MLB Draft 2012: What Will the Baltimore Orioles Do with the 4th Pick?

The Baltimore Orioles hold the fourth pick in the upcoming MLB draft, and you have to admit that life looks pretty good for them right now.

Admittedly, they have dropped eight of their last 10 games, but very few teams can claim to have such a high draft pick and only be one game out of the division lead.

Of course, the multimillion dollar question is what are the Baltimore Orioles going to do with that pick?

The top three picks in this draft are most likely going to be right-handed pitcher Mark Appel from Stanford University, catcher Mike Zunino from the University of Florida and outfielder Byron Buxton from Appling County High School, according to myMLBDraft.com.

That means that anyone else in the field is most likely going to be available for the Baltimore Orioles.

What should Baltimore be trying to do, then, with this choice?

Ideally, the Orioles needed to find a college player. They need to look for an athlete who will be able to join the already talented roster rather quickly.

Yes, the newly extended Adam Jones as well as the rest of their talented core will be around for a while, but a college player will be able to most likely get to the major leagues quicker and continue having the Orioles become even better while all of these players are still under contract.

If they need a college player, what position should he play?

I guess there is not really a right answer, simply because if Baltimore is able to draft a player who becomes an All-Star, they probably wouldn't worry about what position he plays.

That being said, if I had to choose one position for Baltimore to focus on, they really should try to grab a pitcher. Their pitching staff has been excellent so far, but they really lack a definitive ace. Through this draft, they very well might be able to find one in Kevin Gausman from Louisiana State University.

Gausman has pitched through the very difficult SEC this season with limited problems. He is 10-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 107.2 innings. Opponents were also only able to hit .231 against him.

Kyle Zimmer from the University of San Francisco would also be a strong pick, but also more risky.

For a pitcher who will be able to join the Orioles as soon as possible and help the current team continue to get stronger, assuming that Appel is off the board, the Orioles should announce Gausman as the fourth pick of the MLB draft.

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