After selecting college players with their first Draft pick in back-to-back years, the Orioles shifted their focus toward younger, more high-ceiling talent in 2017, selecting a pair of prep standouts in DL Hall and Adam Hall.
The Orioles were thrilled to find DL Hall, ranked 14th on MLBPipeline.com's list of the Top 200 Draft Prospects, still on the board ahead of their first pick, No. 21 overall.
• From Aberdeen to instructs, O's getting good look at arms
Viewed by many evaluators as one of the Draft's premier left-handed pitchers, Hall became the first high school hurler to be taken in the first round by Baltimore since Hunter Harvey in 2013. He signed for $3 million, the largest bonus given by the organization since Kevin Gausman signed for $4,320,000 in '12 (No. 4 overall pick).
The immediate results weren't there for Hall, Baltimore's No. 4 prospect, during his professional debut in the Rookie Gulf Coast League, as he posted a 6.97 ERA in 10 1/3 innings while making five starts. But the 19-year-old southpaw still impressed club officials with his combination of stuff, feel and potential, a trend that continued this fall during the Orioles' instructional league in Sarasota, Fla.
"It's a plus fastball and plus breaking ball with DL, but it's free and easy -- there's not a lot of effort. It's nice to see the rhythm and ease to his delivery," Orioles Director of Player Development Brian Graham said.
Instructional league also brought a return to action for Adam Hall, who played in just two games during his pro debut in the Gulf Coast League -- he collected three hits in both contests -- before suffering a season-ending oblique injury in mid-July.
"Adam was healthy and did great. He impressed all of us out here," Graham said about the Orioles' No. 10 prospect.
Drafted by Baltimore in the second round and signed for $1.3 million, Hall is a well above-average runner with an advanced feel to hit and some power potential from the right side of the plate. Equally important is the 18-year-old Ontario product has a chance to remain at shortstop, where he profiles as a slightly above-average defender, one with the necessary tools to also profile at either second or third base.
"He's certainly impressive with his ability to swing the bat and run -- that's for sure," Graham said, "and we think he has a lot of ability at shortstop. But this fall it was all about getting him the reps and development he missed out on this summer.
"We're very excited about the futures of both DL and Adam."