The 2023 baseball draft started Sunday night with the Orioles picking Vanderbilt center fielder Enrique Bradfield at No. 17 overall and concluded this afternoon with their selection of North Greenville (S.C.) University shortstop Jalen Vasquez in the 20^th round.

The next steps are getting as many signatures on contracts as possible, figuring out minor league assignments, and making cuts to create room.

Twenty-two players were drafted, only two out of high school. The first 16 were college players.

The Orioles selected 13 college pitchers, five outfielders, one shortstop and one catcher. They also picked a high school outfielder and shortstop.

"In terms of what we're looking to accomplish, I think a lot of our resources are dedicated toward the college crop," said director of draft operations Brad Ciolek. "However, we did extensive work on a lot of high school players, a lot of junior college players. ... But yeah, we do focus a majority on the college crop because that's a lot of the data that we do get and allows us to do a deep dive on those players."

Orioles closer Zack Britton earned the save in the American League’s 4-2 win in the 2016 All-Star Game in San Diego, with teammate Matt Wieters catching him in the ninth inning.

Could Félix Bautista be next tonight, with Adley Rutschman setting the target for him?

Bautista became the full-time closer last summer after Jorge López was traded to the Twins, but he already had two saves in a May series in St. Louis. López was on the bereavement list.

The series is referenced a lot when the subject turns to the moment that the Orioles knew they could be a winning team, though they went to Detroit and were swept. The May 12 game was special because the bench was depleted due to injuries, Bryan Baker started in a bullpen game, and the conditions were miserable.

Bautista got the four-out save in a 3-2 win. Jorge Mateo ran down a popup with his back to the infield, spun and doubled off Tyler O’Neill at first base to end the game. Anthony Bemboom received a rare start against a left-hander, Steven Matz – the Cardinals were slow to reveal their starter - and he hit a rare home run in the seventh inning.

Adley Rutschman homered from both sides of the plate in the same All-Star Home Run Derby.

He had it and flaunted it.

With father Randy throwing him batting practice, Rutschman launched 21 left-handed during the three-minute regulation and six more right-handed in the 30-second bonus portion.

The Orioles’ catcher was seeded eighth but may have performed a first with that switch.

Unfortunately for Rutschman and Orioles fans, No. 1 seed Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox ousted him by hitting 27 in regulation and one more in the bonus round to advance at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. received Mike Elias’ cell phone number last night from his agent and decided to show the same aggression that he does on the basepaths.

Bradfield wasn’t going to wait to hear from Elias, who made the Vanderbilt outfielder the 17^th overall pick in the draft. He took control of the situation, much to Elias’ amusement.

“I took that as, ‘Hey, let me give him a call,”’ Bradfield said this morning on a video chat with the media. “So, I went ahead and dialed the phone and gave him a call.”

Elias noted last night how a deep pool of collegiate position players delayed Bradfield’s selection and kept him on the board for the Orioles.

“It was a lot of emotions, especially for my family, just being there, kind of just waiting, getting phone calls, trying to see what was going to be the best decision for me,” Bradfield said.

The amateur draft resumes this afternoon with the third through 10^th rounds. The Orioles have nine selections, including a Round 3 compensation pick, the 100^th overall, for failing to sign Oklahoma State pitcher Nolan McLean last summer.

The Orioles are choosing 86^th overall, 100^th, 118^th, 154^th, 181^st, 211^th, 241^st, 271^st and 301^st.

They are thrilled with the results at Nos. 17, 53 and 63.

Picking later than ever under executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, the Orioles grabbed Vanderbilt center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., North Carolina outfielder Mac Horvath and Florida State strikeout machine Jackson Baumeister – a good nickname when you’re a pitcher.

“Ecstatic,” director of draft operations Brad Ciolek said on a video call.

The Orioles apparently had a need for speed in the first round of the draft.

They used the No. 17 overall selection on Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., 21, a left-handed hitter who Baseball America grades an 80 runner and fielder.

Bradfield stole 130 bases at a 90.9 percent success rate in 191 games. He batted .311/.426/.447 with 31 doubles, 11 triples, 15 home runs and 108 RBIs.

Also appealing to the Orioles is the 14.7 percent walk rate, compared to a 13.5 percent strikeout rate. He made contact at an 87 percent rate this season.

The power is lacking, with Bradfield given a 30 grade as more of a line drive hitter.

The first two rounds of the draft air tonight beginning at 7 p.m. on ESPN and MLB Network. Pick your prospect poison.

