Jimmy Carter. Danny DeVito. Larry Linville. James Brown. James Taylor. To most people, an ex-President, the co-star of “Taxi,” the co-star of “M*A*S*H,” the Godfather of Soul and Sweet Baby James. To the Orioles, however, these names mean something else.
Give up? They were all Oriole draft picks in the very first amateur draft in 1965, and obviously, none of those “the name’s the same” kids ever wore a Baltimore uniform. Let’s just say that Baltimore’s first foray into a draft was something less than successful. The Orioles drafted 70 players that June and only one ? sixth-round pick Bill Dillman, a pitcher out of Wake Forest ? made it to the majors with Baltimore, going 5-9 in 1967.
For sure, there were other Oriole picks that didn’t sign and later were drafted and signed by other clubs ? most notably a 48th-round pick out of the University of New Hampshire by the name of Carlton Fisk ? but it seems like they generally wasted their time that year.
Scouting has improved greatly over the years, though mistakes are still made on draft day. In 1991, the club drafted USC outfielder Mark Smith three picks ahead of Cleveland drafting Manny Ramirez. Smith’s major league highlight was playing in Cal Ripken’s 2,131st consecutive game in 1995. Smith celebrated by immediately selling his uniform from the game to a collector.
The following year, the Orioles were sure they’d grabbed a blue chipper in Stanford outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds. He turned out to be quite injury-prone, unlike the player the Yankees drafted two picks later, a high school shortstop named Derek Jeter. Remember first-round picks like Alvie Shepherd and Rick Elder? Don’t worry about it if you don’t.
In 1999, the Orioles had seven picks out of the first 50 players selected and came away with Mike Paradis, Rick Stahl, Larry Bigbie, Keith Reed, Josh Cenate, Scott Rice and Brian Roberts. B-Rob was the 50th player taken and has clearly justified his selection. Bigbie made the majors but has never been more than a spare outfielder. The others simply became minor league fodder.
There’s no doubt that on the day all of these players were drafted, it seemed like a good idea. I’m sure there were congratulations all around. It’s extremely difficult to project an amateur player’s future, since the skill sets required to play in the big leagues are well beyond the high school or college level. You can’t predict injury either.
Today?s draft promises to be different, if for no other reason than you’ll be able to watch the first round on TV. As opposed to the other pro drafts ? where there’s a good chance you’ve actually seen some of the players perform during their college careers ? most of the names you hear will be almost complete unknowns. It looks like a good year for left-handed pitching, and these are some names to listen for: Vanderbilt’s David Price (expected to go with the first pick to Tampa Bay), Missouri State’s Ross Detwiler, Clemson’s Daniel Moskos and Maryland’s Brett Cecil. The Orioles have the fifth overall pick in the first round, though they may be leaning toward a position player this year.
Don’t look for Mel Kiper on TV today, though his coiffure may be on loan to someone.
Contact Phil Wood at [email protected].
