O's Matt Blood: Club's draft approach doesn't change even picking further down the board

When the Orioles make the No. 22 overall selection Sunday night in round one as another MLB Draft day arrives, their outlook for acquiring amateur talent is not really different than when the club was a losing and rebuilding organization.

There is no urgency, just because now the Orioles are a winning team that could go deep in the postseason, to select players for instance who could get there quicker to help the big league team in Baltimore.

“I don’t think so,” said Orioles vice president of player development and domestic scouting Matt Blood, as to whether the draft approach has changed. “Again, our job is to make the best bet we can. And our job is sort of to predict the future, which is very hard to do. We’re going to stick with our process and will try to get the best major league value that we possibly can with every single pick.”

The Orioles have four of the draft’s first 97 picks. They have selections at Nos. 22, 32, 61 and 97. The draft runs through the first two rounds and Competitive Balance Round B on Sunday night. Selections in rounds three through 10 are Monday with rounds 11 through 20 on Tuesday to wrap up the three days.

The draft begins at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday night and at 2 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

“I think we’re going to have some good players to choose from. Think you’ve got a combination of some interesting college hitters, potentially college pitchers and you know some of the higher-upside high school guys that we like. So we’ll see what happens. At 22 there are a lot of different scenarios of what could happen. We’ll be ready for all of them,” said Blood.

While the Orioles have actually drafted a lot of pitchers in recent drafts - 25 of 40 selections since 2022 - they have yet to take a pitcher in the first round under executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. Could this be the time?

“Our job is to make the best bet we can. We’re going to look for the best value and I think so far that has never been a pitcher. And we’ll see what happens and what pitchers and position players are there when we pick and we’ll ultimately do what we think will provide us the most major league value," said Blood.

One aspect of pitching everyone has to be concerned about is the large number of injuries and Tommy John surgeries for both pro and amateur pitchers. They have to weigh the pitching injury risk.

“That obviously goes into our assessment and our decision-making," said Blood. "Pitching is volatile, but everyone needs pitching. There is a right time and place to draft pitchers. Whenever we feel like the right pitcher is there at the right time, we’re going to take him. We’re not afraid to draft pitchers, it’s a matter of doing it at the right time.”

Before 2022, the O's had never selected a pitcher under Elias before the fifth round. That year they selected Oklahoma State pitcher Nolan McLean in round three, but he did not sign. Last year they made Florida State right-hander Jackson Baumeister, who is now with High-A Aberdeen, their highest-drafted pitcher at No. 63 overall in Competitive Balance Round B.

The O's have selected and taken a lot of college hitters under Elias. But every year teams throughout the majors including the O's, insist they are not leaning college over high school in the draft necessarily.

“You can learn more and you have more information when it comes to college players. They are a little bit older and they have more of a track record and so you’re able to feel maybe more confident about drafting them. Again, we’re not necessarily looking for college players. We are looking for the best bet we can. Often that turns out to be college players. But if we can find an exciting high school player like a Gunnar Henderson, we will absolutely draft that player. We don’t have one particular profile that we look for," Blood said.

The O's area scouts had arrived in Baltimore and the advance meetings for a group of 25 or more have begun. Blood estimated he has personally scouted almost 45 of the top players in this draft. 

The listed slot amount for the O's No. 22 pick is $3,802.200 and it is $2,835,400 for pick No. 32.