Two farm pitchers taken down the draft board that are having big seasons in 2023

As the Orioles look to grow some arms on the farm for the big league team, under executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias, they have not used high draft picks on pitchers. They have taken just one before the fifth round of the last four drafts. And that pitcher, Nolan McLean taken in round three last year, went unsigned and the O’s will get a comp selection for that in the coming MLB Draft.

But in two recently promoted pitchers having big years on the farm this season, they are finding that they could identify someone they liked down the board in the draft and still have them develop into good pitchers.

Now we see if they can take that all the way to the big leagues.

In 2023, it's so far and so good for 24-year-old right-hander Justin Armbruester, selected in round 12 of the 2021 draft from New Mexico. And add to him right-hander Alex Pham, 23, taken in that same draft in round 19 from the University of San Francisco.

Among O’s farm pitchers with 40 or more innings this season, Armbruester ranks first in ERA, Ryan Long is second and Pham is third.

O’s director of player development Matt Blood said Armbruester, recently promoted from Double-A to Triple-A Norfolk and Pham, who moved up from High-A to Double-A Bowie, are examples of the organization seeing something they liked as amateurs and enhancing that and making some things even better as they joined the Orioles and entered the pro ranks.

“Correct,” said Blood. “That is another example of continuity inside the organization. You have a scouting, player acquisition department very in tune with the player development side and what we are able to do developmentally with players. These are pitchers that were identified as having the right stuff and the right potential. And that, you know, our development process was going to help bring along and I think that is what you are seeing up and down the organization.

“I think it is our job to do the work on the development side to present players with good information and help them or collaborate with them on what is best for their development and career. I feel like we do a good job at that and all players want to get better. If we present them the information in a collaborative way, most players are open to making adjustments to get better.”

Armbruester is 4-2 with a 2.28 ERA in 13 starts this season. The first 12 came for Bowie and he made his Triple-A debut Thursday night with five scoreless on two hits with seven strikeouts in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Nashville. It was a nice first impression with the Tides.

“He is just a fierce competitor,” Blood said of Armbruester. “He has big league stuff and he throws a ton of strikes. That usually plays. For him now, he’s been at the Double-A level for a while and he’s got to go test his game plans and strategies at a higher level. He could have some struggles along the way and will make adjustments. And that will be good for his development and continue with his upper movement toward the major leagues.”

Pham is expected to make his Double-A debut for Bowie Sunday at Altoona. With Aberdeen, he went 3-3 with a 2.45 ERA over 12 games. In 51 1/3 innings he allowed just 29 hits with 25 walks, 76 strikeouts, a .163 average against and 1.05 WHIP. He is third in the O’s organization in WHIP.

“He has really taken his development seriously and worked really well with the pitching coach in High-A,” said Blood. “He has refined some of his pitch shapes and is a very competitive guy. He pretty much dominated the High-A level and was ready for another challenge.”

And he has taken a K rate that was very strong last year at 12.55 up to 13.32 now. That ranks second on the O’s farm among those 40-inning pitchers only to Cade Povich (13.66).

“He’s got weapons. He throws a slider and a curveball that are really tough and has a changeup for lefties and his velocity has been low to mid-90s. He’s got weapons and he throws strikes and now we’ll see what he can do at Double-A," said Blood.