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The Baltimore Orioles shocked the baseball world with a very early trade with the Rays.<\/p>\n
The O’s sent reliever Bryan Baker to Tampa in exchange for the #37 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft which now gives\u00a0Baltimore the highest bonus pool in this year’s draft.<\/p>\n
Now that the Orioles have made their first round picks, we understand a bit more about their thinking behind the trade.<\/p>\n
Heading into the draft, the rumor mill was saying that\u00a0Baltimore was looking at college power bats\u00a0with their early picks.<\/p>\n
That makes sense given the Orioles’ draft history under Mike Elias despite the organization’s very, very obvious need for more pitching depth.<\/p>\n
After taking catcher Caden Bodine and slugging shortstop Wehiwa Aloy with their first two picks in the comp round after the first round, Baltimore finalized their trade with the Rays by picking high school outfielder Slater de Brun.<\/p>\n
In terms of pure helium, de Brun has done more to improve his stock that any other prep player this season.<\/p>\n
While not a masher, de Brun’s hit tool is well beyond his years and he can really, really run.<\/p>\n
There is also little doubt that he will stay in center field and likely be a plus defender out there thanks to his speed and arm.<\/p>\n
With that, the Orioles’ plans for their newly bolstered $19,144,500 draft bonus pool is now clear.<\/p>\n
While getting to this point did require giving up an arm that had been productive for them, getting this kind of return for a 30-year-old reliever with a mediocre track record who collapsed in his first appearance with the Rays should feel pretty good for Baltimore fans especially when you look at their ability to add Bodine and Aloy with that bonus pool as well.<\/p>\n
Now comes the hard part: actually developing these guys into big leaguers.<\/p>\n
As the Orioles are finding out right now, just because a prospect is highly ranked doesn’t mean that making it to and playing in the majors is going to be easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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