Orioles Leave Many Perplexed With Day 1 MLB Draft Strategy

The Baltimore Orioles were a team that many people were keeping a close eye on heading into the 2025 MLB draft.

Under general manager Mike Elias, the team has had a consistent strategy throughout the draft that has yielded rather positive results.

Early on, they target positional players with upside, building through their lineup. Later on, they would target pitching, looking to develop some arms who could fill out the rotation even if they didn’t have star potential.

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Given the current state of the franchise, many wondered whether or not that strategy would change.

A big reason the Orioles have struggled to break through despite an overwhelming amount of young talent in their lineup is a lack of pitching, specifically in their starting rotation.

Alas, that pressing need wasn’t enough for Elias and company to alter their strategy too much, as their first two picks of the 2025 MLB draft were positional players.

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That wasn’t the surprising part.

What shocked many people is that Baltimore opted to use both the No. 19 and No. 30 overall picks on collegiate catchers; Ike Irish out of Auburn University and Caden Bodine out of Coastal Carolina University.

“It's certainly a bit odd that the Orioles took two college catchers with their first two picks after taking another one (Ethan Anderson) in the second round last year. Obviously, teams don't draft for big league need -- the O's already have Adley Rutschman -- and they need at least two catchers at all four full-season minor league affiliates, it's just odd to see them invest in this position early multiple times,” wrote Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, listing them amongst his biggest eye-openers on Day 1.

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Baltimore had two more first-round picks, No. 31 and No. 37, with which they selected Wehiwa Aloy out of the University of Arkansas and outfielder Slater de Brun out of Summit High School in Bend, Oregon.

The 37th overall pick was recently acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade in exchange for relief pitcher Bryan Baker.

Later on in Day 1, they did address their need for pitching, using both of their selections on the mound.

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“And after all of the position players they have drafted under Mike Elias, they did sneak in two arms on Day 1 with Joseph Dzierwa (a command-forward lefty) and J.T. Quinn (one of my favorite college relievers with the traits to start in pro ball),” McDaniel added.

It will be interesting to see how those selections pan out down the road, with this being a golden opportunity for the Orioles to add high-upside talent to a farm system that was amongst the best in baseball not too long ago.

For more Orioles news, head over to Orioles On SI.