Baltimore Orioles: Top Ten First Round Draft Busts
By Nick Stevens
The Baltimore Orioles whiffed hard in the 1999 MLB draft.
RHP Matt Townsend
The top of the 2004 MLB draft was dominated by Rice University pitchers, with three being selected within the first eight picks. Philip Humber went third overall to the New York Mets, Jeff Niemann went fourth overall to Tampa Bay, and Townsend went eighth to the Orioles.
Townsend ended up not signing with Baltimore, returning to Rice for one season before being taken again with the eighth pick in the 2005 draft (Tampa Bay). The Orioles didn’t miss much. Townsend went 7-21 with a 5.58 ERA in 64 minor league appearances. He managed only a brief stint in Double-A, posting a 7.66 ERA and walking just as many hitters (17) as he struck out in 22 innings.
RHP Adam Loewen
Baltimore has had the fourth overall pick six times in draft history, finding moderate success with their most common draft position. Players chosen with this pick include Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman, Brian Matusz, Jeffrey Hammonds, Greg Olson, and Adam Loewen.
Some may label Matusz as a draft bust and while he didn’t live up to the hype as a starting pitcher, he did find a few seasons of success in the Orioles bullpen. Loewen, on the other hand, made 29 starts with the Orioles (36 total appearances), going 8-8 with a 5.38 ERA and a 134/106 K/BB ratio in 164 innings.
Loewen would bounce around between five different organizations (two stints with the Blue Jays and Rangers) over the next ten years, making just 28 more major league appearances. He was last released by the Rangers in May of 2018.
Six of the seven first rounds in 1999
It’s hard to imagine any organization whiffing on a draft class when you have seven picks within the top 50, but leave it up to the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles selected RHP Mike Paradis (13th), LHP Rich Stahl (18th), OF Larry Bigbie (21st), and OF Keith Reed (23rd) in the first round, with LHP’s Keith Reed and Josh Cenate joining the organization by way of first-round supplemental picks.
Bigbie accumulated 2.5 bWAR across his pro career, playing in 352 games with the Orioles and posting a .335 OBP. Reed was the only other one of these picks to reach the major leagues with the Orioles, seeing just five at-bats in his career. The rest struggled their way through the minor leagues before leaving baseball.
The Orioles did hit on one of their picks, the last one. A guy named Brian Roberts came in to save the day, continuing to provide Orioles fans with quality entertainment during Orioles broadcasts on MASN.