Where Are They Now?: The 1997 Oriole Draftees

I haven't done one of these in awhile so since there's an off-day, let's depress ourselves, shall we? Another Pat Gillick draft so brace yourselves...


Jayson Werth - C - High School - 1st Round

Werth is now in the Phillies organization and up until this point hasn't distinguished himself as anything more than a backup player at the major league level (he is a backup outfielder for Philadelphia now) but the O's traded him away for even less value than that. He was traded to Toronto in 2000 for P John Bale. Remember him? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. He pitched in 14 games in relief for Baltimore in 2001 and the O's miraculously were able to trade this marginal journeyman pitcher for Gary Matthews Jr. the next offseason. Matthews spent a year and a half with Baltimore before being released. The Orioles would've been better off just keeping Werth ultimately.


Darnell McDonald - OF - High School - 1st Round

McDonald spent 7 long years in the Baltimore organization and finally got a cup of coffee in 2004. He is now in the Minnesota organization. He has hit .269 and OPS'd .721 in 10 minor league seasons.


Ntema Ndungi - OF - High School - 1st Round

Ndungi rose as high as AA Bowie in 2001. Never hit much. Out of baseball.


Sean Douglass - P - High School - 2nd Round

Played bits of three seasons for the O's from 2001-2003 with an ERA over 6.00. Out of baseball.

Matt Riley - P - High School - 3rd Round

"He's got a million dollar arm and a five-cent head." They were referring to Nuke LaLoosh but they may as well have been talking about Riley. Injuries didn't help his development either. He was traded to Texas for RP Gabe White who was way past being an effective relief pitcher by then. Riley is pitching in relief for AAA Las Vegas.


Shannon Carter - OF - High School - 4th Round

Made it as high as AAA but never learned to hit above A ball. Out of baseball.


Rick Bauer - P - Treasure Valley Community College - 5th Round

Rick had some success as a reliever for Baltimore for a few seasons. He was 11-14 with a 4.34 ERA over 6 major league seasons. He's now reunited with Matt Riley pitching out of the pen in Las Vegas.


Baleb Balbeuna - P - Long Beach State University - 6th Round

Did not sign. Wasted pick. Drafted and signed the next year by Seattle. Out of baseball.


Ricky Casteel - P - Northeast Texas Community College - 7th Round

Casteel went 10-20 with a 4.22 ERA over 3 minor league seasons. Never rose above low A ball.


Jay Spurgeon - P - High School - 8th Round

Got a cup of coffee in 2000. Out of baseball.


Top Ten Draft Pick Stats

Number that are\were regular contributors for the O's: 1
Number still in the organization: 0
Number traded for regular contributors: 0
Number out of baseball: 6
Diamonds in the rough: 1


Conclusion

Next to some other drafts, this one doesn't look so bad (but it ain't great). The diamond in the rough was Jerry Hairston who was almost good enough to displace Brian Roberts at one point but the only other player that was of any use was Rick Bauer. Except for Werth.

Where Are They Now?: The 1998 Oriole Draftees

(No game last night so here's something a little different...)

The fourth installment of our continuing series of dismal tragedy and high comedy that is this organization's drafts under the Angelos Regime. Let's have at it!

Rick Elder - OF - High School - 1st Round

Elder tore up the Rookie Leagues but never adjusted to A ball. He got as high as Delmarva in 2001 and is now playing in the Independent leagues.

Mamon Tucker - OF - High School - 1st Round

Two first round picks on high school outfielders, two busts. He made it to A+ Frederick and was selected in the Rule V draft by Philadelphia. He bounced around the minors for a couple more years hitting .262 with 11 homeruns for his career. He's out of baseball.

Ben Knapp - RHP - High School - 2nd Round

Ben never really got it together, even in the low minors. He got to Frederick, briefly, in 2003 and was released. he played a year of independent league ball and now is out. he compiled a 23-27 record and a 4.65 ERA over 5 seasons.

Alex Hart - RHP - High School - 2nd Round

Drafted but never signed. A wasted pick. I'll include an 11th draftee to even things out.

Steve Bechler - RHP - High School - 3rd Round

We'll never know what Bechler could've been but signs pointed to him being a useful major league reliever someday. For those that don't know, Bechler died of a heart attack (probably brought on by ephedrine) during Spring Training of 2003.

Chris Davidson - P - Western Carolina University - 4th Round

Unclear on the reasons here but Chris Davidson never pitched professionally for anyone. Out of baseball.

Joshua Yarno - RHP - High School - 5th Round

Another guy who I can find no record of. Out of baseball.

Tim Raines, Jr. - OF - High School - 6th Round

Tim is no longer with the organization but was still kicking around the Nationals' minor league system last year. I don't want to spoil the rest of this list but with 75 games played and a .213 average in the Majors, Tim is the most successful member of this draft class. (sigh)

Tim Nelson - 3B - Allan Hancock College - 7th Round

Played two seasons at Bluefield and hung 'em up. Hit .226 over 34 games.

Randy Perez - LHP - High School - 8th Round

Randy never really distinguished himself at the lower levels and rose only as far a A+ Frederick. After 2003, he was out of baseball.

Francisco Monzon - C - High School - 9th Round

Monzon couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag in Rookie ball. That's as far as he got.

Top Ten Draft Pick Stats

Number that are regular contributors for the O's: 0
Number still in the organization: 0
Number traded for regular contributors: 0
Number out of baseball: 9
Diamonds in the rough: 0

Conclusion

I didn't think it was possible but now this draft is the worst I've ever seen and by a huge margin. Pat Gillick gets partial credit for Bechler I suppose, maybe. How bad was it? Out of the dozens of players selected by Baltimore that year only three made it as high as AAA: Tim Raines, Steve Bechler and a guy named Joey Hammond (and his stint was a cup of coffee). Dreadful.

And people wonder why we want Angelos gone. And why the farm system has been so bad