O's making progress with draft pick signings (plus other notes)

An MLB source said the Orioles are making very solid progress in negotiations with a large group of their 41 draft picks. In fact, some of the signings will soon be announced, perhaps as early as today.

The Orioles are said to be making progress with some of their highest-drafted players. They do have an agreement in place with their fifth-round pick, outfielder Lamar Sparks from Seven Lakes (Tx.) High School. He has agreed to a bonus for the slot amount of $304,800.

MLBPipeline.com's Jim Callas said of Sparks on draft day: "He is going to be a project for player development, but is an interesting project. He's got some tools here. He's a plus runner and he's got arm strength. There is some strength in there, too, to maybe transfer into some power. He's got a lot going on with the swing and you're going to have to smooth that out. This could be a potential two-year rookie ball guy and he's going to need some time to develop. But you're getting a guy with some basic building blocks and you're seeing if you can turn him into a major leaguer."

The Orioles drafted college seniors with five picks in rounds six through 10 and have reached agreement with those selections. They are:

Round 6: University of Iowa IF Mason McCoy
Round 7: Wake Forest C Ben Breazeale
Round 8: Fordham RHP Jimmy Murphy
Round 9: UNC Charlotte OF T.J. Nichting
Round 10: Adams State University RHP Josh Keaton

The Orioles first four picks in the 2016 draft were college players. In the 2017 draft, four of their first six were draft picks out of high school. That was by design, Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich said.

"I was trying to get young. I wanted the best young players I could get. There were some high school position players and high school arms that we really liked," he said.

Recently I wrote this with plenty of Rajsich quotes about the Orioles top pick, high school lefty DL Hall. Here are some of his comments of some other top picks.

On Canadian high school shortstop Adam Hall taken No. 60 overall in Round 2: "He is an athletic shortstop and we like him a lot. We saw him at the Area Codes last summer and got a good look at him. He's got good defensive tools, can run and hit and is going to have some power. We think he stays at shortstop for sure. He should be a pretty fast mover. He was on other teams' radars right where we got him so I feel fortunate with this pick. He has first-step quickness and a quick bat, nice bat speed."

On Xavier lefty pitcher Zac Lowther taken No. 74 with a Competitive Balance Round B selection: "He is a pitchability left-hander from Xavier. He has a good fastball (at 90 to 93 mph), curveball and changeup. He pitches with a lot of deception and is a strike thrower. Gets a lot of swings and misses and foul balls with his fastball and he has a plus curveball. He can set up hitters with his curveball and that makes his fastball play up."

On Jacksonville University right-handed pitcher Mike Baumann: "He is a big strong strike thrower from Jacksonville University with four pitches. He throws them all for strikes. He compares somewhat to (Matthias) Dietz who we took last year in the second round. Good size and durable and he's a power arm that pitches 94 and 95 (mph) and is up to 97. Good breaking stuff and we like his upside."

That didn't go well: After hitting nine homers and scoring 23 runs in wins Saturday and Sunday against St. Louis, the Orioles were shutout on three hits last night by Cleveland right-hander Corey Kluber. In the last eight games, the O's inconsistent offense has scored seven, one, 10, two, two, 15, eight and zero runs.

The Orioles have been held to three runs or less 34 times, going 8-26. At 34-35, they have lost nine of 12 and 19 of 28 games.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy took the loss, allowing six runs over 4 1/3 innings. Bundy has pitched five or fewer innings in three of his last four starts. In that time he is 1-3 with an ERA of 6.64. His season ERA jumped from 2.89 to 3.72. His past two starts he has given up 11 runs over 9 1/3 innings.

The Orioles bullpen, especially the middle relievers, is struggling often. In the past four games, the bullpen has allowed 16 runs (13 earned) and eight homers in 13 1/3 innings for an ERA of 8.78.

Last night the Orioles extended their club record to 16 straight games allowing five runs or more. Their previous most before this year was an 11-game streak in 2007. This streak is the second-longest in MLB since 1913. The MLB record is 20 straight games by the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies.