The Orioles don't mess around when it comes to hoarding elite athletes, and their latest move proves it. Baltimore signed Eric Booth Jr., the No. 7 overall pick out of Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for $7,324,700 -- just a shade under the full slot value for the pick.
Jim Callis broke the signing bonus number and the scouting profile that has scouts buzzing.
For a guy who was still committed to Vanderbilt a week ago, that's a life-changing check. Booth was part of the Commodores' incoming class before Baltimore made it very clear college wasn't happening. He becomes the third Mississippi high schooler in the last 3 years to get scooped up in the top 10 of the draft, which says plenty about the talent pipeline coming out of that state right now.
The tools here are absurd even by first-round standards. Booth reportedly ran the fastest 60-yard dash at East Coast Pro last summer, clocking in at 6.33 seconds, and he backed that up by winning the home run derby at the Perfect Game All-American Classic. Speed and pop don't usually come in the same package -- that's exactly why Jim Callis flagged him as the fastest player in the entire draft class with real 20-homer upside to go with it.
The stat line only adds to the hype. Booth hit .481 with a .669 on-base percentage and a .922 slugging percentage as a senior, following a junior season where he went .467 with 6 home runs and 27 stolen bases. Numbers like that against high school pitching don't guarantee anything at the next level, but they explain why a team picking seventh overall was willing to hand over $7.3 million to a teenager instead of rolling the dice on a safer college arm or bat.
Baltimore's farm system has been the envy of the sport for a few years now, and this is the front office doubling down on the model that got them there: draft the best athlete available, worry about the position and the timeline later. Booth won't sniff Camden Yards for years, but if the speed and power translate even partially, the Orioles just added another five-tool piece to a pipeline that's already stacked. Worth watching how quickly he moves once he's in the system full-time.