Orioles draft thread

[Nuclear Dish]

I don't love the pick of Britton. I really think he could use some seasoning in college. He seems awfully raw for a 4th rounder, and I am willing to bet that he never makes the majors.

[orioles119]

Stephen King went to the Nats.

Maybe King brings the Nats some Needful Things and won't bring any Misery to the National fan base as he makes The Stand against the rest of the N.L. East.

[boulware0]

Britton was our 3rd round pick

[Nuclear Dish]

Maybe King brings the Nats some Needful Things and won't bring any Misery to the National fan base as he makes The Stand against the rest of the N.L. East.

Or the pick could end up being something of a nightmare for them.

[Nuclear Dish]

Britton was our 3rd round pick

Even worse. (He was our 4th pick overall though.)

[DrungoHazewood]

I think King's injury problems scared a lot of teams off.

Anyone notice that we've now taken 3 HSers and a CC players? Not a single 3-year college player in 4 picks.

Rany over at BP has had a year-long series of articles on the draft, and the latest one concluded that we may be in the first era ever where high schoolers are being undervalued, and may provide better return on your investment than a comparable collegian.

Maybe the O's are doing their homework and reacting to the teams that are focused in on college talent and completely ignoring high schoolers.

[markpolis]

I think King's injury problems scared a lot of teams off.

Adams has had similar injury problems.

[kidpoker88]

Or the pick could end up being something of a nightmare for them.[/quote

According to mlb.com, King is committed to LSU (hard time signing him) and he also barely hit .300 in HS.

[Nuclear Dish]

Rany over at BP has had a year-long series of articles on the draft, and the latest one concluded that we may be in the first era ever where high schoolers are being undervalued, and may provide better return on your investment than a comparable collegian.

Maybe the O's are doing their homework and reacting to the teams that are focused in on college talent and completely ignoring high schoolers.

That's a very nice thought. It gives the O's an awful lot of credit, though.

I have no issue with a HS pick as long as it's a solid pick logically and not a reach on the dreaded P-word.

I like the Rowell pick a lot. I like the Adams pick less, but I am OK with it. I do not like the Britton pick, as they are obviously drafting on the potential that he's going consistently to reach the mid-90's on his fastball and will develop additional pitches.

[markpolis]

Lars Anderson, Matt LaPorta and Dellin Betances are still available. I would love to see us get one of the 1st basemen.

[Nuclear Dish]

Well, that's not exactly going out on a limb. Most of these guys will never make the majors. I'm sure less than 50% of 3rd rounders make it. Seasoning in college? Isn't that what the minors are for too?

Fair enough. My point is that a HS pitcher with a couple good pitches isn't as much of a reach as a guy who is being drafted, seemingly, on the fact that his fastball reached 94 MPH earlier this season. It tailed off since then, and he doesn't seem to have much else to rely on. Even if he grows into a mid-90's fastball, I don't think the minors are the place for a guy to learn his secondary and tertiary pitches. I'd rather see the kid go to college and work on his stuff there and use the minors to refine it.

If he had a decent second or even third pitch already, I'd say send him to the minors and let him work on perfecting it for 3-4 years. But he doesn't have that.

[Nuclear Dish]

4th round money suggests that Anderson will not be picked.

At all? He's that unsignable?

[Nuclear Dish]

Nice pick by Detroit - I'd have really liked to get Strieby from Kentucky. Talk about a power 1B prospect.

[Nuclear Dish]

Blake Davis, SS, Cal St. Fullerton

Davis is a 4 year college player. They say he's a value pick, as he could easily have gone a couple rounds earlier. He's 23 years old already, though.

[boulware0]

O's get Blake Davis - Cal State Fullerton