The Orioles' minor-league pitching depth took a hit yesterday when the organization lost three pitchers in the major-league Rule V draft.
The Boston Red Sox selected left-hander Vaughn Eshelman. The Texas Rangers picked hard-throwing right-hander Francisco Saneaux, and the St. Louis Cardinals took veteran right-hander Rich DeLucia.
Under the Rule V guidelines, clubs are obligated to either keep draft choices on their 25-man rosters throughout the regular season or offer them back to the clubs from which they were drafted for $25,000.
The Orioles lost the players by choosing not to protect them on their 40-man roster. The roster size stands at 39 after the selection of Russell Brock, a right-hander from the Oakland Athletics' organization.
Brock, 25, split last season between Double-A and Triple-A and went 8-11 with a 3.47 ERA.
"I think this was a breakthrough season for him," Orioles scouting director Gary Nickels said of Oakland's 1991 second-round pick. "We scouted him in high school and in college at the University of Michigan. We looked seriously at picking him in the second round in 1991."
The Orioles also looked seriously at protecting Eshelman on their 40-man roster but decided against doing so.
They also left Rick Forney, an other member of the touted Bowie Baysox starting rotation known as "The Fab Five," unprotected, but no one chose him.
"We thought if we were going to lose anyone we might lose Eshelman," Nickels said.
In the case of DeLucia, the Orioles in essence brokered him and received $50,000 for it.
They signed him as a six-year minor-league free agent last month, never paid him a dime, and received $50,000 from the Cardinals.
The Orioles appear to have an excellent chance of buying back Saneaux, 20, because he appeared so far away from being major league- ready last season pitching for Class-A Albany.
Saneaux (4-12, 6.54) walked 91 batters and struck out 100 in 106 innings. The Orioles chose to protect Billy Percibal (13-9, 3.56) instead of Saneaux.
Orioles' future bright
Baseball Weekly ranked the Orioles' prospects first in the American League East, followed by the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.
New Orioles farm director Syd Thrift said he is impressed with what he has seen thus far of the Orioles' young talent, and said right-field prospect Alex Ochoa reminded him of a young Bobby Bonilla.
"I like Ochoa's presence," he said. "He's got an effervescence, a spirit. He enjoys life. And he has good physical talent. He's got a great arm. He's a good runner and he has power. He will benefit from our hitting program."