BALTIMORE -- Kiefer Lord was never a hard-throwing fireballer destined from a young age to play college baseball at a Power Five school. Quite the opposite. The sport wasn’t even his primary focus when he decided he would head to Division III Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., in the fall of 2020.

In that way, Lord’s path to the 2023 MLB Draft -- during which he was selected by the Orioles in the third round on Monday -- was much different from many of the other 313 players who heard their names called over the past two days. It didn’t even seem likely he’d end up at a school like the University of Washington, where he pitched during the 2023 season.

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So, how did this happen for the 21-year-old right-hander? Lord’s true baseball journey began in March 2020, when he was still a high schooler at Menlo School in Atherton, Calif., and the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down the world.

“It was cool to be able to play on a college team, and that’s kind of all I was thinking at that point,” Lord said. “When COVID hit, I basically had all this extra time, and I knew I was going to college, so I basically was like, ‘Might as well try to learn about pitching mechanics and lifting and training and just how to throw harder.’”

Lord didn’t work with any coaches. He didn’t train at any baseball facilities. He did self-guided research on YouTube while also throwing and working out in his backyard, growing into the 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame he has today.

The results were a bit shocking, to say the least.

In high school, Lord’s fastball velocity sat in the upper 70s. He maxed out at 81 mph when he began his work in March 2020. A few months in, he was already throwing 90. And during the summer of ‘21, he touched 95 for the first time -- while throwing in his backyard, of course.

“At that point, I was like, ‘I’ve turned myself into a legitimate pitcher,’ you know?” said Lord, whose fastball now routinely sits around 94 mph and has touched as high as 99. “I think that was a pretty big moment.”

Lord also saw improvements in his stats from his first season at Carleton in 2021, to his second in ‘22. As a freshman, he had a 5.14 ERA, a 1.57 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 42 innings over seven games (six starts). In his breakout sophomore campaign, he had a 1.65 ERA, a 0.69 WHIP and 81 strikeouts in 49 innings over nine games (eight starts).

The need for tougher competition became apparent. That’s why Lord transferred to Washington.

In his lone year with the Huskies in 2023, Lord pitched to a 6.19 ERA over 15 starts. However, that number was inflated due to a tough conclusion to his season. Through his first 11 outings, he had a 3.63 ERA. And he still finished with 78 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings for the year, which allowed him to earn All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors.

Lord, the No. 127 prospect in this year’s class per MLB Pipeline, was one of seven pitchers selected over the first two days of the Draft by Baltimore, which has exclusively taken college players with its first 12 picks. Orioles director of Draft operations Brad Ciolek had previously met with Lord at the MLB Draft Combine at Chase Field in Phoenix last month, and he came away impressed with the righty’s “self-made” velocity.

In addition to his 55-grade fastball -- which he threw roughly 70 percent of the time during his year at Washington -- Lord possesses three other pitches in his arsenal: a slider (50 grade), a curveball (50) and a changeup (45).

“A big focal point for us with him is going to continue to work on implementing his slider more often,” Ciolek said, “but also let him use his curveball and changeup increasingly with each outing that he’s going to get with us.”

That process will begin once Lord begins his professional career later this year, assuming that he signs with Baltimore before the deadline to do so later this month.

For now, Lord is enjoying where his unexpected path has taken him. On Monday afternoon, he was with his parents and his girlfriend when he found out he’d been selected by the O’s with the No. 86 overall pick.

It wasn’t something Lord could have envisioned happening only a few years ago.

“It’s been a crazy transformation,” Lord said. “I did not expect this at all.”