mentioned a 93 and 96 on pitches so that seems like a good range. He has a real good slider though his command of the pitch is certainly not great. 

He got 14 whiffs in 68 pitches and really only gave up one hit. 2B Angel Tejada threw away a ball trying to get a double play and the official scorer somehow called it a hit, then Braylin Tavera (who made a really bad, offline throw to home from shallow center field to let a run score earlier in the game), dropped a ball that hit in his glove in deep right-center. Official scorer, who clearly defines hits different then I would, called it a hit. 

I may have saw a split-change a few times, but he didn't have much command with it. The slider is clearly his best pitch. Keep an eye on this guy.

[Sports Guy]

Honestly can say I haven’t heard of this dude.

[LookinUp]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Honestly can say I haven’t heard of this dude.

JustD posted something in the amateur draft forum saying he looked pretty electric in her eyes.

I don't know much about this guy in particular, but judging by what you and others have pointed out about the Astros, it stands to reason that there's a chance the O's develop starters without much draft/$$ pedigree. Why not this guy? 

[Sports Guy]

31 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

JustD posted something in the amateur draft forum saying he looked pretty electric in her eyes.

I don't know much about this guy in particular, but judging by what you and others have pointed out about the Astros, it stands to reason that there's a chance the O's develop starters without much draft/$$ pedigree. Why not this guy? 

Oh no doubt. Just don’t ever remember hearing his name.  Did we draft him?

[Tony-OH]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

Oh no doubt. Just don’t ever remember hearing his name.  Did we draft him?

 

39. Michael Forret – RHP (CC): An ECU recruit who went to a community college so he would be draft eligible this year was taken by the Orioles in the 14th round and given an overslot $450k signing bonus. At 19-years old, Forret is the youngest pitcher the Orioles drafted this year. At 6-foot-4 with room to fill out, he's a projectable pick that could add velocity to his already low 90s 4-seamer that has good ride. He spins a nice high 70s curveball and low-mid 80 split change as his offspeed offerings. Like most of the Orioles drafted pitchers this year, he was never assigned to an affiliate and will make his professional debut next spring when it's expected he'll be assigned to Delmarva.

 

[Sports Guy]

Thanks Tony. I do vaguely remember him now because of the overslot signing. Clearly the Os like something here.

[Frobby]

It’s good to have the context of the OP and the scouting report.   I’d just seen the box score and thought “ugh.”  I’ll keep an eye on him based on this.

[LookinUp]

24 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It’s good to have the context of the OP and the scouting report.   I’d just seen the box score and thought “ugh.”  I’ll keep an eye on him based on this.

Yup. There's definitely reason to hope and it's cool that we'll get to see a lot of him this year rather than having him down in the FCL.

[Jim'sKid26]

Forret was a well known HS pitcher in the Charlotte, NC area. He's from Indian Trail, NC which is just outside of Charlotte and played at Providence HS. They won the 4A state championship in 2022, they were 34-0 that year. He went to JC in Florida instead of going to ECU where he was verbally committed.  He was a beast in HS. I've seen him pitch a bit. He sat 92-93 touch 95 as a senior with a hammer curve. You could tell he was going to pitch at the next level. Fun kid to watch. 

[LookinUp]

I'm curious, why would a kid choose JuCo instead of just going into the draft out of high school? I understand JuCo as a stepping stone to a major program, but not as much to the pros. Did he go for a number that was too high and nobody bit?

[Can_of_corn]

30 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I'm curious, why would a kid choose JuCo instead of just going into the draft out of high school? I understand JuCo as a stepping stone to a major program, but not as much to the pros. Did he go for a number that was too high and nobody bit?

He might have been drafted out of HS and not offered enough money to tempt him. 

You can go to JuCo and go right back into the draft the next year.

Also found this.

 

[scarey1999]

31 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I'm curious, why would a kid choose JuCo instead of just going into the draft out of high school? I understand JuCo as a stepping stone to a major program, but not as much to the pros. Did he go for a number that was too high and nobody bit?

Now that the draft and follow rule is back, that’s a big part of it. 

[Yossarian]

The O's must have seen something in him to give a $450K signing bonus for a 14th round draft pick.  That seems high to me - is that typical for a 14th rounder?

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Yossarian said:

The O's must have seen something in him to give a $450K signing bonus for a 14th round draft pick.  That seems high to me - is that typical for a 14th rounder?

No.

It was overslot, that's fifth round money, pick 141-142.

[Yossarian]

1 minute ago, Yossarian said:

The O's must have seen something in him to give a $450K signing bonus for a 14th round draft pick.  That seems high to me - is that typical for a 14th rounder?

I just looked and answered my own question.   Most 14th round picks in the 2023 draft got signing bonuses of  ~$100 - $150K.  The lowest was $50K.  Forret was the highest at $450K, with the next highest a high school pitcher drafted by the Brewers at a bonus of $347.5K.

So,  yeah,  the Orioles liked this kid enough to go way over slot with the bonus.