Orioles come to terms with third-round pick

The Orioles have reportedly come to contract terms with their third-round draft pick, high school shortstop Adrian Marin. That word comes from the player himself. He proclaimed this via his Twitter page on Thursday night: "Officially signed a contract with Baltimore!!" Click here for the link to that Twitter announcement and picture. ‪ The speedy, 5-foot-10, 165-lb. Marin played at Gulliver Prep near Miami. He was the 99th overall pick in the draft, is a right-handed batter and thrower, and had a college commitment to Miami. He was rated by Baseball America as the draft's 192nd-best prospect. Marin turned 18 on March 8. As part of their allotted budget to sign their top ten round picks, the Orioles' bonus pool for the 99th pick was $481,100. It is likely that Marin would start his pro career, as many drafted high school players do, in the Gulf Coast League later this month. When I interviewed Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich earlier this week he was pretty excited the Orioles got the speedster with their third-round pick. "Marin is a good athlete. He's got big tools and we wanted to get younger and more exciting. He's a speedy, exciting player with enough tools to stay in the dirt at short or second and be a dynamic player. He just needs to learn more about the game. He is one of those guys that doesn't need a lot of development," Rajsich said. Here is Baseball America's pre-draft write-up on Marin: Marin would be a key recruit for a Miami program that needs an infusion of talent, and scouts had him pegged as a "good college player" until he smoked one of the nation's hardest throwers, Las Vegas two-way phenom Joey Gallo, at the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C., early in the spring. That encounter raised Marin's profile with national evaluators, and area scouts already liked him as a heady player with no glaring weakness. Marin still has scouts trying to figure out his future impact with his bat. His hitting mechanics aren't ideal and he has swing-and-miss tendencies, and his below-average power means he'll either have to be a leadoff hitter or hit at the bottom of an order. Marin's best present tool is his speed, which is at least slightly above-average. He's a steady defender with average actions and shortstop and an average arm. Marin had early buzz to go in the first three rounds. Click here for video of Marin from MLB.com