The Orioles have the 17^th, 53^rd and 63^rd selections tonight, the latter in Competitive Balance Round B. This is the latest that they’ve gone since taking Georgia high school left-hander DL Hall 21^st in 2017.

Hall remains in Sarasota on a program to build strength and velocity before reentering Triple-A Norfolk’s rotation. That’s the last we’ve heard about him.

I saw that the Tides placed outfielder Heston Kjerstad on the temporary inactive list yesterday, had a brief panic attack and remembered that he played in last night’s All-Star Futures Game in Seattle.

Kjerstad started in right field and went 1-for-2. Jackson Holliday came off the bench, because being the No. 1 prospect in baseball doesn't guarantee you a spot in the lineup, and struck out in his only at-bat.

All-Star Austin Hays has returned to the Orioles lineup this afternoon for the first time since bruising his left hip Sunday against the Twins.

Hays is in left field and batting fifth.

Colton Cowser is in right field today, and Anthony Santander is the designated hitter.

Aaron Hicks returns to the lineup in center field after pinch-hitting last night in the 10^th inning and delivering a sacrifice fly in a 3-1 win. Cedric Mullins is on the bench.

Jordan Westburg also is out of the lineup, with Adam Frazier playing second base and Ramón Urías moving to third. Westburg’s .314 average is the highest for any Orioles infielder through 10 career games, according to STATS.

The mathematical first half of the season is behind us. The Orioles played their 87^th game last night in Minnesota, leaving two on the table before the All-Star break.

That’s the actual splitting of the halves.

The draft will run from Sunday-Tuesday. Four Orioles will be in Seattle for the All-Star Game, and prospects Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad are on the Futures Game roster.

Adley Rutschman will attempt Monday night to join Cal Ripken Jr. and Miguel Tejada as Home Run Derby winners.

And then, it’s back to business. Three games at home against the Marlins and three against the Dodgers, followed by trips to St. Petersburg, Fla., and Philadelphia.

Austin Hays vowed to play again before the All-Star break, a bruised left hip keeping him out of the lineup since Sunday.

The day he learned that he’d been selected to his first All-Star team.

Hays is on the bench again tonight, marked absent hours after he found out that he’s starting for the American League.

Baseball life is full of surprises for Hays, who said yesterday that the good news about his selection was “kind of short-lived” following his collision with Twins first baseman Donovan Solano. A knee to the hip bringing pain after his euphoria. The roller coaster that he didn’t want to ride.

He’s taking batting practice and working out, as he did yesterday in New York, and starting Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park due to injuries to Aaron Judge and Mike Trout.

Inheriting a massive rebuild project and laying out plans to navigate it and eventually come out a contender, with clear indicators of a tedious pace and an inability to doctor it and improve the appearance, left Mike Elias with top-five draft picks in his first four seasons as executive vice president and general manager.

Catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Jackson Holliday were selected first overall in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Outfielder Heston Kjerstad was the second overall pick in 2020. Outfielder Colton Cowser, promoted to the majors on Wednesday, was the fifth selection in 2021.

Finishing above .500 last summer, an industry shocker, left the Orioles 17^th in Sunday’s first round. The price paid for improvement.

No one is complaining. Falling back is progress.

“It’s very different,” Elias said on yesterday’s video call with the local media. “When you’re picking as low as we are, 17, there’s just so much uncertainty about who’s going to be there.”

NEW YORK – The crowd at Yankee Stadium had lost its last ounce of patience long before the 12^th batter stepped to the plate in the top of the third inning. Angry at Luis Severino. Outraged by the sloppy play. Reduced to cheering a ground ball, sarcasm the only weapon of retaliation.

The Orioles threw an offensive party tonight in someone else’s house. Gunnar Henderson played host.

Henderson collected four hits in four innings, including a pair of home runs. Ryan O’Hearn had a double and two-run single in the third. Twenty of the first 30 batters reached base.

Manager Brandon Hyde wanted a breather. He got a laugher.

Staggering after two games of the series, the Orioles came out swinging tonight and coasted to a 14-1 victory. They pounded out 20 hits. Kyle Bradish was working on a one-hit shutout through the fifth and no one seemed to notice.

NEW YORK – Austin Hays is participating in full baseball activities today and is confident that he’ll return to the Orioles’ lineup this weekend in Minnesota.

Hays hasn’t played since bruising his left hip Sunday against the Twins at Camden Yards.

“I’m feeling a lot better today,” he said. “I’m going to go out there for BP and try to go through some throwing from the outfield, take some swings, and see where we’re at. But as far as just moving around and doing day to day stuff, it feels a lot better. A lot of that bad soreness that I had has pushed out of there.”

