When building the team’s future, Baltimore chose raw talent over experience.

The overwhelming majority of the Orioles’ Day 2 draft picks don’t play Division I baseball in one of the power five conferences. Instead, most star at smaller schools or junior colleges. Just two second-day picks came from the prep ranks.

“We’ve done a lot of work across all different types of schools,” said Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting. “You know, major league players come from everywhere. And today, for whatever reason, we ended up taking some guys from junior colleges and from some smaller schools.”

The next step for the Orioles is to make sure the players they drafted agree to contracts. Here, Baltimore has a distinct advantage: the largest bonus pool of $19.145 million, the highest total since the MLB draft bonus pool era began in 2012.

The deadline for signing players is July 28 at 5 p.m. EDT, though this won’t apply for some of the Day 2 selections. Instead, Baltimore has the option to “draft-and-follow.” In other words, JUCO athletes can be signed until next year’s draft.

Here’s what you need to know about the Orioles’ second day of the MLB draft.

Round 4, 124th overall: Colin Yeaman, University of California, Irvine, SS

Yeaman batted .336 and slugged .591 this year as a shortstop at UC Irvine, where he also knocked 16 doubles and 13 home runs. He reads fastballs well, but the righty could use some improvement in hitting secondary pitches, according to Baseball America.

His JUCO years at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California, are equally as telling: over a .400 batting average. Since his transition between Division I and JUCO went as well as it did, there’s good reason to hope the 21-year-old’s transition will be seamless to a Low-A or High-A affiliate team.

Round 5, 154th overall: Jaiden Lo Re, Corona Del Sol HS (Tempe, Arizona), SS

Lo Re, a 5-foot-11 shortstop out of Tempe, Arizona, committed to BYU before the Orioles selected him in the fifth round. According to his MaxPreps page, the right-handed hitter batted .418 across 124 plate appearances with four homers and 14 doubles as a senior. With a walk-off base hit, Lo Re helped Corona Del Sol High School end its season with a state championship.

He played on the 12U USA National Team in 2019, appearing in six games, four of them starts. He had a solid 60-yard dash of 6.89, but like most 18-year-olds, there’s always room for growth and improvement.

Baseball America ranked him as the 413th best prospect in this draft class. “He doesn’t miss frequently and can put the barrel on the ball with a chance for an average hit tool, though his raw power is just fringy,” the site wrote.

Round 6, 184th overall: Caden Hunter, USC (CA), LHP

After two fairly strong years at Sierra Junior College in California, Hunter transferred to USC and ended his season with a 5.50 ERA across 70 1/3 innings. He gave up 12 homers and walked 36 batters.

The University of Southern California and Hunter advanced to the regional final in this year’s NCAA postseason, but they eventually fell to No. 8 Oregon State in a two-game sweep.

The 21-year-old’s fastball peaks at 97 mph, and he mixes it with a slider and a changeup, according to Baseball America. His control of his secondary pitches could use some improvement to increase his strike rate. MLB ranked the southpaw as the 149th prospect in the draft.

Round 7, 214th overall: Hunter Allen, Ashland University, RHP

Allen has shown a good ability to adapt to change. He worked his way up from Owens Community College in Wood County, Ohio. Allen spent two years there, and finished his freshman season with a 2.93 ERA.

He transferred to Ashland University in 2024, where his ERA skyrocketed to 6.30 ERA over 20 innings as a reliever. After two games in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, he bounced back, dropping his ERA to 3.96 through 61 1/3 innings in 12 starts with Ashland.

To his credit, the righty has never given up many home runs, giving up three across his junior and senior years at Ashland.

Round 8, 244th overall: Kailen Hamson, University of the Cumberlands (Kentucky), LHP

It’s the first international player for the Orioles this year, and it comes in the form of Aussie Kailen Hamson. After a 5.88 ERA junior season, he turned his senior year around.

