The 2000 Orioles draft was dreadful, as we pointed in the last installment of this series.  The Orioles headed into the 2001 edition of Major League Baseball's amateur draft with three of the first 31 picks, two of them legitimate first rounders (selections seven and 19) and one high supplemental choice (#31).  But, once again, the club found itself without a coveted top four choice.

How does the 2001 draft look 3 1/2 seasons later?

Not very good, unfortunately.  A certain assessment is still a few years away, but at present only one player selected by the Orioles in 2001 appears to have a solid chance to be a contributing player at the big league level.  Furthermore, unlike 2000, the 2001 draft looks like quite a deep one.  16 of the 44 first round choices (this includes supplemental selections, obviously), had reached the big leagues by the end of the 2004 season.  Seven others had reached the AAA level.

The 2001 Orioles Draft
Here's who the Orioles selected in June of 2001:

2001 Baltimore Orioles Amateur Draft

(Note:  The Orioles didn't have a pick in the 2nd round of the 2001 draft and evidently chose not to select players after the 48th round.)

No one has made the big leagues from this draft, but that in and of itself isn't necessarily an indictment.  The problem is that there aren't many players who appear likely to ever receive a real shot at a significant big league job.  There will likely be a few other players drafted by the Orioles in 2001 who will reach the major leagues, but no one else on this list is currently displaying a career path that projects likely "regular" status at the big league level.  Mike Fontenot is the only player drafted by the Orioles in 2001 to move beyond AA and none of the other five players to reach the AA level have performed well enough there to warrant moving up.

The First Round
For reasons expressed in the first installment of this series, the central focus of each draft analysis will be on the first round.  Before we take a close look at each of the Orioles' first round selections, it will be instructive, for reference purposes, to take a look at the entire first round.

2001 MLB Amateur Draft, First Round

This is a pretty potent first round.  16 of the 44 players drafted have already made it to the big leagues and another seven have reached the AAA level and are poised to make their big league debuts.  Further, some players drafted in the 2001 first round are budding stars; Mark Prior, Joe Mauer, Mark Texeira, Dewon Brazleton, Bobby Crosby, David Wright...all these players have all either firmly established themselves as big league contributors or shown enough at the big league level to encourage fans of their clubs that they will do so presently.

Orioles First Round
The three first round picks that the Orioles had in 2001 stack up this way.

Chris Smith, the #7 selection overall, was drafted as a pitcher and, in fact, left Florida State to play NAIA baseball at Cumberland because he wanted to focus on pitching while FSU wanted him to play the field.  Smith has had a terrible time trying to stay healthy.  He pitched a total of 13.1 innings over four games at half-season Aberdeen last year after sitting out all of 2003 while recovering from arm problems.  In fact, since signing with the Orioles in 2001, Smith has pitched a grand total of 26.1 innings in 11 games over parts of four pro seasons (again, noting that he didn't play at all in 2003).  It's really hard to assess where Smith might go, but this track record of injury and inactivity make him a very long shot ever to amount to anything as a big leaguer.  Perhaps he'll rise like the proverbial phoenix, but in all likelihood this choice will prove to be a total washout, much like Josh Cenate in 1999.

Mike Fontenot (#19 overall) is the one "success story" to emerge from this draft for the Orioles.  After a breakthrough season at AA Bowie in 2003, Fontenot, a second baseman, followed up with a workmanlike full season at AAA Ottawa in 2004.  While the Orioles would undoubtedly like to see Fontenot raise every aspect (average, on-base, power) of his offensive game a notch, his 2004 performance wasn't so weak in any area to write him off.  In fact, a one-notch across the board improvement by Fontenot would make him a very attractive ballplayer.  Were it not for the fact that the Orioles already had an embarrassment of riches (okay, that's a gross exaggeration, but you get the idea) at second base in Brian Roberts and Jerry Hairston, Fontenot might well have been given a shot at the Orioles' second base spot entering the 2004 season and almost certainly would be being groomed as the club's second baseman of the near future.  Regardless, Fontenot will reach the big leagues and will very likely be given a chance to start somewhere.  Whether he succeeds as a "regular" at the big league level remains to be seen.

