Friday, June 8, 2007

Big News on Off Day

The Orioles had a day off yesterday after making their way back to Baltimore from the west coast. Hopefully that bit of rest will have them refreshed this weekend to take out the Rockies. However, there was still big news for the Orioles on Thursday. They used the 5th pick in the draft to select Matt Wieters from Georgia Tech. Wieters is a switch hitting catcher, who appears to be arguably one of the best players in the draft. Hearing him described as the 2nd best catching prospect ever drafted behind Joe Mauer is pretty impressive.
He has good power(.592 SLG), hits for a high average(.358), and is supposedly a great defensive catcher as well. Everything about this guy seems to hint that he will be a future star.

The one drawback that was mentioned about Wieters is that he is represented by Scott Boras. Ok...so the O's will have to spend big time money on this kid. But if Wieters is as good as advertised, I don't see a problem with that. He is 21, and has excelled at a good baseball school for 3 years. His time in the minors probably won't be very long. It would be a different issue if this were a Boras client who was 18 years old and may never reach the majors.

Its also a good sign that the Orioles management is willing to work with Boras. Remember that Boras is the agent for Maryland native Mark Teixeira, who isn't showing any sign of wanting to re-sign in Texas. Getting a deal done with Wieters can only make Boras' relationship with the O's better. This guy represents a lot of big name players in baseball, and its important for the O's to be on his list of teams he likes to work with.

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