Three years ago, the Orioles were preparing to make one of the most important draft picks in the history of the franchise.

The Orioles were awful in 2021, losing 110 games to earn themselves another No. 1 overall pick. In 2019, they selected Adley Rutschman. Three years later, they’d have the chance to draft another franchise-altering player.

For more than eight months, Orioles scouts watched every potential No. 1 overall pick in an all-hands-on-deck effort. By the end of Jackson Holliday’s high school season, every scout in the organization — including front office higher-ups Mike Elias, Koby Perez, Matt Blood and others — had seen the youngster play in person, and was ultimately convinced he was their pick.

Sunday’s draft for the Orioles does not have the same degree of hype or pressure. But it might be just as important.

The Orioles have four of the first 37 picks and seven total selections before the end of the third round Sunday. This draft has the potential to be a banner one for the organization.

“All the drafts are important, but when you have this amount of picks, it is more important,” said Elias, the Orioles’ executive vice president and general manager. “There’s no question about it. We just got a much bigger opportunity ahead of us, and the draft is a lifeblood for a franchise like ours.”

The focus from Baltimore fans (rightfully so) is about the short-term future of the organization. The Orioles are supposed to be in the heart of their World Series window. Instead, the team has yet to win a playoff game under Elias despite successful regular seasons the past two years, and the club now has the third-worst record in the American League at 43-50. Instead of looking ahead to 2030, fans are worried about either getting the 2025 team back on track, or, if Elias continues to sell at the deadline, finding a way to win again in 2026.

The MLB draft, meanwhile, is often seen as a long-term event. Most of the players drafted will never appear in the major leagues, and the ones who do often take years to get there. Of course, it’s not that simple. Adding value through this year’s draft can add depth to a diminished farm system (ranked No. 17 after three straight years at No. 1), providing Elias the ability to make trades to help the 2026 Orioles.

“My whole world now is around acquiring talent as well as developing talent, and when we have this many picks this high, it gives us an opportunity to acquire more talent than other teams have an opportunity to acquire,” said Blood, who oversees the Orioles’ draft. “And it’s a challenge for our coaches to get them better than they came in and then hopefully get up here and play. So yes, it’s very important.”

One reason this draft is crucial is that it’s rare to have four picks before the second round — Nos. 19, 30, 31 and 37. It might not happen for Elias and company ever again.

With extra pick from Bryan Baker trade, Orioles can be ‘dynamic’ in draft

The No. 19 pick is the Orioles’ original first-round pick. The Nos. 30 and 31 selections are compensation picks for losing Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander in free agency. And the No. 37 pick was acquired Thursday when Elias traded Bryan Baker to the Tampa Bay Rays. Blood, the club’s vice president of player development and domestic scouting, also has three picks in the second and third rounds on Day 1 (Nos. 58, 69 and 93) before the final 17 rounds Monday.

The Baker trade happened three weeks before the deadline because it involved a Competitive Balance Round A pick — the only ones that can be traded. Blood said a strength of the draft is the “depth” in the range the Orioles pick four times. “I think that’s a benefit to us,” he said.

Adding the No. 37 pick so late in the draft process doesn’t alter the Orioles’ plan, though. They’re already familiar with the players in that range, Elias and Blood said. What it does do is add money to their bonus pool — an allotment of money a team can spend on draftees without penalty. The extra $2.6 million puts the Orioles’ total at $19.1 million, which is the largest in the bonus-pool era (since 2012). The previous high was the Cleveland Guardians’ $18.3 million in 2024.

In 2019, the Orioles signed Rutschman for less than his slot value, allowing them to draft Gunnar Henderson in the second round and pay him overslot. They did the same thing in 2020 with No. 2 overall pick Heston Kjerstad and fourth-round pick Coby Mayo. The more money the Orioles have, the more likely it is that they can “flex our muscle,” Elias said, in drafting the best player available, no matter what he might cost.

“It just gives us another shot, another pick, some more money, which, in terms of strategy, gives you a little more flexibility to maybe do some more things,” Blood said. “But it’s really just another opportunity to get another really good player.”

The drafts from 2019 to 2021 helped set up the Orioles’ success the past two seasons. A great 2025 draft could do the same over the next decade.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.