One of the hottest hitters in all of minor league baseball is an Orioles farmhand who, years ago, decided the only way to achieve his big league dream was to leave professional baseball just weeks after he was drafted.
Infielder Pat Dorrian — who, through the first two weeks of the season, has swung the hottest bat on the prospect-laden Double-A Bowie roster and slugged as much as anyone in the minors — was a 12th-round pick in the 2014 MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves as a promising 18-year-old out of Kingston, New York, but decided shortly after reporting to rookie ball that he wasn’t ready and walked away.