By David Selig

8:11 p.m. EDT, June 2, 2012
In today’s Orioles draft target profile, Dan Connolly lays the strongest odds on the team using the No. 4 overall pick Monday night on University of San Francisco right-hander Kyle Zimmer.

The consensus among the national pundits is that the Orioles will take another college righty, LSU’s Kevin Gausman, with their only selection in the first night of baseball's amateur draft.

As with any draft, the decision on that pick could depend heavily upon what the top three teams – Houston, Minnesota and Seattle – do with their choices. (Teams cannot trade picks.)

Here’s a look at what some of the national writers predict for the top 4:

 

ESPN’s Keith Law

Houston: Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford

Minnesota: Byron Buxton, OF, Appling County H.S. (Baxley, Ga.)

Seattle: Mike Zunino, C, Florida

Orioles: Gausman

On the Orioles pick: “The Orioles are still wide-open and apparently haven't settled on a player yet, but there was a lot of chatter on Thursday that they'd narrowed in on Gausman. If Gausman is gone (say, Appel-Gausman-Buxton go 1-2-3), they could pick Kyle Zimmer or [shortstop Carlos] Correa.”

 

Baseball America’s Jim Callis

Houston: Appel

Minnesota: Buxton

Seattle: Zunino

Orioles: Gausman

NOTE: In his print preview, which came out last week, Callis had the Orioles taking Zimmer.