The Orioles followed a familiar formula on the first day of the MLB draft on Sunday night, as they chose three college hitters with their first three selections. And on Monday, during the second day of the draft, Baltimore focused heavily on college talent once more.

Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting, said Baltimore will focus on choosing the “best player available at each pick and sometimes that’s gonna be a position player, sometimes it’s gonna be pitchers.”

The Orioles picked four pitchers on Monday, all of whom were college arms. They also added two catchers and one high school infielder to their draft class. Blood said there wasn’t a specific focus on adding catchers, instead noting that they were “the ones at the top of our board each time, and we were happy to get them.”

Blood also said there isn’t a particular philosophy that has steered Baltimore away from high schoolers. So far, 10 of the 11 picks have been college players.

“I think it’s just what the draft gave us this year, in terms of college versus high school,” Blood said. “We’ll still be looking for high school players, and there’s still 10 more rounds tomorrow. But it’s really not about a philosophy; it’s just more about the player pool and who was there. And I think there were other high school players we were looking at, and it just didn’t quite land, or they ended up not being signable, so the college guys were the guys who were there at those spots.”

On Sunday, Baltimore picked North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt with the No. 22 pick, then nabbed a pair of Virginia teammates: shortstop Griff O’Ferrall and catcher Ethan Anderson. Honeycutt particularly excited Blood, who said the Orioles were “surprised” and “very happy” the center fielder slid to Baltimore.

The Orioles landed eight more players Monday.

3rd round, No. 97: Austin Overn, outfielder, USC

The Orioles picked their fourth straight college hitter to begin the draft. Austin Overn has immense speed and played football during his freshman year at Southern California before committing solely to baseball. The left-handed hitter batted .270 with an .810 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 2024 and earned a place on the All-Pac-12 defensive team for his work in center field.

Overn impressed this summer in the Cape Cod League, which is considered one of the premier wood bat college summer leagues. He hit .314 with a .947 OPS during the summer, likely vaulting his standing among scouts.

“I’ve sort of been on him for a while, and seeing him perform in the Cape this summer has just made it even more of a ... comfort in being able to get him where we were able to select him,” Blood said. “I would say that the Cape helped, but this was not a player that we were not on before the Cape and we were very much in on him at the very beginning.”

4th round, No. 127: Chase Allsup, RHP, Auburn

The Orioles selected their first pitcher of the draft in the fourth round, opting for right-hander Chase Allsup of Auburn. Allsup started 11 games for the Tigers as a junior and had mixed results. He finished the season with a 5.63 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. His fastball has life to it, averaging in the mid-90s, and his strikeout numbers were impressive, with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings. He also reduced his walk numbers as a junior.

Blood called Allsup a “big, strong guy” with “above-average stuff.”

“He’s the guy who our group sort of identified as maybe an undervalued player in the industry, a player that we felt like we could work with,” Blood said. “We sort of all along targeted him in this range, and we were happy to see he was still available. And he was the top guy on our board at that time, so we grabbed him.”

5th round, No. 160: Ryan Stafford, catcher, Cal Poly

The Orioles took their second catcher of the draft with Ryan Stafford out of Cal Poly, following Ethan Anderson from Virginia in the second round. Stafford also plays the corner outfield. He put huge offensive numbers, hitting .368 with a 1.012 OPS in 2024, and he hit above .300 all three years at Cal Poly.

Like Anderson, Stafford was one of 16 Buster Posey Award finalists, which is given annually to the best college catcher in the country. Stafford also won the Big West Defensive Player of the Year Award this year for his work behind the plate. He caught 22 would-be base stealers and held a .990 fielding percentage.

6th round, No. 189: DJ Layton, shortstop, Charlotte Christian School (North Carolina)

The Orioles took their first high school player in Derrick “DJ” Layton. He’s committed to the University of Southern Mississippi but could sign with the Orioles. The slot value for pick No. 189 is $318,300.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Layton was the Charlotte Independent School Athletic Association conference player of the year after hitting .449 with four home runs, 34 RBIs and 30 runs scored. He also pitched, but Baltimore plans to develop Layton as a shortstop, Blood said. If anything, Blood said, the pitching experience shows Layton has the arm strength to make a variety of throws in the infield.

“He’s a great kid with a lot of tools, and we feel like there’s upside to his game when it comes to coming into our organization and helping him get stronger and helping him offensively, while continuing to build his defensive skillset,” Blood said. “So, where we got him, we felt like this was a really good bet for us, and I’ll give credit to our scouting department and the people who put a lot of work in on this kid, to get to know him and his family and the coaches at his high school. The whole room was ecstatic when we were able to get him in that round.”

7th round, No. 219: Carson Dorsey, LHP, Florida State

The Orioles drafted their second pitcher of the day with left-hander Carson Dorsey of Florida State. He pitched his first two years of college at Gulf Coast State College, where he excelled, and he worked his way into the rotation for the Seminoles during his first season there.

Dorsey held a 4.60 ERA with a 1.56 WHIP this season. He struck out 10.4 batters per nine innings but also walked 4.4 in nine. The command could improve, but Dorsey increased his stock once he stepped into an injury-filled rotation at Florida State midway through the year and helped the Seminoles reach the College World Series.

Like many of the pitchers Baltimore drafted on the second day, Dorsey’s stats aren’t breathtaking. Blood said the Orioles evaluate “a combination of raw stuff, of physical capacity, the athleticism, the way they move, and then performance.”

8th round, No. 249: Colin Tuft, catcher, Tulane

A third catcher is headed to Baltimore. The Orioles took Colin Tuft from Tulane. Tuft also plays outfield, and he played his first two seasons in college at Virginia. Tuft hit .279 with a .946 OPS in 2024 at Tulane, but he struggled this summer in the Cape Cod League with a .143 average in 18 games.

9th round, No. 279: Jack Crowder, RHP, Illinois

The Orioles selected their third pitcher of the draft, and second right-hander, with Illinois’ Jack Crowder. He completed all four years with the Illini, generally an indication he could be signed for under the slot value of $189,000. He started 16 games and posted a 4.88 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP in 2024.

According to Prep Baseball Report, Crowder throws a low-to-mid-90s fastball with a change-up, slider and curveball.

10th round, No. 309: Christian Rodriguez, RHP, Cal State Fullerton

The Orioles round out their second day of picks by selecting a fourth pitcher. Right-hander Christian Rodriguez of Cal State Fullerton finished his senior year with a 5.45 ERA over 69 1/3 innings (12 starts).

Rodriguez, who is 6 feet, 6 inches tall, underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery late in 2022 that caused him to miss the 2023 season as well. He pitched 39 innings for the Frederick Keys in the Summer Draft League, and he saw his strikeouts numbers soar. He struck out 45 batters with a 3.92 ERA.

“He has performed well there and we recognized that and it gave us more confidence to select him where we did,” Blood said of Rodriguez’s time at Frederick. “So, I would say that for some players, going into the Draft League and playing well helps their visibility, helps teams collect more reliable data and ultimately be more comfortable with selections.”