As far as contemporary Orioles pitching prospects were ever concerned, Oliver Drake was never a name to muster much arousal.
The former Midshipman has mostly garnered a too-good-for-Triple-A-but-probably-isn’t-good-enough-for-the-big-leagues kind of reputation since being drafted in 2008. While concerns of sheer stuff translating to success hasn’t necessarily been an uncommon plague of the Orioles farm system in recent years, 43rd round picks such as Drake hardly ever pivot into the realm of sufficiency.
Still, Drake showed growth at every level of the minors before being called up in 2015 for a 15.2 inning audition, where he managed a 2.