Baltimore Orioles to go above and beyond in draft prep

Major League Baseball may be having a shorter draft this year, but the Baltimore Orioles are not leaving anything to chance.

The Baltimore Orioles are in a rough spot. They simply do not have the talent to contend, either this season or any time in the near future. Meanwhile, their farm system is not necessarily as barren as the Sahara, but it isn’t much better. General manager Mike Elias still has plenty of work to do.

Naturally, a portion of that work will have to come in the MLB Draft. Although the draft will be shorter this year, Elias is not taking anything for granted, as he and the Orioles are preparing as though the draft will be 40 rounds as per norm.

This added work makes a great deal of sense. The Orioles certainly need to find more top end talent for the organization, and some excellent values could fall out of the draft due to teams having fewer draft picks. Baltimore, depending on how deep their draft board is, could be right there to land some of those top free agents.

The Orioles plan to prepare as though the draft will be the normal length may not be outside the box. Other teams could have the same strategy, also banking on being amongst the first to attempt to woo those surprisingly talented free agents. After all, every team wants to be able to stock up on the best talent they can.

For Baltimore, however, this is a prime opportunity. In one fell swoop, they could load up on players they otherwise would not have been able to acquire, those mid draft prospects that would have been selected. Now, instead of trading for those players, they could potentially land their services for a financial layout.

The Baltimore Orioles are preparing as though the MLB Draft will be 40 rounds. That preparation could pay off when the shortened draft comes to an end.