The Orioles completed their 2016 draft on Saturday afternoon as they and the rest of the MLB teams burned through rounds 11-40 on the third day of the draft. This year, they were able to make 41 selections over the draft’s 40 rounds.
Most of the Orioles picks were pitchers. They drafted 14 position players and took 27 pitchers. Among the pitchers, 12 are left-handed and 15 are right-handed. For the position players, nine are infielders and five are outfielders. They did not select a catcher.
They picked 31 college players and ten high schoolers, with only three high schoolers in the first ten rounds. The others may be tougher signs. Of the college players, six came from the junior college ranks and the rest from four year schools. Ten are seniors, with one draft-eligible sophomore and the other 14 being juniors.
Recent history suggests that the Orioles will be signing a large majority of these picks. They’ve signed at least 30 players every year since 2012 when the current draft slotting system came into place.
There have only been two occasions where they failed to sign a pick in the top ten rounds, the most recent of which was last year’s second rounder, Jonathan Hughes. That gave them an extra second round pick this year. If a top ten rounds pick doesn’t sign, they lose the value of that draft slot from their draft pool.
Included in this year’s draft class are two sons of former Orioles: seventh round pick Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, and 13th round pick Brandon Bonilla, son of Bobby. The Orioles previously drafted the younger Bonilla in the 25th round two years ago.
The Orioles will have about $6.7 million they will be allowed to spend on these picks. Anyone taken from the 11th round and on can sign for up to $100,000 without counting against the bonus pool. They can exceed this amount by up to 5% without any lost draft pick penalties.
For some more information about the top three picks, take a look at my article recapping the O's draft day 1. And if you'd like to know more about the third through tenth rounders, you can read about them here.
2016 Orioles Draft Picks
Round | Player | Position | School | Hometown | Class | DOB | Height | Weight | Bats | Throws |
1 (27) | Cody Sedlock | RHP | Illinois | Sherrard, IL | Jr. | 6/19/95 | 6'4" | 205 | R | R |
2 (54) | Keegan Akin | LHP | Western Michigan | Midland, MI | Jr. | 4/1/95 | 6'0" | 200 | L | L |
2 (69) | Matthias Dietz | RHP | John A. Logan CC | Orland Park, IL | J2 | 9/20/95 | 6'5" | 220 | R | R |
3 (91) | Austin Hays | RF | Jacksonville Univ. | Port Orange, FL | Jr. | 7/5/95 | 6'1" | 210 | R | R |
4 (121) | Brenan Hanifee | RHP | Turner Ashby HS | Bridgewater, VA | HS | 5/29/98 | 6'4" | 185 | R | R |
5 (151) | Alexis Torres | SS | Colegio Angel David | Caguas, PR | HS | 12/12/97 | 6'0" | 185 | R | R |
6 (181) | Tobias Myers | RHP | Winter Haven HS | Winter Haven, FL | HS | 8/5/98 | 6'0" | 195 | R | R |
7 (211) | Preston Palmeiro | 1B | NC State | Colleyville, TX | Jr. | 1/22/95 | 6'0" | 185 | L | R |
8 (241) | Ryan Moseley | RHP | Texas Tech | Lubbock, TX | Jr. | 10/6/94 | 6'3" | 190 | R | R |
9 (271) | Lucas Humpal | RHP | Texas State | Corpus Christi, TX | Sr. | 9/5/93 | 6'4" | 195 | R | R |
10 (301) | Cody Dube | RHP | Keene State College | Windham, ME | Sr. | 10/21/94 | 6'1" | 200 | R | R |
11 (331) | Zach Muckenhirn | LHP | North Dakota | Delano, MN | Jr. | 2/27/95 | 6'1" | 185 | L | L |
12 (361) | Max Knutson | LHP | Nebraska | Arden Hills, MN | Jr. | 4/1/95 | 6'2" | 205 | L | L |
13 (391) | Brandon Bonilla | LHP | Hawaii Pacific Univ. | Sarasota, FL | Sr. | 10/21/93 | 6'4" | 215 | R | L |