This season, he had a 2.72 ERA across 82 2/3 innings. With a near-perfect 11-1 record, he gave up 30 walks while striking out 127 batters. Hamson was named to the NAIA Second Team All-American in June and also earned 2025 Mid-South Conference Pitcher of the Year honors.

While Blood avoided speaking specifically about Hamson, he nodded toward the upside in picks like the Australian.

“I can tell you that our pitching department and our scouts were very excited about the upside, this stuff, and just the potential to work with them, and that’s that’s really the most that I’ll get into,” Blood said. “But we identified some things about them that we felt gave them a unique chance, and we end up taking them.”

Round 9, 274th overall: Cam Lee, Mineral Area College (Missouri), OF

A quick glimpse at Lee’s junior college stats shows an impressive resume. He batted .444 with a .498 on-base percentage. He recorded an .800 slugging percentage with 13 long balls. Lee’s best asset, though, is his speed. He tallied 15 doubles and five triples in addition to 32 stolen bases.

While it’s easy to brush off his numbers as just another JUCO outlier, Lee’s season was “one of the more impressive offensive seasons in junior college in 2025,” according to Baseball America. Another good sign: Lee was given NJCAA First Team All-American honors.

Round 10, 304th overall: Dalton Neuschwander, University of West Florida, RHP

Neuschwander started his baseball journey at Coastal Alabama South, a junior college in Alabama. He transferred to the University of West Florida, a Division II school, for the next three years. After he boasted a 1.87 ERA in 2023, Neuschwander‘s ERA bumped up to 3.70 ERA in his junior year.

He was able to bring it down this season to a 2.42, giving up only three home runs. He walked 14 and struck out 80 batters across 81 2/3 innings. Neuschwander and the Argonauts advanced to the NCAA DII Super Regional, where they were eliminated by the No. 1 University of Tampa Spartans.

Round 11, 334th overall: Holden deJong, New Jersey Institute of Technology, LHP

DeJong’s stats have been steadily improving since he started in collegiate ball, bringing a 6.95 ERA in his freshman year down to a 3.41 ERA in his junior season. The catch? A season-ending injury in March after a game against Maryland’s UMBC.

It’s hard to say if his ERA would have been lower if he had played an equal number of innings as the year prior (he pitched 29 innings this season compared to 62 innings in 2024). However, the 6-foot-4 southpaw did hold teams to six homers in his last full season, which could be a promising sign.

The team didn’t specifically set out to draft lefties, according to Blood. However, it can help balance out a system where most of the top pitchers are right-handed.

“It just played out that those were the pitchers that we had evaluated to be the best one at the time,” Blood said. “It wasn’t, ‘Let’s make sure we take a lefty.’ It was the guy that the group was saying was the best guy, and let’s take him, and that’s what we did.”

Round 12, 364th overall: Daniel Lopez, Odessa College (Texas), RHP

Lopez’s biggest accomplishment this year was his combined no-hitter in April, where he struck out 13 batters and only allowed two walks. That performance earned the 6-foot-1 right-hander Western Junior College Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week honor.

After 49 2/3 innings pitched last season, Lopez finished with a 4.89 ERA, giving up 27 hits and striking out 81. Lopez and Odessa advanced to the NJCAA Southwest District Championship this season and lost 10-8 in a 13-inning game against New Mexico Junior College.

Round 13, 394th overall: Brayden Smith, Oklahoma State, 2B

Smith played two seasons in JUCO at Iowa Western Community College, where he hit .402 and sent 22 balls over the outfield fence. He was fairly quick on the basepaths there, snatching 41 stolen bases. He made the transition to NCAA baseball fairly well. His batting average stayed relatively high, at .313, and he notched a .566 slugging percentage. His stolen base total dropped to seven, but he was able to hit 14 doubles, so the Orioles might still be able to rely on his ability to put pressure on pitchers.

With Oklahoma State, Smith earned a spot in the Athens, Georgia, Regional, where the Cowboys knocked off No. 7 seed Georgia. However, the team eventually fell to No. 2 seed Duke in a 3-2 loss.

