Baltimore Orioles add pitchers through Rule 5 Draft

As the Winter Meetings come to a close, the Baltimore Orioles Dan Duquette will head back home without doing very much.

The Baltimore Orioles did not get an ace and they did not trade away Manny Machado. But, they did add a few pitchers through the uneventful Rule 5 Draft.

With space to spare on the 40-man roster, the Orioles added three pitchers and a left-handed hitter who happens to play catcher.

The O’s were busy signing minor leaguers

In regards to the draft, the Duquette was the busiest manager in the Major League phase, picking in three rounds. In fact, only the Orioles made a pick in the third-round of the MLB phase. Only 17 teams were involved in the Rule 5 draft. The results of the draft can be found at this MLB site.

The Orioles’ first three picks in the Major League phase were all pitchers. Two were from the New York Yankees and one was from the Chicago Cubs. In the Triple-A Phase, the Orioles picked up a catcher from the San Francisco Giants.

While the Orioles were busy picking from other teams, the team’s farm system was picked over by other teams. The Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Miami Marlins took home their own Rule 5 players from the Orioles farm system.

Who did they get?

The O’s first pick was Nestor Cortes, a 23-year-old left-handed pitcher from the Yankees. He’s played at all minor league levels and has a career ERA of 2.09. His upside involves being a lefty with a low ERA. He has started games and pitched in relief, too. He has done well in Triple-A pitching 48.1 innings with an ERA of 1.49.

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The second pick was right-handed pitcher Pedro Araujo, from the Cubs.  He’s 24 years old and has been with the Cubs since 2011 when he was 17 years old. He began his tenure as a starter, but has since been moved to the pen – usually as the closer. In the Arizona Fall League, he earned three saves in 10.1 innings with an ERA of 1.74 and a WHIP of 0.677. His career numbers in the minors aren’t bad: 2.60 ERA and 1.079 WHIP at all levels combined.

The third pitcher was right-handed Jose Mesa with the Yankees. He’s 24 years old and stands 6’4 at 230 pounds. He’s made it up to Double-A with the Yankees and he has been used most frequently out of the pen with a handful of starts. His career numbers are 2.86 ERA in 176 innings with a WHIP of 1.15. His father is retired MLB pitcher Jose Mesa.

Finishing with a left-handed bat

Their final pick was catcher Martin Cervenka who was with the Giants. He has a left-handed bat, but Orioles fans won’t see much of it because he has yet to make it out of Single-A ball. The 25-year-old has career stats of .237/.306/.329 in 385 games.

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Cortes is the only pitcher who could spend some time in the Major Leagues, but the other players will fill spots in the farm system.