ORLANDO, Fla. — Though they had the fourth-best odds for the top spot, the Orioles landed the No. 7 overall pick in the MLB draft lottery at the winter meetings Tuesday.

It’s Baltimore’s highest spot in the draft order since the club took second baseman Jackson Holliday first overall in 2022.

The Orioles entered with a 9.24% chance to secure the first overall pick. The MLB draft lottery determines the order of the first six picks of the first round. Because the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals weren’t eligible for the lottery this year, that improved the odds for the Orioles, who finished the season with the seventh-worst record in baseball.

“Higher is better, so I would’ve loved to see a higher number, but we control what we can control,” said Will Robertson, who will lead Baltimore’s draft for the first time in his new role as the vice president of domestic scouting.

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“It’s a year-round ordeal as far as getting ourselves prepared to attack the scouting calendar, so we’ve already seen a lot of these players,” Robertson continued. The way-too-early projections from Baseball America has the Orioles picking Sawyer Strosnider, a draft-eligible sophomore outfielder from TCU.

The Chicago White Sox, who entered with the best chance at the top pick, earned the first choice. Shortstop Roch Cholowsky from UCLA is the favorite to be chosen then, Baseball America predicts.

Baltimore has plenty of experience drafting near the beginning of the first round. In addition to the Holliday pick in 2022, the Orioles used the first overall selection on catcher Adley Rutschman in 2019. In 2024 an 2025, however, the strong preceding seasons pushed the Orioles later in the first round.

The White Sox entered with the best chance to win the first overall pick (27.73%), and the Minnesota Twins (22.18%) and Pittsburgh Pirates (16.81%) followed them. The Athletics were projected behind the Orioles with a 6.55% chance at the top choice.

The final order for the first round’s top six picks went: White Sox, Rays, Twins, Giants, Pirates, Royals.