Oliver Drake Added to O's 40 Man Roster

Friday was the deadline for teams to protect their minor leaguers from the upcoming Rule V draft and the Orioles added only one player to their 40-man roster this year, 24 year old pitcher Oliver Drake.

He mainly split the 2011 season with the class A Frederick Keys and AA Bowie Baysox but also pitched in one game for the AAA Norfolk Tides. He was a 43rd round pick by the O's in the 2008 draft, but a main reason he was selected so late was because of eligibility concerns since he attended the Naval Academy and some teams believed he would have to spend time in the service before being able to continue his baseball career. Somewhat surprisingly, the O's draft department was able to sift through all the information and realized Drake didn't have to spend time in the Navy before pitching.

MASNsports.com blogger Roch Kubatko did the leg work in figuring out the Orioles Minor Leaguers who will be exposed to the Rule V draft:

Among the minor leaguers who will be exposed to the draft are position players Buck Britton, Tyler Henson, John Hester, Caleb Joseph, Greg Miclat, Billy Rowell, Brandon Waring, Ronnie Welty and Robbie Widlansky, and pitchers Tim Bascom, Brandon Cooney, Pat Egan, Eddie Gamboa, Sean Gleason, Steve Johnson, Cole McCurry, Wynn Pelzer and Rick Zagone.

The players who I think might get selected by other teams are Miclat, Bascom, and McCurry. In 2010, Pedro Beato was selected and kept by the Mets & Egan was selected and returned by the Brewers in the Major League round and Johnson was selected and returned by the Dodgers in the AAA round. I never like to lose any of the players who I've been following over the years, but it also means that the O's farm system isn't as bad as some people say it is.