Kerry's Korner

THE ORIOLES' AMATEUR DRAFT HISTORY:  THE EARLY YEARS (1965-71)

It stands to reason that the 1966 World Championship Orioles would have little to show from the MLB Amateur Draft, given that the first draft had been held the previous year.  But what of the 1969-71 Orioles?  This outfit, which made it to the World Series three times in as many years, one of the best three-year clubs in big league history, was many years removed from the first draft, and might have been expected, particularly given the club's reputation for building from within, to have used the draft to add a few players of significance.  Right?  Well, not really. 

Let's look at the players that the Orioles drafted from 1965-71 who reached the big leagues.

In 1965, the inaugural draft, the Orioles took three players who made it to the bigs:  1) Frank Tepedino, who had an unremarkable big league career that spanned parts of eight seasons with the Mets, Brewers and Braves (a journeyman, based on the typology introduced in the draft introduction); 2) Bill Dillman, pressed into service by the Orioles in 1967 and then appeared in 18 games for the Expos in 1970 (cup of coffee pitcher); and 3) Charlie Sands, who appeared in a total of 93 games over parts of six seasons with the Mets, Pirates, Angels and A's (cup of coffee).

In 1966, the Orioles drafted one player who reached the big leagues:  Terry Crowley.  Crowley had a career that spanned parts of 15 major league seasons, but he never had as many as 250 at-bats in a single season, and only reached 100 at-bats six times.  At times Crowley was a contributing player, but overall, he'd best be classified as a journeyman.  Crowley did, however, play a contributing role in one of the aforementioned Oriole "dynasty" teams (1970).

The Orioles had their best draft to date--and one of the best in the club's history--in 1967, choosing six players who reached the big leagues, including a couple of bonafide stars in Bobby Grich and Don Baylor.  They also added journeyman catcher Johnny Oates, journeyman relief pitcher John Montague and cup of coffee pitchers Mike Adamson and David Johnson.  Grich and Baylor were the real players of significance, but neither one made an impact until the 1972 season.

The Orioles seemingly struck gold again in the 1968 draft, selecting six players who reached the big leagues.  Most, however, were only bit performers.  The jewel of that draft for the Orioles was clearly Al Bumby, who appeared in nearly 1500 games over parts of 15 years, and plainly falls into the "starting position player" category in our typology.  The remaining group was pretty weak, starting with journeyman Junior Kennedy, who had a career as a utility infielder that spanned parts of seven seasons and nearly 450 games; Jesse Jefferson, a journeyman pitcher, who had enough stuff to stick around for parts of nine big league seasons and throw almost 1100 innings; journeyman pitcher Tom Walker; cup of coffee utility man Ron Dunn; and the mysterious Rich Coggins, who completely fell apart as a ballplayer after two promising seasons with the Orioles (1973-74).  We'll put Coggins in the "journeyman" category, because two starting seasons do not a starting career make.

Three future big league players were selected by the Orioles in the 1969 draft--Wayne Garland, a "contributing pitcher," might have been a start if injuries hadn't essentially ruined his career; Dave Skaggs, a journeyman reserve catcher; and Don Hood, who we'll generously call a contributing pitcher who kicked around in the bigs for ten years with five different teams.

Six more players selected by the Orioles in the 1970 draft reached the majors, the most compelling of whom was Doug DeCinces, who went on to a fine career with the Orioles and Angels.  We'll put DeCinces in the starting position player category, just narrowly missing "star" status.  The rest was pretty forgettable:  cup of coffee outfielder Mike Reinbach, cup of coffee first baseman Jim Fuller, cup of coffee pitcher Herb Hutson, cup of coffee utility man Tim Nordbrook and journeyman second baseman Rob Andrews.

The final draft for this part of our study, 1971, was pretty quiet for the Orioles.  Only three '71 Baltimore draftees reached the big leagues, the most compelling of whom was infielder Kiko Garcia.  Garcia played parts of 10 series, but was only a starter for two of them, so he falls into the journeyman category.  Additionally, the Birds drafted journeyman pitcher Paul Mitchell and cup of coffee pitcher Randy Stein.

The first seven years of Oriole drafting, then, were pretty equivocal.  The team did draft 28 players--an average of four per year--who went on to reach the big leagues, but the 22 of these players were pretty forgettable.  That leaves six of significance:  four position players (Grich, Baylor, Bumbry and DeCinces) and two pitchers (Garland and Hood).  That's not terrible, but it's not exactly overwhelming either.  What's more, only one player (Terry Crowley) had any role of significance with any of the great Oriole clubs of 1969-71...and that role was of the off-the-bench variety.  

Would things get better or worse for the duration of the 1970's?  Check back soon for the next segment.

Next:  1972-79:  Peaks and Valleys

Previous Segment:  THE ORIOLES' AMATEUR DRAFT HISTORY:  AN INTRODUCTION