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ORLANDO – The Orioles couldn’t beat their odds in tonight’s Draft Lottery.
Given the fourth-best chance to earn the No. 1 selection at 9.24 percent, they had to settle for receiving the seventh pick in July. The White Sox choose first, followed by the Rays, Twins, Giants, Pirates and Royals.
This will be the fourth time that the Orioles hold the seventh-overall selection and the first since taking outfielder Nick Markakis in 2003. Markakis is in their Hall of Fame and appears on the ballot this year for Cooperstown.
They’ve gotten the first pick on three occasions, selecting pitcher Ben McDonald in 1989, catcher Adley Rutschman in 2019 and infielder Jackson Holliday in 2022.
“Didn’t have a huge reaction, honestly,” said Will Robertson, the club’s vice president of domestic scouting. “I mean, it’s so out of our control. Obviously, higher is better, so would have loved to have seen a better number, but we just can control what we can control.”
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is regarded as the favorite to go one-one. It seems unlikely that he’d fall to the Orioles, who already have ramped up their process of gathering information and forming opinions.
“It’s a year-round ordeal as far as getting ourselves prepared to attack the scouting calendar, so we’ve already seen a lot of these players over the summer and previous years,” Robertson said. “After Jan. 15 I think is when we’re really going to hit the ground running and seeing some of the final spring performance leading into the draft.
“I don’t have any strong impressions about its strength relative to other years. I think that takes shape later and a lot of times the narratives can be misleading as far as strong versus weak. So I think there will be good players, they’ll be big leaguers, and we’ll try to find them.”
Robertson said the idea of having the first pick definitely crossed his mind, but he’s too focused on what he can control to raise his hopes.
“At this point we’re still going to evaluate all the players and there’s a lot to happen between now and July,” Robertson said, “so we’ll see which players end up at our pick, and surely there will be somebody we’ll be excited to take.”
Robertson is running his first draft after last month’s promotion from director of pro personnel. Matt Blood was in charge until his move to vice president of player and staff development.
“Super excited to have an opportunity,” Robertson said. “It’s really cool, right? This is a dream job. I think we’ve got a really good group around. I’m surrounded by a lot of good people with a ton of draft expertise and track records of success that will help me out.
“I think we’re gonna have a lot of fun. It’s a really fun group, a really talented group, and I’ll do my best to make sure their expertise and experience is reflected in our draft board and decisions.”
The Orioles drafted Robertson in the 30th round in 2017 out of Davidson College and he didn’t make it above Single-A in his three seasons. They claimed an outfielder with the same name on waivers last week.
“I certainly got a lot of text messages about it,” the front office Robertson said. “We’ve talked about it. Can’t ignore his presence in the baseball world, going back to college. I’ve actually received Venmo requests meant for him, so make sure those get to the right destinations.
“It’s funny, I guess. I’ll need to meet him in person and see if he’s … It’s probably on a less scale. I didn’t play in the major leagues. He probably gets less of it coming in his direction.”
* Gunnar Henderson’s selection to the World Baseball Classic creates a challenge for Team USA manager Mark DeRosa.
How to get Henderson and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in the lineup.
“Like I told Gunnar, he’s gonna play,” DeRosa said earlier today. “We did it the last time. We had Trea (Turner), we had Tim Anderson, we had Jeff McNeil. You’ve got Brice Turang at second. I know Gunnar won’t go over to second base, but there’s a way to make all these guys happy.”
Henderson will miss approximately two weeks of spring training after appearing in only three games in 2025’s camp due to an intercostal strain that forced him onto the injured list.
Appearing on MLB Network this afternoon, Henderson said it’s going to be “a true honor to play for your home country.”
“Honestly, that’s the best part is just being able to wear that jersey, the USA across the front of your chest,” he said. “I mean, that’s what you dream of.”
Dean Kremer pitched for Team Israel in 2017 and 2023 and is returning for a third stint. Reliever Rico Garcia has been named to Team Puerto Rico’s preliminary roster. They are the only confirmed Orioles in the WBC.
Kremer tossed four scoreless innings against Nicaragua in 2023. Both of his parents were born in Israel.
“I think it sets the stage for the whole roster,” said Team Israel general manager Simon Rosenbaum, the Rays’ director of baseball development. “Having someone who has established himself as a major league pitcher I think gives credibility to the rest of the team and is a huge selling point for other guys who want to play for us. Guys see somebody like Dean, they see somebody like Harrison Bader, and that makes them want not be a part of it a lot more than if it’s guys who aren’t as much as name brand as them.
“Also, I think going back to kids in Israel who can see someone who is on TV, on ESPN, pitching against the Yankees, against big teams, pitching in the playoffs. I think that’s someone who they see. Someone who speaks Hebrew, someone who goes to Israel in the offseason, is such a good ambassador for the game there, that we couldn’t be more proud to have him kind of as the base of our team.”
“I think the beauty of having him so involved is he performed on our senior national teams as a teenager,” said Jordy Alter, the delegation head for Team Israel. “So for the Israeli kids to see that, I think that’s the biggest message, to see that a guy can come through our senior national teams, make it to the top level in the world, and now perform for Team Israel in the WBC is a tremendous message for our kids.”
