Day 2 of the draft begins later this morning and should move rapidly from rounds four to 20.

The Orioles paused late last night to admire their bounty after making seven selections.

Matt Blood, vice president of player development and domestic scouting, said he was thrilled with the level of talent that began with catchers Ike Irish and Caden Bodine and continued with shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, outfielder Slater de Brun, left-hander Joseph Dzierwa, right-hander JT Quinn and outfielder RJ Austin. Only de Brun, who committed to Vanderbilt, is a prep player.

“Just having that many picks on Day 1 gives you the ability to capitalize whenever these things happen,” Blood said. “We’re just really over the moon with the haul we were able to get today.”

(Cowser seemed most likely to jump over it, but I digress …)

Baseball America had the first four Orioles selections ranked 13th, 16th, 29th and 30th. MLB Pipeline went 11, 17, 24 and 32. The Orioles were choosing at 19, 30, 31 and 37.

“We feel like we got a bunch of players that we really like,” Blood said, “a bunch of players that we weren’t expecting to get access to.”

Irish was sidelined for a spell this year with a fractured scapula, which occurred in March. The Orioles weren’t concerned about it.

“He was hit by a pitch and wasn’t able to play for a little while, but when he came back he just kept raking,” Blood said. “When I saw him in person, I walked away thinking ‘This guy is one of the best pure hitters in the draft and he’s not going to get to us.’ I told our group ‘This guy is too good to get to us.’ And so it starts with him, with the bat and where he plays defensively.

“I think it’s exciting the versatility that he brings to the roster. He can catch one day, he could play first one day, he could play in the outfield one day. That’s a pretty valuable type of player, especially if he’s one of the best hitters on the team.”

Irish won three consecutive state championships in high school in Michigan. He slashed .364/.469/.710 with 13 doubles, two triples, 19 homers, 58 RBIs, 33 walks, 37 strikeouts and 11 steals in 12 attempts over 55 games this season at Auburn and hit .350/.435/.625 with 48 doubles, five triples, 39 homers and 167 RBIs in 160 games over his three seasons.

“Contact, power, swing decisions,” Blood said. “Just a really, really exciting hitter.”

The Orioles didn’t necessarily set out to draft two catchers right away, but here they are, with Bodine arriving from Coastal Carolina. He can hop into an organization that already boasts former top-overall pick Adley Rutschman and No. 1 prospect Samuel Basallo, who’s able to play first base if it gets too crowded.

“He’s just a very polished player,” Blood said. “He was a high-level competitive wrestler when he was in high school, and you can see that athleticism and body control and just awareness using the ground when he’s catching and he’s very good behind the plate. He’s one of the better receivers in the country. He’s a very accurate thrower. He’s just a very effective catcher.

“And then when you think about him being a switch-hitter and having really high contact rates and hitting line drives and just being a guy who’s going to be productive, you start to add all that up and think, ‘Yeah, this is a guy who’s going to be a major leaguer and has a chance to be a real impact player for the team.”

Bodine slashed .318/.454/.461 with 18 doubles, a triple, five home runs, 42 RBIs, 47 walks and 24 strikeouts in 67 games as a junior. In three seasons, he hit .337/.440/.528 with 55 doubles, two triples, 25 homers, 160 RBIs, 112 walks and 68 strikeouts.

“He’s got the combination of contact, but also being able to walk, and that’s a pretty exciting combination,” Blood said. “He’s also just a really hardworking kid who’s great with the pitchers and just really high makeup and aptitude guy.”

Dzierwa, from Michigan State, is 6 foot 8, and Quinn, from Georgia, is 6 foot 6. That’s the long and the long of it.

“Size, it’s not mandatory, but it’s usually helpful,” Blood said. “They’re both big guys. They’re both guys that our group was excited about and we were targeting and hoping we're going to get to those picks. You never know who is going to be at the top of your board when your picks come around. We get asked that question a lot – ‘When are you going to take pitchers? When are you going to take pitchers?’ Those guys were there. They were there at the top of our board when it was our turn to pick.

“We were really excited to get them. One’s a lefty with pitchability and a really good fastball and changeup. The other is a big righty with a big fastball and a full arsenal. He’s been working underneath Wes Johnson there at Georgia. He’s been a big 'stock up' guy in the second half of this season. They’re both guys our group is very excited about.”

The Orioles might be able to squeeze a little more velocity out of Dzierwa’s fastball, which sits at 90-93 mph.

“We usually have some success doing that,” Blood said.

“We feel like our pitching development group’s going to be able to help him in some ways. When you combine the size and stuff and the pitchability and then also some sort of upside for building out more of his arsenal, we feel like this was an upside play for us.”

The draft wouldn’t be complete without an aspiring musician. de Brun goes by “Lil Slayyy” and has put out country singles like "Break My Heart" and "Find me a Bar" – though he’s too young to get served in one.

“Slater is one of the more charismatic and likeable people that you’ll ever meet,” Blood said. “He’s got a lot of energy, he’s great to be around, he works really, really hard. He’s very deliberate and diligent about everything that he does, cares a lot.

“That’s a great place to start when you’re talking about an 18-year-old kid who can really run, play center field, makes a ton of contact as well, a lot of line drives, walks as well. Another one of these contact guys who also walks. We feel like all those things combined give him a pretty good chance to have some success.”

de Brun hit .370/.586/.603 with nine doubles, one triple, two home runs, 26 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in 29 games during his senior season at Summit High School in Oregon, and he played for USA Baseball’s 18U National Team.

Blood didn’t apply a scout’s 20-80 scale on the tunes.

“I have a lot of other things going on, so I wasn’t quite putting too much time into grading out his music,” Blood said, smiling, “but I do think it’s cool that he has that kind of personality.”