Another look at the O's picks of Kjerstad and Westburg

On night one of the First-Year Player Draft the Orioles got two Southeastern Conference players from Texas to add to their farm system. They selected an outfielder and an infielder. They added Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad (pronounced KERR-stad) with the No. 2 overall pick and they selected Mississippi State infielder Jordan Westburg at No. 30.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias made it clear last night Kjerstad was the player the club liked the most at No. 2, and they rated him higher than the top-rated pitchers. When the draft resumes today at 5 p.m., the Orioles have four picks in the four remaining rounds. They will make today's second pick at No. 39.

Kjerstad, 21, was rated as the No. 10 player in the draft by MLBPipeline.com and No. 13 by Baseball America. In 16 games before the college baseball shutdown in March, he hit .448/.513/.791 with five doubles, six home runs and 20 RBIs. He hit .327/.400/.575 with 13 doubles, one triple, 17 home runs and 51 RBIs in 300 plate appearances as a sophomore and .332/.419/.553 with 16 doubles, 14 home runs and 58 RBIs in 313 plate appearances as a freshman, when he was the SEC Freshman of the Year.

"This is a middle-of-the-order bat profile for us," Elias said late last night. "We feel he's the best lefty hitter in the country this year. And this is somebody that is going to hit for average and power and hit in the middle of our order for a long time while playing a quality right field defense."

Kjerstad becomes the third-highest draft pick in club history. Two of those picks have been made by Elias, and now Kjerstad joins 2019 No. 1 overall pick Adley Rutschman in the organization. They faced each other in the College World Series.

"Man, Adley Rutschman, dude is an unreal player," said Kjerstad. "He's a hitter that can do it all and a switch hitter, too, that rakes from both sides of the plate. On top of that, he's a catcher. That's an unreal set of tools right there for a catcher. That is obviously why he went 1/1 last year, and I'm excited to get with guys like that."

Kjerstad helped Arkansas to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2018 and 2019. In the 2019 NCAA playoffs, he homered in the Regional round as well as the Super Regionals and in the CWS.

He feels the O's saw his talents but other attributes too.

"I bring a lot to the table baseball-wise, but I think for them the makeup is what really helped push me along on their board," he said. "The type of kid I am. Also (area scout) Ken Guthrie has known my family forever, so they also know where I come from. Mike Elias, their GM, had taken the time to get on a Zoom with me and understand the type of kid I was. And also understand how I play the game and my approach. Obviously, I think that Zoom went pretty good with them and convinced them to have confidence in picking me."

He was asked if he models his game after any big league players.

"I never tried to pick one player to play like, because I knew I brought different attributes or my strengths were different from that player," Kjerstad said. "So I just took a little here and there from certain players, whether it was watching videos of Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Mike Trout. And just learning what all those guys do so great and what I can do to reach that level.

"The most influential people in my life were my parents. They influenced me my whole life. They gave me every opportunity, drove me to every tournament. My dad always threw me BP when I'd drag him out to the cage or to the field to hit. I'm pretty sure I owe him a new shoulder, for how much he threw."

I asked Elias about Kjerstad's confidence level after the latter said last night, "I'm going to be an impact player, for sure."

"He is a terrific kid," said Elias. "Ken Guthrie is our local scout in Arkansas, Oklahoma and north Texas. Really plugged-in scout. He knows the family well. He had scouted Heston in high school. Kind of probably one of the scouts in high school that was on Heston most prominently. He actually scouted his brother at one point. So he really knew the ins and outs of the whole situation.

"All the work that he did and we did around him came up roses. He's just a hard-working kid. He doesn't take himself too seriously. I think he's going to be a great fit in our organization, our town. It was a big point in his favor in terms of the makeup. That was an important thing for us."

Kjerstad has a high leg kick in his approach. Is that a concern for the Orioles in terms of getting to higher velocity in the pro ranks?

"Very first glance and I think you will notice as you watch him, the first couple swings you see, you think it looks a little unusual," Elias said. "But you really watch him awhile and you break the swing down frame-by-frame and it is a very fundamentally sound swing. He does have the leg kick. It's a timing mechanism. He gets it down on time. It's a really short swing path for a big guy and a guy with that much power. And we love his swing."

The right-handed-hitting Westburg hit .317/.432/.517 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 16 games this year and he led his team in slugging. In his three years in college he batted .285/.385/.446 but he struck out 119 times in 534 plate appearances. In the 2018 College World Series he drove in seven runs in one game to tie a CWS record. Last summer in the Cape Cod League, he hit .326 for Hyannis and was rated No. 4 prospect in the league. Westburg was ranked as the No. 33 player by Baseball America and No. 37 by MLBPipeline.com.

Each of the first seven selections came from the college ranks for the first time in the history of the draft, surpassing the previous mark of six in 2006. Overall, 18 of the 29 first round picks came from college, while 11 high school players were selected. The state of California produced five players in the first round, followed by Illinois (3), Tennessee (3), Arizona (2), Florida (2), Georgia (2), Texas (2) and Pennsylvania (2). For the 18th time in the last 19 years, at least one pair of teammates (college or high school) were selected in the first round when left-handed pitcher Reid Detmers (10th overall, to the Angels) and right-handed pitcher Bobby Miller (29th overall, to the Dodgers) were drafted out of the University of Louisville.

Here is Baseball America's list (subscription may be required) of the best remaining players available. The list begins with Texas high school right-hander Jared Kelley. Baseball America calls him the most major league-ready prep pitcher in this class, with a fastball that touches 97 to 99 mph. He is rated as the No. 12 prospect for this draft by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.

"That warehouse in right field in Baltimore is in trouble."@TimCorbin on @hestonkjerstad's power: pic.twitter.com/aZpfYFmP8S

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) June 11, 2020