The Orioles have made a habit out of finding pitching depth in the middle rounds, and their latest bet is a Kansas righty who spent this spring making Big 12 hitters look silly. Dominic Voegele, Baltimore's 3rd-round pick at No. 82 overall, has officially signed for $897,500, according to Jim Callis.
3rd-rder Dominic Voegele signs w/@Orioles for $897,500 (slot 82 value = $1,003,800). @KUBaseball RHP, 93-96 mph fastball to 98, power breaking stuff, school-record 120 strikeouts in 97 innings this spring. @MLBDraft
That number is actually a bit below the assigned slot value of $1,003,800 for pick 82, which is typical Orioles business -- Baltimore has leaned on save-below-slot deals across its draft classes to spread bonus pool money to other picks. Voegele isn't some throw-in, though. He's a 21-year-old who was drafted out of high school and turned pro money down to go pitch for the Jayhawks instead, and it paid off.
The stat that jumps off the page is the 120 strikeouts in 97 innings this spring, a Kansas single-season record that blew past a mark that had stood since 2005. He was reportedly the only Division I starter in 2026 to rack up multiple 15-strikeout games, and he closed out his college career with 289 punchouts total, second-most in program history. Callis' report pegs the stuff behind those numbers: a fastball sitting 93-96 that touches 98, plus what scouts call power breaking stuff.
It wasn't all clean, though. Voegele's ERA sat up around 5.85 this season, which tells you this is a swing-and-miss arm that still needs to tighten up the command and the traffic he allows between the whiffs. That's the exact kind of project player Baltimore's pitching development staff has made its name fixing over the last few draft cycles, turning college strikeout artists with rough peripheral numbers into big-league rotation pieces.
For a Kansas program that doesn't get a ton of national spotlight, having a guy go 82nd overall and sign for close to $900K is a real point of pride -- it's the third-highest pick in school history. For the Orioles, it's another data point in a farm system that's been the envy of the sport, adding a power arm with a track record of missing bats to a pipeline that's already sent waves of talent to Camden Yards. Now it's on player development to turn the strikeout totals into strikes.