Way too early look at Orioles' current options in first round of the 2025 MLB Draft

It may still be March, but with the college baseball season more than a month underway, it's not too early to start looking at a few potential targets of the Baltimore Orioles in the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft.

The Orioles will have three picks in the first 31 selections this year (picks 19, 30, and 31) and six in the top 100 overall. Getting picks 30 and 31 from the departures of Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander, respectively, will give the Orioles plenty of firepower in the shape of draft pool money to be aggressive and make some big noise in this year's draft.

The extra bonus pool funds could lead to a high-upside high school pick early on or targeting one or two draft-eligible college sophomores who will require overslot deals to pry them away from their NIL bags. Anyone who has followed this organization's draft process since Mike Elias came to Baltimore knows they stick to their models and have their own big board which they stick very close to. We can still identify a few potential options from the college ranks who may be intriguing to the Orioles.

Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor seems to be a very on brand pick for the Orioles. Taylor is a left-handed hitting outfielder from a P4 conference and has showcased success with a wood bat in the Cape Cod League. He boasts high contact rates, good swing decisions, an above-average hit tool, and plus raw power. Through 24 games, Taylor is hitting .371 with 8 home runs in 24 games for the Hoosiers, also sporting 24 walks to 16 strikeouts. Taylor has also been mocked to the Orioles in multiple way-too-early mock drafts published recently.

The Orioles should be able to load up on talent in the 2025 MLB Draft

Sticking with left-handed hitting college outfielders, center fielder Ethan Conrad out of Wake Forest is making noise in 2025 after transferring in from Marist this season. Conrad is hitting .372 with 7 home runs, an 18/14 BB/K ratio and has seen his exit velocity increase. There were questions about how he would transition into the ACC, but Conrad has quieted a lot of those concerns early on. The 6'3" has 50-60 grades put on his hit, power, run, and fielding tools with one big knock being a higher percentage of groundballs than what pro teams would like to see. The Orioles are very confident in being able to take a hitter who already makes good contact with good swing decisions and pull the power out of them.

Conrad could be a pleasant fit with the Orioles player development group, but it will be important to monitor his current injury. He injured his shoulder recently diving for a ball in the outfield and may miss some time.

The Orioles figure to have a very young, high quality infield set for, hopefully, the next few years. But that doesn't mean they will pass on a shortstop if one of the top options falls in their lap. Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy transferred in from Sacramento State last season and is settling into the SEC very well. Aloy isn't as much of a lock to stick at short like some of the more premier shortstops available in this year's draft but he does bring a 114 max exit velocity this season and has shown big improvements in year two at Arkansas.

Through 24 games, Aloy is hitting .402 with 10 home runs and has lowered his strikeout rate from 20% to 15%, while seeing his walk rate creep closer to 10%. His current 158 wRC+ is more than 70 points higher than his 2024 wRC+. He will need to continue that strong improvement over the full course of SEC play, but Aloy was dominant in the Cape Cod League this summer and even though there is some chase in his game, he still produces great contact numbers.

Perhaps the Orioles will be more willing to invest a top 30/31 pick on a pitcher with additional selections this year, but they are confident in their ability to find hidden gems and building them up and with a deeper class than last year on the hitting side, the Orioles could use this as a big opportunity to reload the farm system, especially if a few trades end up coming to fruition this year.