14 (421) | Ruben Garcia | RHP | Eastern Florida St. Coll. | Port St. Lucie, FL | J2 | 8/2/96 | 6'4" | 190 | R | R |
15 (451) | Nick Jobst | RHP | South Carolina-Aiken | Lake In The Hills, IL | Sr. | 4/20/94 | 6'2" | 260 | R | R |
16 (481) | Willie Rios | LHP | Florida SW St. Coll. | Waterbury, CT | J2 | 2/6/96 | 5'11" | 190 | S | L |
17 (511) | Tyler Blohm | LHP | Archbishop Spalding HS | Millersville, MD | HS | 2/25/98 | 6'3" | 185 | L | L |
18 (541) | Layne Bruner | LHP | Washington State | Montesano, WA | Jr. | 9/24/94 | 6'3" | 175 | L | L |
19 (571) | Cole Billingsley | CF | Univ. of South Alabama | Cropwell, AL | Sr. | 5/29/94 | 5'10" | 185 | L | L |
20 (601) | Yelin Rodriguez | LHP | PR Baseball Academy | Arroyo, PR | HS | 11/3/98 | 6'3" | 200 | L | L |
21 (631) | Chris Clare | SS | High Point Univ. | Fort Mill, SC | Jr. | 11/24/94 | 6'2" | 175 | R | R |
22 (661) | Nick Gruener | RHP | Harvard | Miami, FL | Jr. | 5/16/95 | 6'0" | 195 | R | R |
23 (691) | Tyler Erwin | LHP | New Mexico State | Chandler, AZ | Jr. | 8/29/94 | 6'0" | 185 | L | L |
24 (721) | Zach Matson | LHP | Crowder College | Garden City, MO | J2 | 10/24/95 | 6'3" | 225 | L | L |
25 (751) | Will Toffey | 3B | Vanderbilt | Barnstable, MA | So. | 12/31/94 | 6'2" | 195 | L | R |
26 (781) | Jaime Estrada | 3B | Central Arizona College | Compton, CA | J2 | 12/15/95 | 5'10" | 170 | L | R |
27 (811) | Daniel Bakst | 3B | Poly Prep Country Day School | New York, NY | HS | 11/14/97 | 6'1" | 190 | R | R |
28 (841) | Matt De La Rosa | RHP | Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. | Austin, TX | Sr. | 11/15/93 | 6'2" | 210 | L | R |
29 (871) | Wil Dalton | CF | Summit HS | Spring Hill, TN | HS | 8/27/97 | 5'11" | 195 | R | R |
30 (901) | Garrett Copeland | 2B | Austin Peay | Bartlett, TN | Jr. | 2/22/95 | 5'11" | 190 | S | R |
31 (931) | Jake Ring | CF | Missouri | Ingleside, IL | Jr. | 8/11/94 | 5'10" | 170 | L | L |
32 (961) | Ryan Mauch | LHP | South Hills HS | Covina, CA | HS | 7/8/97 | 6'4" | 185 | L | L |
33 (991) | Markel Jones | CF | Brunswick CC | Shallotte, NC | J3 | 8/8/94 | 5'10" | 175 | S | R |
34 (1021) | Lucas Brown | RHP | Troy Univ. | Acworth, GA | Sr. | 11/11/93 | 6'0" | 185 | R | R |
35 (1051) | Tanner Kirk | 2B | Wichita State | Lincoln, NE | Sr. | 8/14/93 | 5'11" | 185 | R | R |
36 (1081) | Ben Brecht | LHP | New Trier HS | Wilmette, IL | HS | 1/7/98 | 6'7" | 200 | L | L |
37 (1111) | James Teague | RHP | Arkansas | Bartlesville, OK | Jr. | 8/29/94 | 6'0" | 195 | R | R |
38 (1141) | Collin Woody | 3B | UNC-Greensboro | Tampa, FL | Sr. | 8/5/94 | 6'1" | 210 | R | R |
39 (1171) | Seth Shuman | RHP | Valdosta HS | Valdosta, GA | HS | 12/1/97 | 6'0" | 190 | R | R |
40 (1201) | Joe Johnson | RHP | Erskine College | Greenwood, SC | Sr. | 5/24/94 | 6'3" | 175 | R | R |
It's a lot of names, and while I wish them all best of luck in their professional careers, many of these are players who will be drafted and signed because somebody has to pitch for Aberdeen and play second base for Delmarva and so on. But maybe there's an overachieving grinder in the late rounds, like 42nd round pick Brad Brach. There isn't even a 42nd round any more.
The 17th rounder, Blohm, has a scholarship waiting for him at the University of Maryland. He'll probably end up going there, with the Orioles drafting him more a way of recognizing, "Hey, you're in our back yard and we see you."
If the Orioles are lucky, this draft class will turn out like the one of 2013, where several years later a number of the later-round picks still have at least a bit of prospect potential. The college signees will probably head for Aberdeen or perhaps Delmarva, while we can guess the high school players will debut in the Gulf Coast League.