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MLB Draft 2013: Orioles select catcher Jonah Heim with pick #129 and LHP Travis Seabrooke with pick #159

The fourth and fifth rounds of the drafts are in the books and the Orioles added a switch-hitting catcher and another lefty pitcher to their bag of goodies.

Catcher Jonah Heim will not turn eighteen years old for twenty more days and he has just been drafted by a professional baseball team. Heim is 6'3', 189 pounds and hails from Buffalo, NY. MLB.com has the following comments:

At 6-foot-3, 189 pounds, Heim is large for a catcher, but he has plenty of upside. Despite his size, he has good pop times and is fairly agile behind the plate. Heim has a strong arm and, in time, has the potential to be at least an average defender. There are more questions surrounding his offensive ability, but he has some raw power and has a good approach at the plate. Heim is committed to Michigan State.

I guess the question is, how committed is he to Michigan State?

This story from Heim's local news outlet makes it sound like he's not all that committed at all. Orioles scout Kirk Fredriksson has this to say about Heim:

He's got strong hands which you need to hold onto the ball and hold strike three and he's 's got good blocking skills. He does a lot of things that we look for in a catcher to go to the next level."

There are several videos of Heim on YouTube. Here is one of him hitting a double. If you'd like to see him catch, check out the YouTube page.


With their fifth round pick, the Orioles selected a lefty from Canada named Travis Seabrooke. I wonder if he's as surly as the last Canadian lefty on the Orioles? From MLB.com:

At 6-foot-5, 182 pounds, Seabrooke is athletic and very projectable. His fastball will sit around 90 mph but has great downward plane and should see an uptick in velocity as he fills out. He has also shown good feel for his curveball, which has the potential to be an above-average offering down the line. His changeup lags behind the other two offerings but could become average in the future as he learns to use it more.

Check out his pitching in this video: