Orioles’ Best Homegrown Draft Choices

One of the most interesting times of the Major League Baseball (MLB) calendar is the annual draft, where teams are provided with an opportunity to find the best young talent to add to their rosters. These young players can either turn into successful future stars or fail to make an impact. For the Baltimore Orioles, the draft has produced several homegrown stars who have become some of the game’s most recognizable names.

Like many fans, Brandon Glickstein knows that while not all Orioles draft picks have worked out, those who do have left a legacy in their own way. Here are some of them:

Mike Mussina

In the first half of the Orioles’ history, the team did quite well at developing its pitching talent, with Mike Mussina an embodiment of those times. Mussina was drafted twice, first in 1987 in the 11th round and again in 1990 as the 20th overall pick. He is regarded as the best homegrown pitcher, having played over a decade in Baltimore and winning more than 270 games in the major leagues. By the time he called it a career, Mussina had been considered for the American League Cy Young Award on multiple occasions and made five All-Star appearances.

Cal Ripken Jr.

He is regarded as perhaps the greatest player to don the Orioles uniform, for many good reasons. Drafted in the second round of the 1978 amateur draft, Cal Ripken Jr.’s career started quite well as he won the Rookie of the Year award in 1982. By his third year, the team had won the World Series, and Ripken was voted the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Besides the individual excellence that Ripken displayed on the field, he was the epitome of consistency and reliability by playing in 2,632 consecutive games. An entire generation of baseball fans grew up watching him play every game, and while he might not have intended for it to become a streak, it was a testament to how good a player the Hall of Famer was.

Eddie Murray

Eddie Murray was selected by the Orioles in the third round of the amateur draft in 1973 and soon became a solid contributor. He was in the 1977 Opening Day roster as a 21-year-old, going on to win the Rookie of the Year award while putting up impressive batting numbers. Over the next decade, Murray was one of the American League’s best hitters, and for five straight seasons (1981 – 1985), he finished in the top five of voting for the MVP award.