Baltimore Orioles: The Race For The First Pick In The 2020 MLB Draft Is Back On

With the Baltimore Orioles having lost nine of their last ten games they are now back in the race for the top pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

A few weeks ago it appeared the Baltimore Orioles would be picking second behind the Detroit Tigers in the 2020 MLB Draft.

The Orioles played .500 baseball in the month of July while the Tigers went a dreadful 5-20 in both June and July to claim baseball’s worst record for a handful of weeks. It seemed as if there was some improvement going on in Baltimore while it was going to be a historically bad season in Motown. Now, however, we have a race for the top pick again.

Baltimore has lost nine of their last ten games and hold a record of 3-13 in August. The Tigers are 4-6 in their last ten games and have already won five games this month meaning they will likely improve from June and July.

All in all the Orioles will enter play Monday 39-85 while Detroit sits at 37-84. With Detroit having two fewer wins but one less loss they are just one game worse than the Orioles.

The top two picks for 2020 are pretty much set and stone barring any injuries or breakout performances with Emerson Hancock from the University of Georgia and first baseman Spencer Torkelson from Arizona State University set to hear their names called first next June.

Hancock appears to be the consensus number one pick as was projected by both MLB.com and Baseball America to be the top overall pick of the Orioles in mock drafts released back in June. However, in those mock drafts, the Tigers held the sixth pick due to where they stood in the standings back in early June. In the lone mock draft with Detroit picking first, MyMLBMockDraft.com has the Tigers taking the arm for Georgia.

For the Orioles not getting the first pick would not be the end of the world. Torkelson has incredible power and should be on a fast track to the majors. Baltimore, however, could probably use Hancock more due to the fact they had an offensive heavy 2019 draft and outside of DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer there aren’t too many pitchers to be excited about on the farm.

Another potential silver lining is the Tigers, unlike the Orioles, need more offense in their minor league system. Detroit’s top prospect is Casey Mize, who also happens to be the top pitching prospect in all of baseball. In addition, Detroit has several promising young arms such as the MLB’s 27th ranked prospect Matt Manning. Thus, if they end up with the top pick, Torkelson may just be their man.

Regardless, Baltimore will get a generational talent with one of the top two picks in the 2020 MLB Draft. After their September series with the Tigers however, the fan base will have a better idea of who will join Adley Rutschman as one of the faces of the Baltimore Orioles.