The day began with Hays learning about his All-Star selection and progressed to a collision with Twins first baseman Donovan Solano in the second inning, leading to removal before the top of the fourth.

Third baseman José Miranda’s throw led Solano into the basepath and Hays turned at the last instant to lessen the impact. He probably made it worse, but his instincts took over.

NEW YORK – The latest prospect-packed Orioles lineup tonight includes Colton Cowser in left field again, with Gunnar Henderson leading off and playing shortstop, and Jordan Westburg at second base.

Manager Brandon Hyde put Ramón Urías at third base and Aaron Hicks in center field.

Cedric Mullins is the designated hitter.

Austin Hays stays on the bench.

Kyle Bradish has registered a 3.58 ERA and 1.205 WHIP in 15 starts. He’s held opponents to six runs in his last four starts covering 25 innings.

The short-attention reaction to news of Colton Cowser’s promotion was, “What now?”

The moment is appreciated and then outdated.

Cowser is going to be in the lineup on most nights, the same way it’s working out with infielder Jordan Westburg. Manager Brandon Hyde will call upon the flexibility on his roster. He has no other choice.

Players will sit or rotate into the designated hitter spot. No one is going to get buried on the bench.

Cowser started in left field last night, an easier decision with Austin Hays recovering from a bruised left hip. Hays’ return creates another lineup complication, but nothing that Hyde can’t handle. He’s braced for it.

NEW YORK – The towering fly ball to Colton Cowser tonight in the first inning drew a roar from the Yankee Stadium crowd but didn’t get close to the warning track in left field. Cowser camped under it and waited, a 44-degree launch angle providing time for fans to realize their mistake.

Next came the first at-bat, with one out in the second inning. Cowser fell behind 1-2, twice taking changeups for strikes, and lined a curveball 107.7 mph to shortstop Anthony Volpe.

Cowser was checking boxes in his major league debut. Getting the firsts out of the way. Happy for the chance to play and maybe step back from the spotlight in the coming days.

One swing took care of two more.

Cowser lined an RBI single into right field in the sixth inning after the Orioles put runners on the corners with one out against left-handed reliever Nick Ramirez, and he crossed the plate for the first time on Jordan Westburg’s two-run triple.

NEW YORK – Colton Cowser’s name was scratched from Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup last night in Durham about an hour before first pitch, unleashing a wave of rumors and jokes.

Was he joining the Orioles in New York?

Was he just slacking?

Teammates had some fun with it.

“They were giving me a hard time a little bit, saying I just wanted another day off,” Cowser said. “But I wasn’t really thinking about it too much.”

NEW YORK – Colton Cowser is making his major league debut tonight in left field and batting seventh.

Austin Hays remains on the Orioles bench while recovering from a bruised left hip. He hit in the cage yesterday and is nearing a return.

Gunnar Henderson is leading off and playing shortstop. Jordan Westburg is the third baseman.

Ryan O’Hearn is in the cleanup spot again. Cedric Mullins is batting fifth, and Aaron Hicks follows as the designated hitter.

Hicks, who homered yesterday, posted a .188 average and .524 OPS in 28 games with the Yankees. He has a .264 average and .873 OPS in 28 games with the Orioles.

NEW YORK – Colton Cowser is on the Orioles’ active roster and expected to be in their lineup for tonight’s game against the Yankees.

The first part is official.

The club announced that it selected Cowser’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk. They also selected reliever Eduard Bazardo’s contract and optioned outfielder Ryan McKenna to the Tides after yesterday’s game.

Catcher Anthony Bemboom and pitcher Chris Vallimont were designated for assignment to clear space on a full 40-man roster.

Cowser, the No. 14 prospect in baseball in MLB Pipeline rankings, is batting .330/.459/.537 with 10 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and 48 walks in 56 games. The fifth-overall selection in the 2021 draft out of Sam Houston State has accumulated 381 plate appearances at Triple-A over two seasons and slashed .292/.420/.500 in 83 games.

NEW YORK - Orioles reliever Yennier Cano smiled through his entire media session Sunday after being chosen to the All-Star Game.

Sitting in front of a microphone shared with interpreter Brandon Quinones, he tried to convey what the news meant to him, how a pitcher who didn’t impress last year or break camp with the team in spring training emerged as a dominant setup man and endearing personality.

Earning an honor that he never dreamed about, let alone having it latch onto his reality. As crazy for him as it seemed to everyone else.

Cano handled a curveball question better than hitters can attack his sinker.

How did he turn into Superman?