O's Mike Snyder and Kent Qualls on today's additions

The Orioles added two right-handed starting pitchers today in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. And they added two-right handed pitchers and a catcher in the Triple-A phase of the draft.

While it cost $100,000 to make a pick in the major league phase and that player must stay on the selecting team's big league roster all year or be offered back to his former club, no such rules apply in the minor league phase. Each selection costs $24,000 there and the player is now fully part of the organization, and the club won't have to send him back.

With the No. 5 pick of the 18 major league-phase players taken today the O's added pitcher Mac Sceroler from Cincinnati. He is the nephew of MASN broadcaster and former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald. A fifth-round pick in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft, Sceroler, 25, pitched at high Single-A in 2019. For Daytona of the Florida State League, he went 5-4 with a 3.69 ERA. In 117 innings he walked 29, fanned 127 and posted a 1.11 WHIP.

With the 17th of 18 major league picks, the O's added right-hander Tyler Wells from the Twins. Wells, 26, was a 15th-round pick in 2016 and had Tommy John surgery in May 2019. In the 2018 season between high Single-A and Double-A, he went 10-6 with a 2.49 ERA. Over 119 1/3 innings he walked 31, fanned 121 and recorded a WHIP of 0.95.

During a Zoom video press conference, Mike Snyder, the O's director of pro scouting, discussed this duo.

"Both these guys fit an attractive archetype as strike-throwing starting pitchers with a deep repertoire," he said. "In both cases we have excellent performance and a very appealing pitch mix. For Sceroler we were attracted to the four-pitch mix. It's a good fastball. Flashes of power and he leverages the curveball downhill. Throws a slider for strikes and for chases, and he can get a lot of awkward swings on a plus splitter. So he brings a lot to the table.

"Tyler Wells is an interesting case. There are some similarities to Sceroler, in that we're drawn to the full assortment of weapons he has in his bag, both for lefties and righties. He's a 6-8 monster. A starter who works off four quadrants of the zone with the fastball. He features two interesting breaking balls and a plus changeup. He executes them well and throws them for strikes.

"He missed the 2019 season. He had elbow reconstruction in May of 2019. So, 2020 would have largely been a lost season for him anyway. In that respect, the shutdown probably wasn't as detrimental to him as it might have been for the development of other players. With both these guys we're excited for the chance to acquire two starting pitchers that feature an impressive combination of bat-missing ability and a proclivity for throwing strikes. These were the two players that we had targeted."

After the surgery, will Wells be ready for spring training 2021?

"We expect so, but there are always vagaries in this," Snyder said. "So, I think we'll find out a lot when he reports to spring training and over the next several months as we get our hands on him."

Neither the Orioles nor anyone else got to see minor league games this year, obviously. That led to some speculating we would see a low number selected in the Rule 5 draft this year. But after 11 players were taken in 2019, there were 18 this year.

"Evaluating players in this environment, it's been a constant battle, I'll tell you that," Snyder said. "That applies to Rule 5, free agency, all our trades over the past year. If you are hunting for a silver lining, with Wells, everybody lost development time and with him it was rehab.

"And for us, we do feel we're probably a little bit better situated for this type of player evaluation compared to other MLB clubs. Just given how efficient we feel we are operating off of video and data. But it is a challenge. You know, having our live looks of minor league players limited to instructional league games only, there is definitely important parts of the puzzle that you miss. We've been proactive as much we can. Contacting facilities, trying to get data, trying to add video and in-person reports as much as we can."

The Orioles lost two players in the major league phase as right-hander Zach Pop was taken by Arizona and right-hander Gray Fenter was grabbed by the Chicago Cubs. Pop has since been acquired by the Miami Marlins from Arizona for a player to be named later.

"It's unfortunate both those guys were taken. Both have good potential," Snyder said. "We talked about (protecting) both of them, we talked about others. You know this is really a testament to having a deep system. We added six prospects in the offseason. Had a seventh at the end of the regular-season in Bruce Zimmermann. Ultimately, you can't protect them all. It's a positive that we are making strides, that this is a relevant topic of conversation now. We'll be rooting for them but also cross our fingers and hope the teams that selected them are not able to carry them all season and we'll get them back at some point."

The Orioles didn't lose any players in the Triple-A phase but did add three players.

They selected right-hander Rickey Ramirez from Minnesota. Ramirez, 24, went 2-2 with a 3.80 ERA in 2019 for three teams, pitching as high as high Single-A ball. Over 42 2/3 innings, he walked 18 and struck out 50 with a 1.34 WHIP.

The Orioles selected catcher Chris Hudgins from Kansas City. Hudgins, 24, played mostly at low Single-A ball in 2019. He batted .254/.329/.433 with nine homers and 34 RBIs. He is a career .261/.327/.457 batter in 120 games.

They also added right-hander Ignacio Feliz, 21, a native of the Dominican Republic, from the San Diego Padres. In 2019 in short-season ball, he went 2-4 with a 4.40 ERA. In 57 1/3 innings he walked 27, fanned 55 and recorded a 1.47 WHIP.

Kent Qualls, the O's director of minor league operations, provided scouting reports and updates on this group.

"I think we were happy to get three guys," said Qualls. "Just trying to add as much talent as possible, and we're excited about these three guys. It was a deeper-than-normal minor league phase of the draft. We had a lot of names and we picked three. A lot of names we were on were taken ahead of us and our second pick. All three, we'll have a chance to develop them, and all three are under control for three years.

"Rickey Ramirez is a reliever. The thing that stood out, he's had good performance, but we just had him with a really good fastball and slider and those pitch grades stood out. We feel like that's going to give him his best chance, and we'll continue to develop him. In Hudgins' case, a really good defensive catcher with an above-average arm. We got him with at least a 60 (grade) or above arm, 38 percent caught stealing. Hits the ball hard, really good batted-ball data for Hudgins. Any time we can add to our catching depth is a plus. And then with Ignacio Feliz, a younger right-handed starter. Kid that has already been traded for major league talent. So, he's got a lot of upside with a four-pitch mix. Probably the fastball, curveball and split are the most interesting. But a starting pitcher that has only pitched at the complex and short-season level that we think we can continue to develop.

Each club could protect 38 players in the Triple-A phase. These would be Rule 5-eligible players that were not on a club's 40-man roster, so Pop and Fenter were in an O's group of 36 the club protected in the Triple-A phase. They went under 38 to have room to make minor league-phase picks. After losing two of the 36, they had four openings and made three minor league-phase selections today.