The Orioles and outfielder Jordyn Adams are in settlement on a minor league contract, stories Robert Murray of FanSided. The CAA shopper and former prime prospect will head to main league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
Adams, who turned 25 in October, was chosen by the Angels with the No. 17 total draft choose again in 2018. On the time, he was seen as probably the greatest athletes in the complete draft class — a two-sport highschool star who’d dedicated to play each soccer (as a large receiver) and baseball at North Carolina. Pre-draft scouting stories touted Adams’ 80-grade pace (on the 20-80 scale) and a projectable body that carried the potential to develop into extra energy.
Whereas the pace has been on full show within the minors all through his profession — he’s gone 144-for-176 (82%) in stolen base makes an attempt — Adams has but to hit a lot at any cease. He’s a profession .252/.333/.377 hitter in 2425 minor league plate appearances and, in 78 massive league journeys to the plate, mustered solely a .176/.205/.216 slash with a 35.9% strikeout charge.
The pace is authentic, as Statcast ranked him within the 98th percentile of massive leaguers with a blazing dash pace of 29.7 ft/sec. At the same time as he tumbled down the Angels’ prospect rankings at Baseball America, from No. 3 in 2020 to No. 23 this previous season, BA known as him a plus defender in heart who “tracks fly-balls like a large receiver” whereas exhibiting elite closing pace.
In nearly each different sense of the phrase, Adams is a mission for the Orioles in just about each different sense of the phrase. Nonetheless, he’s heading into solely his age-25 season. He’s additionally becoming a member of an Orioles group that has been much more profitable than the Angels (and than many of the league, for that matter) in the case of creating younger place gamers. Adams might not ever be a star, but when the O’s can coax a bit extra out of his bat, his pace and protection give him a path to no less than being a viable fourth outfielder. Encouragingly, the righty-hitting speedster does have an OPS effectively north of .800 in opposition to lefties over the previous three seasons within the minors.