Round 14, 424th overall: Brayan Orrantia, New Mexico Junior College, RHP

The sophomore righty started 15 games this season for the junior college. He ended with a 3.16 ERA, giving up five homers and 74 hits. His control needs some improvement based on the 44 walks he gave up in the 85 1/3 innings pitched, but he struck out 83.

In 2023, Orrantia spent nine games in the California Collegiate League. He pitched 24 innings there, walking 20 and getting an almost equal number of strikeouts (23). With some development, Orrantia could show more potential.

Round 15, 454th overall: KK Clark, Pearl River Community College (Mississippi), RHP

As a sophomore for Pearl River, Clark had a standout season and one of the best in Pearl River history. Across 88 innings, he had a 1.84 ERA, walking 22 batters and striking out an enormous 116 batters. At Pearl River, the 6-foot righty led the college to the MACCC Championship and collected the following honors: First Team All-MACCC, MACCC Pitcher of the Year, NJCAA World Series Outstanding Pitcher of the Tournament and NJCAA First Team All-America.

All of this came after he transferred from Mississippi State, where he only pitched one inning, striking out two in 2024. It’s a good comeback story for a pitcher who is signed with Louisiana Tech in November.

Round 16, 484th Overall: Denton Biller, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), RHP

Over 64 1/3 innings pitched, Biller, a JUCO red-shirt freshman, had a 4.20 ERA , struck out 69 batters and walked 23. In the MLB draft league, the 6-foot-4 righty pitched in two games, starting one. Across five innings, he allowed one earned run, which brought his ERA to 1.80. He committed last September to join the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Round 17, 514th Overall: Braeden Sloan, TCU, LHP

After struggling to maintain a low ERA for two seasons at TCU, Sloan reset going into this season. Across 58.2 innings pitched, all in relief, he increased his strikeouts to 76 and dropped his ERA to 4.14. He still struggles with control, hitting nine batters this season and walking 28.

The 6-foot-4 lefty is an interesting pick for Baltimore as his primary pitch is a mid-70s changeup, which batters struggle to hit, according to Baseball America. However, his fastball, which averages between 88-91 mph, could use more velocity. He also features two breaking balls he occasionally mixes in.

In this year’s NCAA postseason, Sloan and TCU went to the Corvallis, Oregon, Regional as a No. 2 seed, but they went home empty-handed after Oregon State eliminated them.

Round 18, 544th Overall: Cole Johnson, Oconee County HS (Georgia), OF

Cole Johnson, a 6-foot-2 left-handed outfielder and pitcher from Oconee County High School, is known for his contact and on-base skills, according to Baseball America. Originally committed to Georgia Tech, he switched and chose the University of Georgia instead. Baseball America said his below-average speed means he will likely find a home in one of the corner outfield spots.

While he was drafted out of high school, college might be a more appealing option for Johnson, who might look to prove himself as a household name in SEC baseball.

Round 19, 574th Overall: Jimmy Anderson, Heartland Community College (Illinois), INF

Anderson had a very solid year with the Hawks this season, batting .439 and swatting 10 homers in 52 games. Judging from his 31 walks and 82 hits, he sees the ball well. He played in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer league, this year and continued to hit well. There, he batted a .340 with an equal OBP and slugging percentage of .447.

As a freshman, Anderson might take more time to develop in collegiate baseball rather than attempting to leap to the minor leagues.

Round 20, 604th Overall: Connor Gehr, Meridian Community College (Mississippi), RHP/IF

In 12 appearances with Meridian Community College, Gehr started seven games and recorded an 8-2 record. His ERA is a low 2.31 with a WHIP of 1.24 across 62 1/3 innings. The righty has shown he can attack the strike zone fairly well, striking out 83 total batters while allowing 25 walks.

As a left-handed batter, he hit .310 in 71 at bats with two home runs and 16 RBI. He was named to the Second Team All-MACCC this season as a freshman.

But much like the players before him, Gehr has a lot to improve on and could choose college before attempting to earn an everyday spot in one the Orioles’ farm system.