Recapping Winter Meetings Week In Birdland

Each year, the Winter Meetings is one of the most exciting weeks of the MLB offseason. The hot stove is heating up, the winter holidays and a new year are just around the corner, and Spring Training is only a couple of months away.

Despite taking place virtually, this year’s Winter Meetings were no different. Throughout the week, the Orioles’ Baseball Operations department was hard at work, doing everything from attending virtual meetings with executives from other clubs to fortifying the farm system, and even adding some talent at the Major League level through the annual Rule 5 Draft.

For Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Elias, this year marked his third Winter Meetings experience, and third Rule 5 Draft, as the Orioles’ GM after he joined the club in November of 2018. Perhaps the biggest event during each year’s Winter Meetings, the Rule 5 Draft provides clubs without a full 40-man roster the opportunity to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs.

The Orioles, who added two pitchers via the Rule 5 Draft this year, have had success identifying and acquiring potential impact players through this route in the past. The 2020 Most Valuable Oriole, Anthony Santander, was himself a Rule 5 selection in 2016, when the Orioles took a chance on the switch-hitting Venezuelan outfielder from the Cleveland Indians organization.

The Orioles’ decision to take that chance would end up being a career-defining opportunity for Santander, who had a breakout year in 2020 before being shut down due to a strained right oblique in September. At the time of his injury, Santander was leading the American League in extra-base hits (25), ranked tied for second in doubles (13), third in total bases (88), tied for third in RBI (32), sixth in slugging percentage (.575), and tied for sixth in home runs (11). He finished the year hitting .261/.315/.575 (40-for-153) and was one of three finalists for the American League Gold Glove Award for right field.

With the fifth pick in the Rule 5 Draft this year, the Orioles selected a right-handed pitcher from the Cincinnati Reds organization with familial ties to the Orioles. Mac Sceroler, 25, is the nephew of former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1989 June Draft.

In 56 games (47 starts) over three minor league seasons, Sceroler owns a 4.07 ERA (108 ER/239.0 IP) and 252 strikeouts and was named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star with Cincinnati in 2019.

With their second-round pick, the Orioles selected another right-handed pitcher in Tyler Wells. The 26-year-old owns a 2.82 ERA (80 ER/255.2 IP) and 288 strikeouts in 50 games (46 starts) over three minor league seasons in the Twins organization. Described by the Orioles Director of Pro Scouting Mike Snyder as “a 6-8 monster,” Wells’ imposing presence on the mound will make him an interesting prospect to watch in 2021.

The Orioles also added three players in the Triple-A phase, but lost two in the Major League phase with right-handers Zach Pop and Gray Fenter being selected by the Diamondbacks and Cubs, respectively, which can be at least partially attributed to the fact that the Orioles’ farm system has made impressive strides in recent years, making it difficult - if not impossible - to protect every player eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.

“It’s unfortunate both those guys were taken. They both have good potential,” Snyder shared on a Zoom call with the media on Thursday. “We talked about both of them, we talked about others. This is really a testament to having a deep system.”

"It’s a positive in that we are making strides, that this is a relevant topic of conversation right now,” he continued. “We’ll be rooting for them, but we’ll also cross our fingers and hope that the teams who selected are not able to carry them all season and that we can get them back at some point.”

With two First-Year Player Drafts, three Rule 5 Drafts, and the largest international signing class in franchise history in 2019 all occurring under his leadership, Elias and his staff have built a farm system that is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the eighth-best in baseball.

One of the key architects responsible for the farm system’s ability to rise through the rankings despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic is the club’s Director of Player Development, Matt Blood. Earlier this week, Blood participated in a special player development Q&A, in which he answered questions on his first year with the Orioles, including onboarding draft picks into the organization, the inception of the #RisingTide mantra, and players who caught his eye at the Alternate Training Site and Instructional League camp.

Another big reason for the farm system’s rise is the group of players inherited by Elias, Blood, and their staff who have since developed into some of the organization’s top prospects. Among this group are former college teammates Zac Lowther and Rylan Bannon. Lowther, a left-handed pitcher, and Bannon, an infielder, were roommates at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, before being reunited in the Orioles’ organization when Bannon was traded from the Dodgers in the summer of 2018 as part of the Manny Machado deal. Lowther and Bannon are currently ranked by MLB Pipeline as the club’s No. 11 and No. 25 prospects, respectively. The pair, who were both added to the 40-man roster last month, caught up this week via Zoom to give fans the inside scoop on each other as part of a special player development feature.

The club’s top pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, was drafted a year after Lowther and Bannon, but has wasted no time making a name for himself in professional baseball. Rodriguez was selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Texas. In 2019, he was named the Orioles Jim Palmer Minor League Co-Pitcher of the year (with RHP Mike Baumann) after finishing the season with Class-A Delmarva with a 10-4 record, 2.68 ERA (28 ER/94.0 IP), and a team-leading 129 strikeouts, while holding opponents to an average of .171 (57-for-333), the lowest clip on the team. He was named the 2019 South Atlantic League Most Outstanding MLB Prospect and a SAL Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star, and represented the American League in the 2019 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.

Rodriguez, who is currently ranked as the No. 2 Orioles prospect and the No. 31 overall prospect in baseball by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, took over the Orioles’ Instagram account this week to give fans an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the top prospect’s offseason routine.

As busy as the club has been domestically, the Orioles have also been consistently enhancing their international presence since Koby Perez joined the club as Senior Director of International Scouting almost two years ago. In 2019, Perez presided over the Orioles’ 2019-20 International Signing period class, in which the club signed 27 players to contracts on the first day on July 2, adding more international talent in one day than the club had signed in the three previous years combined.

In a special Winter Meetings Q&A highlighting the club’s international efforts, Perez answered questions on the Orioles’ approach to this year’s international signing period, evaluating and projecting talent at such a young age, and the ultimate goals Mike Elias and Koby Perez have for the team in the international market.

Whether the players in the Orioles’ system are from the United States, the Dominican Republic, or even Australia, they will all chart a similar course through the minor leagues on their way to Camden Yards. One of the biggest stories of this year’s Winter Meetings was the extension of formal invitations to 120 minor league clubs to join Major League Baseball’s new minor league system. The Orioles proudly invited the Aberdeen IronBirds, Bowie Baysox, Delmarva Shorebirds, Norfolk Tides, and the communities they serve to continue as economic development and entertainment partners, while working with MLB and Prep Baseball Report to bring the MLB Draft League to Frederick residents. As a result of these efforts, Orioles baseball is positioned to continue driving economic impact in seven communities across three states.

On Friday, Mike Elias joined Birdland Members for a special Q&A hosted by Orioles broadcaster Brett Hollander to wrap up another successful Winter Meetings week.

With the conclusion of the Winter Meetings, all eyes will now be on 2021 Spring Training, as the Orioles continue to build towards the future.