This week I’m joined by Lance Brozdowski, Player Development Analyst for the Marquee Sports Network — which is pretty much the coolest job title in all of baseball as far as I’m concerned.
Roger...the Orioles have been ranked the #1 farm system by Keith Law. How long did it take them to become an elite farm system? I don't recall them ranking so high in the past although I could certainly be wrong.
I want to say up front that I personally don't approve of extreme tanking efforts which I feel lack both creativity and character, and that the Orioles essentially perpetrated a fraud on MLB over the 2017-21 seasons. That said, you can't help but be impressed with what they did with the opportunities they've created. It's one thing to keep hitting on 1-1 picks, but the Orioles have absolutely dominated the draft for several years running deep into their mid-round picks and the international market is starting to explode as well. This year Baseball America ranked Jackson Holliday the #1 prospect in baseball (along with everyone else), making Holliday the 3rd different Orioles prospect to be #1 overall in the lsat 3 years (following Adley Rutschmann and Gunnar Henderson). For perspective, in BA's history of Top 100 rankings (which goes back to the day's when Ken Griffey was coming up) there has never been a franchise posting even TWO consecutive #1 overall prospects before this run of three for the Orioles. It's pretty amazing! Not sure about Law's history, but for BA this is back to back years as #1 farm system for Baltimore. Before that they were #4 in 2022, #7 in 2021, and #12 in 2020
Wow. That's incredible. I wonder what their secret is for so consistently identifying talent. And it seems like they have moved their farm system as a whole up dramatically in the last four or so years. Did they hire new scouts or a farm system staff?
The top OPs people came over from Astros about five years ago (right after cheating scandal). So they’re heavily model based when it comes to scouting, less scouting staff. I assume the PD has all been turned over but not really sure where folks have come from
They are a fascinating story. The speed of their system's turn around while doing the hardest the thing a front office is asked to do in sports - correctly identify, acquire and develop young talent- is really really impressive.
Roger...the Orioles have been ranked the #1 farm system by Keith Law. How long did it take them to become an elite farm system? I don't recall them ranking so high in the past although I could certainly be wrong.
I want to say up front that I personally don't approve of extreme tanking efforts which I feel lack both creativity and character, and that the Orioles essentially perpetrated a fraud on MLB over the 2017-21 seasons. That said, you can't help but be impressed with what they did with the opportunities they've created. It's one thing to keep hitting on 1-1 picks, but the Orioles have absolutely dominated the draft for several years running deep into their mid-round picks and the international market is starting to explode as well. This year Baseball America ranked Jackson Holliday the #1 prospect in baseball (along with everyone else), making Holliday the 3rd different Orioles prospect to be #1 overall in the lsat 3 years (following Adley Rutschmann and Gunnar Henderson). For perspective, in BA's history of Top 100 rankings (which goes back to the day's when Ken Griffey was coming up) there has never been a franchise posting even TWO consecutive #1 overall prospects before this run of three for the Orioles. It's pretty amazing! Not sure about Law's history, but for BA this is back to back years as #1 farm system for Baltimore. Before that they were #4 in 2022, #7 in 2021, and #12 in 2020
Wow. That's incredible. I wonder what their secret is for so consistently identifying talent. And it seems like they have moved their farm system as a whole up dramatically in the last four or so years. Did they hire new scouts or a farm system staff?
The top OPs people came over from Astros about five years ago (right after cheating scandal). So they’re heavily model based when it comes to scouting, less scouting staff. I assume the PD has all been turned over but not really sure where folks have come from
Thank you for this.
They are a fascinating story. The speed of their system's turn around while doing the hardest the thing a front office is asked to do in sports - correctly identify, acquire and develop young talent- is really really impressive.