masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles are poised to begin announcing a batch of international signings today as they move into a new era for the organization and try to gain ground on teams that have been doing this for a lot longer.
The spectators are becoming serious participants.
You won’t recognize them.
The total impact won’t be felt overnight, but the July 2 market opening signals a brand new philosophy that actually had been revealed during last summer’s trade deadline activity under…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles are poised to begin announcing a batch of international signings today as they move into a new era for the organization and try to gain ground on teams that have been doing this for a lot longer.

The spectators are becoming serious participants.

You won’t recognize them.

The total impact won’t be felt overnight, but the July 2 market opening signals a brand new philosophy that actually had been revealed during last summer’s trade deadline activity under former executive Dan Duquette.

The implementation, however, is really taking hold with ownership approval for executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias to recruit talent and make the necessary hires to remove or at least hack away at the competitive disadvantage, most importantly senior director of international scouting Koby Perez.

“Most of the prep work happens before July 2,” Elias said during the press conference to introduce second-round pick Gunnar Henderson. “We all know that. But we still have to get the kids signed, physicals, get their visas processed and it’s a lot of work, and our people have been doing that behind the scenes.

“I just think it’s going to be a very fun day for this organization to have an infusion of Dominican and Venezuelan and even guys from the Bahamas, there’s going to be a lot of international talent coming in and it’s going to be inspiring.

“We’re playing catch up a little bit, but we’ll get caught up.”

Today marks the first opportunity for teams to sign 16-year-old players from countries that are excluded from the amateur draft. The Orioles are holding $6.48 million with the reset.

Perez told MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski last month that the Orioles “should be in line to sign over 30 players.”

“What we try to do (this signing period) is focus on some late bloomers. Some pitchers,” Perez said. “We’re trying to get kids so young, sometimes the pitchers come on a little bit later. We were able to look at pitchers to help us put together the best class. You’ll see a lot of pitchers being signed on July 2.

“I think we were fortunate to find some talent that I think was passed over a bit at earlier ages. Pitching is where it happens a lot that kids start coming on later. Not every kid at 14 years old can throw 88, 89 mph. But you know, when you wait a little longer now they start coming on and I think that’s what we needed to take advantage of this period.”

The Orioles haven’t been able to sign a player out of Venezuela who made the majors with them. They had a shot with left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, but traded him to the Red Sox for reliever Andrew Miller.

The new regime is going to keep trying.

Scott-Tanner-Delivers-at-White-Sox-Gray-Sidebar.jpg* The move didn’t get much attention because it was announced after Sunday’s game and the focus already had shifted to the All-Star selections and snubs, but the Orioles optioned left-hander Tanner Scott after an impressive outing that manager Brandon Hyde highlighted without prodding in the media session.

Scott struck out four batters in two scoreless innings Saturday afternoon to leave on a high note. The Orioles again saw the upper-90s fastball and nasty slider that they think could make him a formidable backend reliever. If only there was consistency.

“He threw great,” Hyde said yesterday. “Threw two really good innings and he’ll be back soon. We have some days to play with. It’s kind of a funky schedule obviously with the next couple of weeks and the All-Star break, so we had to readjust a bunch of things, but Tanner will be back with us sometime shortly.”

Branden Kline joined Scott after last night’s game, when he surrendered the decisive three-run homer to Kevin Kiermaier.

* Why would the Orioles trade for pitcher Asher Wojciechowski after releasing him last summer from Norfolk’s roster?

Elias knows Wojciechowski pretty well, since the Astros traded for him in 2012. His major league debut came three years later.

Also, the Orioles are really scouring the market for pitchers to improve the depth at the upper levels of their system.

The Tides lost a starter with Tom Eshelman’s promotion to the Orioles and Wojciechowski could have filled that spot, except he’s needed tonight at Tropicana Field.

Wojciechowski will be the 46th player used by the Orioles this season. A corresponding 40-man move is coming.

* Eshelman recognized the difference between major and minor league hitters as he worked five innings last night.

“You’ve got to be locked in on every pitch,” he said. “These are big league hitters. They can spoil a good pitch like these. Just being locked in, understanding what you’re doing to set up the next pitch going forward.

“It’s a good ballclub over there. You have to have an understanding of what you need to do and what pitch you need to do in each situation.”

They weren’t all strangers to him. Eshelman faced Rays two-way player Brendan McKay in 2015 in the NCAA Super Regionals in Louisville. McKay hit a home run.

Making his offensive debut last night, McKay was hitless in two at-bats against Eshelman and 0-for-4 for the game.

“It was interesting,” Eshelman said. “To see him on the other side was kind of funny. I knew what not to throw him because he hit a homer off me in that game, but congrats to him. To be able to do it two ways in the big leagues is pretty awesome. It was definitely a weird feeling facing him in a big league uniform, but it was fun.”

* Eshelman joins Koji Uehara (2009) and Anthony Telford (1990) as the only Orioles pitchers to go at least five innings in their major league debut without recording a strikeout. Eshelman is the first pitcher to allow two runs or fewer in his debut and work at least five innings since Mike Wright on May 17, 2015 against the Angels and the first on the road since Zack Britton on April 3, 2011 versus the Rays.

* Catcher Adley Rutschman, the first overall pick and instantly the top prospect in the system, is working out with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League team and impressing everyone who sees him.

One person in the organization lauded Rutschman for being a high-energy guy, for crushing baseballs and for looking so good behind the plate while catching bullpen sessions. Basically the total package.

Rutschman eventually will report to short-season Single-A Aberdeen.