The Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, which begins Tuesday, does not match the glitz of those held by the NFL and the NBA.
But the stakes are just as high.
“We spend a lot of time and money on this,” said Joe Jordan, the director of scouting for the Orioles. “We started working on the 2006 draft within a week of last year?s draft.”
What guidance or direction does owner Peter Angelos give to Jordan?
Jordan, from Oklahoma, said this is what Angelos told him after he was hired in November 2004: “You are the scouting director. Take who you want. I will support you.”
Added Jordan: “He gave me full reign. That?s the same thing we are working on now.”
The Kansas City Royals have the first overall pick when the draft begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday, via a conference call in New York. The draft concludes Wednesday.
The Orioles have the ninth-overall pick. Their next pick is at 32.
Jordan said he has met more than 100 prospects in person. One of them is Jeremy Jeffress, 18, a high school pitcher from South Boston, Va. Jeffress has a fastball that has been clocked around 100 mph this spring.
Will Jeffress, from rural southern Virginia, be available when the Orioles have the ninth overall pick?
“I think there is a chance he won?t be,” Jordan said.
When does Jeffress think he will get picked? “Hopefully the top 10. I am ready to get started,” said the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, whose favorite pitcher is Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins.
Orioles director of minor league operations Dave Stockstill said he and Jordan are in constant contact with one another when it comes to the draft.
“We communicate daily,” Stockstill said. “I have seen some of the players who we are interested in drafting work out, but I don?t tell (Jordan) who to draft. My role is to let Joe know where our holes are within the system so we can draft accordingly.”
AROUND THE HORN
» Scouting director Joe Jordan said that the Orioles have scouted Jeffrey Maier, who holds the all-time hit record at D-III Wesleyan College in Connecticut. Maier interferred with a home run ball that potentially cost the Orioles a playoff win at Yankee Stadium in 1996.
» The Philadelphia Phillies optioned pitcher Gavin Floyd (Mount St. Joseph) to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre on Friday. Floyd, a Severna park native, was the fourth overall selection of the2001 amateur draft.
» The draft will have 50 rounds and ends after all 30 teams have passed on a selection or after the final selection of the 50th round, whichever comes first, according to the league. The Dodgers (7th, 26th), Nationals (15th, 22nd) and Red Sox (27th, 28th) are the only teams with more than one first-round pick.
» The Birds have taken a pitcher with their first pick in five of the last seven years.
Staff writer Ron Snyder contributed to this report.
