O's add three college position players on night one of the MLB Draft

On the first night of the 2024 MLB Draft, the Orioles seemed to play into the strength of this draft in adding three college position players, all three from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

For the sixth straight draft since Mike Elias took over in his role with the club, the O’s did not take a pitcher in the first round. Or any among the three selections Sunday.

With their first round pick, No. 22 overall, they added center fielder Vance Honeycutt from North Carolina. The righty batter hit .318 with an OPS of 1.124 and hit 28 homers, a UNC single-season record. He also was named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year two straight years, a first in the conference.

He was ranked the No. 13 prospect for this draft by Baseball America and No. 22 by MLB.com.

A player with some loud tools, the one area to clean up for him on the stat sheet is strikeouts. He had a 30 percent K rate as a freshman and 28 percent last season.

“It’s absolutely something he is going to have to work on and something that we feel like with our player development system and the people that we have here, is something we can work with him on and help him along,” said O’s vice president of player development and domestic scouting Matt Blood.

“But he does so many things well that the strikeout rate going along with everything else that he does well, it made for a great bet on him. When you combine that with our ability to help develop hitters, we felt like there was a ton of upside in making this pick. And that he could be a really exciting player here in Baltimore.”

For at least another year, right-hander Jackson Baumeister, taken No. 63 overall last year, will remain the highest-drafted pitcher since Elias and staff took over in Baltimore.

Are the O’s looking for several pitchers today starting in round three?

“We’re looking for the best player available at each pick. Sometimes that is going to be position players, sometimes it’s going to be pitchers. I would imagine that we will draft some pitchers. That is just the way it goes but I can’t say exactly when that will be,” Blood said.

With their second pick, No. 32 overall, the O’s took University of Virginia infielder Griff O’Ferrall, who won the Brooks Wallace Award which goes to the nation’s best shortstop.

In round two, with selection No. 61, they added switch-hitting catcher Ethan Anderson last night, another UVa player.

How important was defense with these picks and can the O’s sign all three pretty soon?

“Defense is you know, half the equation,” Blood said via team Zoom call Sunday night. “You have to play defense and you have to score runs and you have to prevent runs. So, it all goes into the calculus when you are selecting players.

“We would absolutely like to sign these players quickly and get them in our great player development system. And try to help them to their goals of being major leaguers.”

O’Ferrall hit .324/.367/.454/.821 with five homers and 52 RBIs. He fanned just once every 11.8 at-bats making him the toughest to strikeout in the ACC. He was first-team all-conference two straight seasons.

Ranked as the No. 38 player in the draft by MLB.com, O’Ferrall was No. 115 on the Baseball America top 500 prospects list. He is known as an intense player.

“He’s a gamer. He’s a really good baseball player. He can impact the game defensively, on the base paths. And he wreaks havoc with his bat. A ton of line drives, a ton of contact, really tough out. He’s the kind of guy that fans are going to love. I think that is what you see when you see him play,” Blood said.

As for Anderson, he hit .331/.435/.508/.943 in 63 games. He had an OPS of 1.118 in 2023. He was ranked No. 59 by MLB.com and No. 78 via Baseball America.

Said Blood: “He has a very interesting and exciting offensive profile. Gets on base a ton, makes a lot of quality contact. He’s a switch hitter and can do a lot of things to impact the game on the offensive side.

“The defensive side, he wasn’t able to catch as much this year as he probably would have liked. And we are looking forward to helping him develop into that role with us.”

The draft resumes today at 2 p.m. with picks in rounds three through 10 and ends tomorrow with selections in rounds 11-20. The O’s first pick today in round three is No. 97 overall.

Check back here often for updates on each pick as they are made today by the Orioles. When the O's make their first pick this afternoon, there will be a new entry with information on that player and we will add to it all day until the draft ends.

Via Twitter click here to see more on Honeycutt from the UNC baseball program and click here to see the scene when the O's made the phone call to Honeycutt to tell him he would be an Oriole.