O's 2023 top draft pick is an old-school type leadoff hitter with a few big tools

When a baseball player is said to have an 80-grade tool by a scout that is as good as it gets. That is like getting a 100 on a test. There is no better score.

On the 20-80 scouting scale, Baseball America recently described 80-grade this way: “ Top of the scale. Some scouts consider only one player’s tool in all of the major leagues to be an 80. Think of Shohei Ohtani's power, Corbin Carroll's speed or Devin Williams' changeup.”

In the Orioles' farm system, they have a center fielder that Baseball America provides not one, two 80-grade tools. He was their first-round draft pick last July, taken No. 17 out of Vanderbilt and Enrique Bradfield Jr. gets 80-grades for both his defense and speed.

Both were on display last season when, after the draft, he played three games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League, 17 at Low-A Delmarva and five at High-A Aberdeen where he will likely begin this season.

In a loaded O’s farm, he was ranked as the club’s No. 7 prospect by Baseball America and he missed their top 100. But he was ranked No. 64 by The Athletic and No. 94 by ESPN, making those top 100 lists.

A lefty-hitter and thrower, the O’s signed Bradfield to an exact slot amount bonus of $4.17 million. Then, in 25 games he hit .291/.473/.329/.802. He walked 26 times and fanned just 16 and stole 25-of-27 bases. During his college career, he stole 130 bases in 190 games with a 90.9 success rate.

His skipper at Delmarva was Felipe Rojas Alou Jr. who is beginning his 17^th season with the Orioles and will be the manager at Aberdeen this coming season.

“We saw the speed for sure, very impressive,” he told me recently about Bradfield, 22. “And very impressed how he understands his game. He gets on base and he’s going. He stole 20 bases for us in 17 games. He understands the type of player and type of impact he has on a team and his organization.

“He’s a true center fielder, covers ground. This kid is all business when he comes to the park. He knows the kind of player he is and that he needs to get on base. He handles the strike zone well.”

In his interviews, you see and hear an articulate young man who went to an academic school in Vanderbilt.

“He is very mature and it was a lot of fun talking with him and getting to know him. It was fun to watch him run the bases.”

Baseball America gives Bradfield a 55-grade hit tool but just 30 for power and 40 for his arm. Before the draft they ranked him as the No. 16 prospect and the O’s got him at No. 17 in the first round.

Power may never be a big factor in his game and he is more of what we might call an “old school” leadoff batter.

“At the moment he is that player, a leadoff-type of player. He is thin and there is room to add muscle and still some development to come. We’ll give him the tools and he will put in the work to get stronger. Down the line he could show more extra-base pop,” said Alou.

“Yes, he covers ground and he is very aware and moves well. Liked the arm and accuracy. Fun and exciting to watch. He works at-bats and in the field he will make the plays and throw to the right base,” he added.

The O’s have drafted plenty of players with some pop in their bat under the Mike Elias front office. This is an outlier in that respect. He’s going to want to keep the ball on the ground, out of the air too often and rely on his great contact rates and blazing speed.

“The sky is the limit for our group. Exciting times for all of us,” Aloui said sizing up the O’s farm as a whole right now.

Elias added this last July when Bradfield was introduced to the local media after signing his contract: “Enrique, I think the conversation with him starts with his speed and defense, but he’s also a very skilled hitter, a tremendous eye and idea of the strike zone, a willingness to use every part of the field to have team at-bats, to move runners over,” Elias said.

“I think the thing that people when they watch him play will fall in love with is, when he’s playing offense, it doesn’t end when he gets out of the batter’s box. He’s a constant threat and presence when he’s on the bases. It changes the tone of the game when he’s out there and he figures out a way to help his team win.

“We’re also very enthused by the person that we’re getting here. I think Enrique’s got a fire in his belly. He’s a competitor, he’s a hard worker, he’s an excellent citizen and is the type of guy that we’ve been targeting. So, we’re really happy that he fell to our pick. Excited to see him get his pro career started.”

In an O’s farm ranked as the best in the majors, a player not yet on all the top 100 lists, without much power and one that did not get a spring training invite, can fly a bit under the radar. But two 80-grade tools should get our attention and Bradfield showed them and more in his first year of pro ball.