Earl Weaver would approve: Keep adding shortstops

With the trade of José Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels this week, who will play shortstop for the 2021 Orioles is an unanswered question right now. But the future O's shortstop may currently be in the organization.

Over his first two drafts, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has drafted five shortstops. In 2019, three of his top six picks were shortstops, and in 2020 two of his first four selections were. Elias has also acquired two shortstops the club likes via trades for the farm.

MLBPipeline.com has five shortstops ranked in its current O's top 30 prospects list and all are in the top 20. There are five others we could list that the O's have hopes for, and some of those players were previously ranked. Of these 10 shortstops, five are 21 or younger. Of that group of 10 players, eight were drafted by the Orioles since 2017. Of that group, six were taken among the first 74 picks in the draft.

I pause to ponder this question: With four full-season minor league teams, where will all 10 of these players play in 2021? Some can and have played other positions, like second base, and that will provide playing time for some of this group. But a position that a couple of years ago lacked depth on the O's farm does not anymore.

Here is a look at all 10, staring with the five that are ranked by MLBPipeline.com, with their O's ranking listed.

No. 6 - Gunnar Henderson: MLB.com gives him a 50 grade for fielding and 60 for his arm. Triple-A manager Gary Kendall, who saw him play at the alternate site at Bowie this summer, believes he has the tools to stay at shortstop. If that's true, it could be big for the Orioles, who really like his bat and power potential. The No. 42 overall pick in the 2019 draft (taken second by the team behind Adley Rutschman), he turned 19 in June.

No. 7 - Jordan Westburg: He was the Orioles' second pick in the 2020 draft, taken No. 30 overall out of Mississippi State with a Competitive Balance Round A pick. He gets a 50 fielding grade and 55 for arm. Over 124 career college games, Westburg, 21, hit .285/.385/.446. He was rated the No. 4 prospect in the 2019 Cape Cod summer league.

No. 13 - Terrin Vavra: He was ranked No. 7 in the Colorado Rockies system when the O's acquired him Aug. 30 in the Mychal Givens trade. He gets 50 grades for fielding and arm strength. A lefty hitter considered to have advanced plate discipline, he was the 2019 South Atlantic League MVP when he hit .318/.409/.489 for Asheville. Over his minors career he's made 81 starts at short and 56 at second base.

No. 16 - Adam Hall: Hall, 21, gets 55 grades for his fielding and arm. In 2019 he hit .298 with 78 runs and 33 steals for Single-A Delmarva. He was the club's second-round pick (No. 60 overall) in 2017. He's played 79 career games at short and 39 at second base.

No. 20 - Anthony Servideo: The club's third-round pick this year, No. 74 overall out of the University of Mississippi, gets 55 grades for fielding and arm. In the shortened 2020 season he played in 17 games and produced a line of .390/.575/.695, leading the Southeastern Conference in on-base percentage. He is the grandson of Curt Blefary, a former Oriole who was the 1965 American League Rookie of the Year.

In the same 2019 draft where the Orioles selected Henderson, they also drafted Joey Ortiz from New Mexico State in round four (No. 108). While he is not in the O's top 30, he was the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2019 and is considered a plus defender at short. Also that year, the club drafted Darrell Hernaiz out of a Texas high school in round five (No. 138). Hernaiz, 19, shared time at short in the 2019 Rookie-level Gulf Coast League with Henderson. He was previously rated among the O's top 30 as No. 25 by Baseball America and No. 26 by MLB.com.

In the 2018 draft, the Orioles selected a top defensive shortstop, Cadyn Grenier from Oregon State, in Competitive Balance Round A (No. 37). While he has not hit much yet - just .253 in 2019 at Single-A Delmarva and .208 at Single-A Frederick - he gets 60 grades for his arm and fielding from MLBPipeline.com. He was previously a top 30, rated No. 23 by MLB.com and No. 24 on the O's prospects list by Baseball America.

AJ Graffanino was one of the two players to be named later the O's acquired last month in the trade of lefty pitcher Tommy Milone to Atlanta. The son of former big leaguer Tony Graffanino, he is considered to have above-average range. Baseball America ranked him No. 25 in 2019 and No. 27 this year in the Braves system. Perhaps it shows the O's improved farm depth that he is currently out of their top 30 on MLBPipeline.com. He was at No. 30 but was recently knocked out when the Orioles acquired pitcher Garrett Stallings in the Iglesias trade.

In the 2017 draft, the O's added Mason McCoy in round six. He batted .290 in 2019 between Frederick and Double-A Bowie, hitting .379 in 27 games for the Keys. McCoy, 25, was previously rated No. 24 by MLB.com and No. 29 by Baseball America, and gets above-average grades for his defense. One scout said he is "very solid every night, but he won't wow you on defense," I do seem to recall he made a few wow plays in spring training one earlier this year.

So there is a large group of shortstops that are currently top 30 players or were top 30. Any of the 10 could find their way to Baltimore.

O's Hall of Fame skipper Earl Weaver once said "draft all shortstops and then figure it out." The O's haven't exactly done that, but they've drafted several the last two years and the future of the position for the Orioles could be on display on the farm right now.