Orioles Top Prospect No. 16: Ronnie Welty

Prospect No. 16 comes in the form of a athletic outfielder who has drawn comparisons to a guy who hit over .320 his rookie year and has two 25-homer seasons to his name. Prospect No. 16 is Ronnie Welty

Welty was a 20th-round draft pick by the Orioles in 2008. At the time, he was rated as the fifth best junior college player in the nation.

Welty was drafted in the 37th round in 2006, but a strong commitment to Kansas State kept him from signing. After transferring to Chandler Gilbert CC, Welty worked his way up to the 20th round, where the Orioles were all too happy to snag him.

Welty has consistently earned comparisons to the Astros' Hunter Pence, and for good reason. Both players are incredibly athletic and play the game with an "everything or nothing" attitude. Like Pence, Welty is a right-handed hitter who has shown ability to hit for average and power.

Ronnie Welty, OF, 21 years old

The comparisons don't stop there, though. Both outfielders also have the extra dimension of speed to their game. Welty managed to steal 13 bases this season and swiped six in his pro debut. Also, both outfielders have sensational arms.

Let's get to the raw data. As a Bluefield Oriole, Welty hit .314 in 2008 after signing with the O's. He rapped 12 doubles and knocked three home runs, driving in 34 runs.

He got the promotion over Aberdeen straight to Delmarva, where he showed no hangover. He led the Shorebirds offensive effort for most of the season and teamed with Xavier Avery and Kyle Hudson to give Delmarva the most athletic outfield in the South Atlantic League.

He kept his average above .300 for a good chunk of the season before settling at .290 over the course of 431 at-bats. He also finished the season as the Baby Birds' leading run producer, driving in 67, and led the power-starved team in home runs, with 10. His 24 doubles led the team, and his 46 walks were second best.

Ronnie Welty, OF, 21 years old

Like Pence, Welty has been pretty much a free swinger during his first two seasons. He struck out 49 times in 207 at-bats at Bluefield and then more than doubled that to 120 with Delmarva.

His 46 walks are encouraging, but he'll need to make great strides in that department to continue his steady climb up the organizational ladder.

In the field, Welty has an above-average arm, though his fielding percentage and assist numbers don't exactly bear that out. He often fails to hit his cut-off guys and some of his throws tend to sail—but he has a heck of a cannon, there's no doubt about it.

On the basepaths, Welty is more of a smart runner than a great one. He has decent speed as mentioned before, but don't expect more than 10 swipes per season out of him as he moves up.

Welty's power potential is real, and we only saw glimpses of it this season. I expect him to try to focus more on turning on pitches quicker and driving some more balls out of the park the next few seasons. He could be a 15-25-homer guy in the bigs.

Ronnie Welty, OF, 21 years old

Welty will be a 22-year old playing his first season at High-A in 2010, and he should take his lumps there, but he has shown the resiliency to be able to hold his own.

He's also shown over the past two seasons that he's about as consistent a hitter as the O's have in their organization. He's been a league All-Star wherever he's played, so look for him to get a lot tougher pitches this upcoming season.

I know the O's have quite the glut of outfielders in the system and even more working their way up to join the likes of Jeff Fiorentino, Lou Montanez, Jonathan Tucker, Robbie Widlansky, and the Figueroa brothers, but with his ceiling as a clone of a guy like Pence, I'll take Welty over any of them.