Call to the pen
Fansided

Baltimore Orioles: Top Ten First Round Draft Busts

By Nick Stevens

Adam Loewen of the Baltimore Orioles pitching during regular season MLB game against New York Mets, played at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York on Sunday, June 18, 2006. The Mets defeated the Orioles 9-4 during interleague play. (Photo by Bryan Yablonsky/Getty Images)
Adam Loewen of the Baltimore Orioles pitching during regular season MLB game against New York Mets, played at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York on Sunday, June 18, 2006. The Mets defeated the Orioles 9-4 during interleague play. (Photo by Bryan Yablonsky/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Baltimore Orioles
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

OF Josh Hart

Selected 37th overall in the 2013 draft out of Parkview High School in Georgia, Hart spent five seasons in the Orioles organization but failed to make it past High-A. Appearing in only 366 games, Hart owned a career .243/.292/.606 batting line and swiped 67 bases at a 69% success rate.

Hart appeared as high as fifth on MLB Pipeline’s list of Top 30 Orioles prospects (2014). His Pipeline scouting report noted that his “speed and athleticism make him a potential top-of-the-order catalyst.” By 2015, Hart dropped to 24th on this list before falling out of the Top 30 in 2016 and out of baseball after the 2017 season.

RHP Matt Hobgood

Orioles fans are well aware of the story of Matt Hobgood and just mentioning the name still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many. Baltimore selected Hobgood with the 5th overall pick in the 2009 draft, the same draft that saw Mike Trout go 25th overall.

He’s the highest selected Orioles draft pick to not make the major leagues and is widely considered the biggest draft bust in franchise history. Drafted out of Norco High School in California, Hobgood remained in the organization for seven years, reaching as high as Double-A and posting a career 17-24 record, 4.98 ERA, and 1.48 WHIP.

After missing 2012 with a torn rotator cuff, Hobgood tried his luck in the bullpen, but wasn’t able to find much success there either. At 6’4” and 225 pounds with a mid-90s fastball and impressive slider, Hobgood had the makings of an effective major league reliever, but just wasn’t able to put it all together.

3B Billy Rowell

This one hurts almost as much as the Hobgood pick in 2009. With the ninth overall pick in the 2006 draft, the Orioles selected Rowell out of the New Jersey high school ranks. The San Francisco Giants followed by selecting RHP Tim Lincecum with the 10th overall pick and Arizona took RHP Max Scherzer with the 11th overall pick.

Lincecum had two Cy Young Awards by the end of the 2009 season, won 110 games in 10 seasons, and led the league in strikeouts three times. Scherzer has finished within the top five of Cy Young voting in each of the last seven seasons, winning three times, and still has a few more years of dominance left in the tank.

Rowell was a Top 50 prospect at one point but never advanced past Double-A ball, hitting .261 across 550 minor league games.

Home/Baltimore Orioles