GM Elias on day two of the draft

After selecting a star college catcher, high school shortstop and college center fielder on the first day of the First-Year Player Draft, the Orioles continued a run yesterday on college position players in the middle of the diamond.

It began with a speedy outfielder from the SEC, and the club did not select a single pitcher until round eight. There were two senior signs that could produce some pool savings to use for an overslot signing or two.

The first draft class for executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias seems to be shaping up nicely. The club's 11 picks so far have included nine college players and nine position players with three catchers, three outfielders and three shortstops.

The draft resumes today at noon with rounds 11-40 to wrap it up. Players drafted in these rounds can be signed for up to $125,000, but any overage will come out of the club's total draft pool.

Click here to read about yesterday's signings or here to see the full list of draft picks for Baltimore so far. After he made eight selections Tuesday, I interviewed Elias on the draft so far.

Elias on day two overall: "You usually feel good about a draft afterwards, and we'll wait and see how it plays out over the next five years or so. But certainly, we got some position players, college position players early that we like. That project to be really strong middle-of-the-diamond defenders, and with good accompanying offensive potential. That is always a goal in the draft. We felt this draft was a lot deeper and stronger on the positional side, so, you know, while we had pitchers in the mix on the board there, it just ended up falling that way."

So the selections of only two pitchers to this point was not necessarily the plan? "No. But I think it reflects the constitution of this draft class. We didn't want to force anything, and we did like a lot of these bats that we took. Guys that are athletic that play up the middle and hit pretty well too. So, there was no reason to reach for pitching."

Your thoughts on third-round pick, LSU outfielder Zach Watson? "Zach Watson, we've been watching for a couple of years. He was draft-eligible (as a sophomore) last year. He decided to stay at LSU and play for Team USA that summer. He's a really unique player. He's extremely fast. Runs 4.15 to 4.20 down the line, which plus graded. And is a really natural, excellent center fielder. But he has some pop in his stick and produces high exit velocities and occasionally will hit some home runs. I think he had between seven and nine homers or thereabouts every year in the SEC. And he's hit for average. He's done it in the SEC and on the Cape. A guy that can play center field that well will be given every opportunity to climb the ladder."

On fourth-round pick, New Mexico State shortstop Joey Ortiz: "He is someone our scouts really like. He has a very natural way of playing shortstop. A very easy way of playing at short. Some of our scouts thought he's a plus shortstop, and almost all were in agreement that he is at least an average or better major league quality defender at short. He hit a lot at New Mexico State and in summer leagues, just for average. That park is one to display power numbers a little bit. But we think this is a really nice bat that could potentially carry him to a starting shortstop role one day."

On drafting 11 players so far, nine from college. That by design? "Well, no. We'll see what happens (today). You're more limited with high school players in terms of signability. They tend to be a little more expensive. You know we did draft Darell Hernaiz in the fifth round and, hopefully, we'll be able to sign him. He's a young guy at 17 who plays in the dirt and has some pop in his bat. Had a really nice spring and summer and is projectable as a good-looking young infielder. It's hard to load up on too many high school players in the bonus system these days."

Where there any surprises for you on Tuesday? "Not really. We did a good job preparing the board and letting the players we had ranked fall to us. Now, as you get deeper in the draft you start worrying about the roster composition of your minor league teams. Certainly (today), we'll start doing that and player development will have a larger voice in the selections, where we draft some players to fill out teams in Aberdeen and the (Gulf Coast League). But that doesn't come into play until the later rounds. We'll probably be in best-available mode until the late teens or early 20s (rounds). That is usually how it goes."

After this 40-round draft ends, how many players do you plan to sign? "I don't know yet. It will just depend on how many open roster spots we feel we have, and what we feel like basing off guys on the board that have a chance to be prospects. I don't have that answer just yet."

Any progress yet with any signings? "Not yet. I think everyone we have picked, we have a pretty good idea of what it will take to sign them. At least so far, I don't think we've taken any sliders. But things can change. Our scouts will get to work signing these guys as soon as the draft ends."

So second-round pick Gunnar Henderson may be tough to sign, but you think you'll get that done? "I feel we will be in a very good position to make a run at him. We need young, talented infielders like that in our player-development system. I think it can all work out."