Picking second overall in this week’s MLB draft, the Orioles had their chance to make an early mark on the draft and took it.
Their selection of Arksansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad second overall turned expectations for how the top of the first round would play out, and cast their efforts in the shortened five-round draft not as a way to amass the best talent available but as a way to game the draft financially.
Whether that’s actually the case is hard to tell until they disperse their nearly $14 million in bonus pool, though the perception alone hurt the players they ended up taking and likely shaded the whole draft.