Will prep work pay off for the O's in Draft?

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- When Mike Elias became Baltimore’s general manager prior to the 2019 season, he hired former colleague Matt Blood to be the club’s director of player development. Blood served in that role for all of Elias’ first five seasons at the helm, spending time at each of the organization’s Minor League affiliates to oversee the progression of young talent.

But this past offseason, Blood took a new title: he became the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting.

Although Blood still has his hand in the player development side for the O’s, he has spent much of the year preparing for the 2024 MLB Draft. It’s a return to his roots, as he was a scout for the Cardinals from ‘08-16 -- a tenure that overlapped with that of both Elias (a scout for St. Louis from ‘07-11) and Baltimore assistant general manager Sig Mejdal (an analyst for the Cards from ‘05-11).

“It’s been a lot of fun to be back involved with the Draft in this capacity,” Blood said. “Working closely with Mike and Sig is something I’ve done for a while now, but now doing [it] again on the Draft, which we did a while back in St. Louis. ... I’m continuing to learn a lot, and I’m just very fortunate to have those two guys, with all the experience they have, alongside me.”

The prep work that Blood and the Orioles’ scouting department has done will ideally soon pay off. The 2024 Draft begins Sunday (7 p.m. ET at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas), when the first two rounds and the supplemental rounds will be broadcast live on MLB Network, ESPN and MLB.com.

Monday will feature Rounds 3-10 and Tuesday will bring Rounds 11-20. The Draft resumes at 2 p.m. ET each day, with coverage available on MLB.com.

After winning the American League East title last year, Baltimore’s first pick in the Draft won’t come until No. 22. However, the O’s -- who have a bonus pool of $10,920,900 -- own two additional Day 1 selections: No. 32 (a prospect promotion incentive pick awarded for Gunnar Henderson winning 2023 AL Rookie of the Year) and No. 61 (second round).

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

The Orioles’ initial pick was at No. 21 or earlier in each of the previous seven Drafts. Their first selection hasn’t been this late since 2016, when they took right-hander Cody Sedlock at No. 27 in the compensatory round. (They forfeited their first-round pick that year after signing free agent starter Yovani Gallardo.)

It’s been nearly that long since Baltimore has taken a pitcher in the first round -- in 2018, when right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was selected at No. 11 in the final Draft before the Elias era began. The O’s have taken only one pitcher on Day 1 of the Draft since Elias became GM -- last year, when righty Jackson Baumeister went at No. 63 in Competitive Balance Round B.

Blood insists the run of first-round position players hasn’t necessarily been by design. The Orioles take the name at the top of their board when they’re on the clock, and in recent years, that has just happened to be non-pitchers early.

Perhaps that changes this time around.

“Whenever we have gotten to the picks where we are and the players that are available, so far, they’ve turned out to be position players. So far. But we’ll see,” Blood said. “This Draft may be different, depending on who’s drafted and who’s there whenever we’re selecting.”

In a recent MLB Pipeline mock Draft, Jim Callis projected Baltimore to take Iowa right-hander Brody Brecht. However, Callis also noted the O’s could again take a college position player, naming Kentucky outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt, Tennessee third baseman Billy Amick, LSU third baseman Tommy White and Kansas State shortstop Kaelen Culpepper as possibilities.

Blood estimates he has scouted about 45 players in person this year, and he’s ready to replenish the Orioles’ farm system -- ranked as the best in baseball for nearly three years -- with more talent.

“Our job is to sort of predict the future, which is very hard to do,” Blood said. “So we’re going to sort of stick with our process and we’re going to try to get the best Major League value that we possibly can with every single pick.”