Bryan Bass, a middle infielder and supplemental choice selected with the 31st pick of the 2001 draft, has been a complete bust.  Still mired at Delmarva (low A) in his fourth pro season, Bass has yet to show that he's worthy of a promotion to high-A Frederick, to say nothing of any higher level of play.  Bass simply hasn't shown that he has a legitimate prospect's bat; he has yet to hit .240 in a full season league (he's had three tries), has minimal power and strikes out a ton.  It's unlikely that he'll ever reach the major leagues, let alone become a player of substance in the show.

Players of Note from Later Rounds
There's not much to get excited about here.  Third round pick Dave Crouthers had a less than overwhelming season in his first full crack at AA ball.  Crouthers was touched for 134 hits (including a worrisome 23 home runs) and 68 walks in just under 140 innings at Bowie in 2004, while sporting a 5.03 ERA.  He did fan 138 batters, however, so there may still be hope.  Unfortunately, Crouthers' performance grew steadily worse as the 2004 season moved along.  2005 is shaping up as the year whether Crouthers will continue to be regarded as a prospect worth following or not.  He has performed decently as a pro but has yet to have a single season that would cause the eyes to widen.

Eli Whiteside, a catcher and the club's sixth round selection, showed enough power at AA Bowie last season to indicate that he may have a big league career as a backup.  There's nothing to indicate that he's starting material.

Woody Cliffords, the sixth round choice, bombed so badly in a month-plus at Bowie that he was shipped back to Frederick where he performed decently but unremarkably.  His window of opportunity may be closed.

13th round choice, right-hander Richard Salazar, actually made it as high as Bowie in 2002 but was dropped from the organization after last season.

Pitcher Cory Morris, the 15th round selection, lasted a bit more than two months at Bowie and was miserable, so he was demoted to Frederick where he was beyond miserable.

No one else from the 2001 draft has made it to the AA-level as yet.

Rommie Lewis, the fourth round pick in 2001, just wrapped up a dreadful season at high-A Frederick.

James Johnson, the fifth round choice, pitched well enough at low-A Delmarva to merit a look at Frederick next season, but after signing with the Orioles in 2001 it took three years before Johnson spent any time at a full-season league.

Most of the remaining players selected by the Orioles in 2001 aren't presently members of the organization and the few that are--Joe Coppinger, Dustin Yount, Chris Britton, Cory Keylor, James Tiller, Trevor Caughey, Josh Potter, etc.--haven't shown much worth getting excited about.  None are likely to begin the 2005 season above A-ball and some may be sent packing.

2001 Draft Assessment
In a word, awful.  By any evaluation, this was almost certainly DeMacio and crew's worst draft to this point.  While the Orioles didn't have any great picks, they didn't make all that much out of what they did have.  At this point, about all they can point to from this draft is Fontenot, a guy who appears to have a chance to be a decent big league player--at the one position at which the Orioles don't need immediate organizational depth.  Smith is looking like another complete bust of a first choice (Mike Paradis and Beau Hale were DeMacio's first two top draft picks), as is Bass.  There's almost nothing worth keeping an eye on in succeeding rounds either (with the possible, vague exception of Crouthers).

It's one thing to wash out in a weak draft, but 2001, as I stated earlier, was hardly that.  11 players chosen in the first round after Smith was selected seventh have already reached the big leagues and several (Bobby Crosby, Jeremy Bonderman, David Wright) have made an impact at the big league level.

At some point, if you're to succeed in the role of scouting director, you have to exceed the "league average" in evaluating talent.  Through his first three years--based exclusively on work with the draft; we'll address the role of players not susceptible to the draft down the road, in evaluative remarks that will close this series of articles--I'd conclude that DeMacio's track record was below that of what could/should minimally be expected given league average results.  We'll see whether that assessment changes in the succeeding installments of this series which will examine the final three of DeMacio's six drafts.

Next:  Part III:  The 2002 Draft - Any Improvement?

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DeMacio & The Draft Part III - 2000:  Going Nowhere Fast
DeMacio & The Draft Part II - 1999:  A Golden Opportunity Missed?
DeMacio & The Draft:  Part I - Addendum: Breaking Down the First Round
DeMacio & The Draft:  Part I - Why the Top Rounds of the Draft Are the Key

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