On Monday, asked about the organization’s pitching depth, Orioles director of player development Matt Blood answered, “The pitchers that we have are exciting. Pitching can come from all different directions, whether it’s later in the draft, via trades, or even Rule 5 or waiver claims.” Note what Blood did not say: “We draft high-risk, high-reward guys like Kumar Rocker in the first round.”
In four years since taking over as Orioles GM, Mike Elias has not drafted a lot of pitchers, at least not in the high rounds. Instead, he has preferred to let other teams do the pitching prospect drafting and scouting, and acquire these arms via trade, or whatever.