When the Orioles’ front office featuring Houston Astros imports Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal took over in 2019, they inherited a farm system that had invested significant draft capital, especially in early rounds, on pitching to help reshape the future of the organization.
That, Elias said, allowed the team to focus more on hitters in the first few drafts on their watch. It could be difficult to do that again in 2021.
The Orioles have the fifth overall pick in Sunday’s MLB draft, and with the rise of several talented high school shortstops this spring, could find themselves with the opportunity to choose one of two pitchers who at the beginning of this spring season were almost assured to have been among the top few picks in the draft: Vanderbilt’s Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.