The MLB All-Star break is no longer just about the game’s current stars. It’s also about the future.
For the fifth consecutive year, the MLB draft will coincide with the league’s All-Star festivities, which take place in Atlanta this season. The draft will be held July 13-14, with opening night coming one day after the annual All-Star Futures Game featuring some of the game’s top prospects. The Home Run Derby will be July 14, while the All-Star Game is July 15.
While there’s still a month left to play before the first pick is made, the draft could take on more interest for Orioles fans this season. Baltimore enters Wednesday 26-39 and nine games out of a wild-card spot and might not get more than the requisite one All-Star, which means it could arrive at the break with dim postseason hopes and more focus on 2026 and beyond.
Of course, no matter where the Orioles are in the standings, the draft remains the lifeblood of the organization under the direction of executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. Baltimore will pick 19th overall next month as a result of the annual lottery in December, its third straight year picking outside the top 15 after making four straight picks in the top five from 2019 to 2022, including two No. 1 overall selections. (The Orioles also get pick Nos. 30 and 31 this year as compensation for losing qualifying free agents Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander.)
Those recent top picks — Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad and Adley Rutschman — have formed the core of a playoff contender until this year’s disappointing dip. Outfielders Enrique Bradfield (No. 17 in 2023) and Vance Honeycutt (No. 22 in 2024) also have intriguing traits that could make them difference-makers at the next level fairly soon.
So, what will the Orioles do in the draft this year? Here’s a look at what the experts say in their most recent mock drafts:
Baseball America: Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
The Orioles have selected a college hitter with five of their six first-round picks since Elias’ first draft in 2019, so it would not be surprising to see them go in that direction again. LaViolette, a preseason contender to be the first overall selection, could be an intriguing fit.
Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo writes that the 6-foot-6, 230-pound LaViolette “is one of the most difficult players to place in the first round. He has tools and upside that fit inside the top 10, but also posted a historically scary pure hitting performance for a first-round college hitter.”
Those scary numbers include a .258 batting average with a 25% strikeout rate this season, though he hit 18 home runs, recorded a 22% walk rate and posted a 1.003 OPS in 56 games. In 2023, LaViolette also had a .929 OPS in six games in the wood-bat Cape Cod League.
There’s no questioning his toughness, though. Last year, LaViolette broke his hand, had surgery and played in the Aggies’ game the next day.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, who projects LaViolette 16th overall to the Minnesota Twins in his latest mock, writes that the outfielder “is a bit mechanical and stiff, but he has massive tools and has performed pretty well all things considered — though he has been streaky.”
MLB.com and ESPN: Xavier Neyens, 3B, Mount Vernon (Wash.) HS
The 18-year-old Neyens is described as a “left-handed hitting version of Coby Mayo” by MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (no relation) and his upside is “both the good and bad versions” of Joey Gallo, according to McDaniel.
The Orioles, McDaniel notes, are among the teams who gravitate toward Neyens’ skill set: Massive raw power, solid athleticism and infield fit.
“Baltimore has taken a number of players like this over the years and Neyens has an intriguing upside,” McDaniel writes.
The Athletic: Gavin Kilen, SS, Tennessee
How about a contact hitter for the top of the lineup?
In 156 games across three seasons at Louisville and Tennessee, Kilen has a .323 batting average and .935 OPS while striking out just 63 times in 647 plate appearances (a minuscule 9.7% strikeout rate). He also flashed some power this season with 15 home runs and a .671 slugging percentage against elite competition in the SEC.
“This just seems way too obvious a match — a player with Kilen’s performance and batted-ball data shouldn’t even get this far, and the Orioles typically pounce on guys like that,” The Athletic’s Keith Law writes.
USA Today: Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest
This prospect is “flying under the radar,” according to USA Today’s Gabe Lacques.
Conrad was batting .372/.495/.744 — good for a staggering 1.238 OPS — in 97 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in March while making a diving attempt in the outfield.
In 124 games with Marist and Wake Forest, Conrad is a career .361 hitter with a 1.050 OPS. He’s also excelled in the Cape Cod League, where he’s posted a .920 OPS in 120 plate appearances.
Other mock draft picks of note
Baseball Prospect Journal: Daniel Pierce, SS, Mill Creek (Ga.) HS — “Pierce offers the kind of well-rounded profile they covet, featuring a polished hit tool, plus speed and strong defensive ability.”
The Sporting Tribune: Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest — “Houston has too many landing spots ahead of this to let him keep falling, while his budding power (still fringy) could carry him towards the top 10.”
Sporting News: Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) HS — “Hall is a project, but he has significant room to grow with his 18th birthday coming later in June. His athleticism should allow him to stick at shortstop long-term, and his bat is advanced enough for his age that taking him in the first round isn’t a massive risk despite his age.”
Just Baseball: Dean Curley, 3B, Tennessee — “Despite the struggles, he’s still showcased incredible underlying data as he sports an elite plate approach and utilizes the entire field with some juice. He sports solid average exit velocities and walks over 14% of the time. Curley can also handle shortstop well, and the floor is pretty safe.”
Have a news tip? Contact sports editor C.J. Doon at cdoon@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/CJDoon.