Analyzing the Orioles' (quite familiar) picks on the first day of the 2022 MLB draft
The Orioles have different goals now than they did when they were rebuilding, but chose to face their loftier pursuits by doubling down on what has worked so far.
If the Orioles are indeed turning into a good baseball team before our eyes, we know the names of the players who will help calcify that: Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg and Kyle Stowers in the lineup, Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall on the mound.
Sunday’s first night of the MLB draft, headlined by the selection of Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday as the No. 1 overall pick for the Orioles, marked the start of what will be a much more challenging endeavor: helping to achieve and potentially sustain greatness.
In every way except the one anyone focused on leading up to it (playing a money game with the top pick), they decided to begin drafting to that end by largely identifying the best successes and most attractive trends from the first three drafts under Mike Elias and doubling down on what they think works.
The Orioles like what they like, and there’s no real use changing that given how effective it has been so far.
That preference starts with their first prep first-round pick in Holliday and extends down to Dylan Beavers, Max Wagner, and Jud Fabian, creating a group that will one day replace their soon-to-graduate top prospects by perhaps replicating their ascents.
“We’re adding what’s going to be a big new wave to the bottom of what is an excellent farm system,” Elias said.