O’s should be busy with first night of draft

Orioles have 3 picks among first 75; Showalter climbs all-time wins list

CLEVELAND — It will be a day off for their major league club, but the Orioles still will be busy today: The organization has three picks among the first 75 selections of the first-year player draft.

The Orioles hold four selections among the first 102 picks a year after they lost their first two selections for signing qualifying-offer free agents Nelson Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez.

“It’s really exciting for us because we really have the opportunity to make an impact on the organization this year,” Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich said.

The Orioles, who have the 25th overall pick, also received the 36th overall pick as compensation for losing Cruz, to whom they tendered a qualifying offer before he signed a four-year deal with the Seattle Mariners. The Orioles’ second-round pick (68th overall) also will be made tonight.

“It’s like Christmas,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “We’ve got some really good people running that thing, so I’m looking forward to adding some pieces.”

The Orioles also have a competitive-balance pick after the second round (74th overall), which they received from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the trade for reliever Ryan Webb.

Schoop progresses

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop (right knee) is getting his share of at-bats in extended spring training games in Sarasota, Fla., and while Showalter has been reluctant to give a timetable for his return, he said Schoop’s not far from a minor league rehabilitation assignment.

Orioles vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson is in Sarasota working with the team’s injured players, including Schoop.

“He’s got plenty of at-bats,” Showalter said. “If you watched him run straight ahead, there’s nothing you’d really [notice]. Brady is timing everything. It’s kind of a little tentativeness when he takes a turn, maybe the pivot. That’s the last thing that’s going to come, getting over that part of it.

“Brady is supposed to be back Tuesday. Hemay stay there with him if he thinks he’s getting closer. I told to just stay there.”

Schoop went on the disabled list April 18 with a Grade 1 partial PCL tear and an MCL sprain in his right knee after landing awkwardly on first base. The club had expected his recovery to take six to eight weeks.