Orioles take Martin with 1st Rule 5 pick

LAS VEGAS — The A’s understood that leaving a firstround pick off their 40-man roster this winter might mean losing him — and so they did, immediately.

The Orioles took shortstop Richie Martin with the first pick of Thursday’s Rule 5 draft; he will have to remain on Baltimore’s big-league roster all season or must be offered back to Oakland for $50,000. The A’s will receive $100,000 from the Orioles for the selection.

Baltimore won only 47 games last year, and Martin appears to be in the big-league plans. “Great for Richie,” Oakland general manager David Forst said. “It’s an opportunity, obviously with a club that needs players, and I’m sure he’ll have every opportunity to stick. That’s part of the decisions we have to make. I wish him the best of luck.”

One talent evaluator said that the question with Martin, who was the 20th pick overall from Florida in 2015, is whether his .300 average at Double-A Midland last season was an anomaly. Several scouts said they believe he profiles better as a second baseman, but one scout whose team had a top-12 pick said he had urged his team to take Martin if available because he likes him a lot as a shortstop. “I think he’ll do well there,” the scout said.

The A’s have numerous infielders who had moved ahead of Martin on various prospect rankings lists, including Jorge Mateo, Sheldon Neuse, Nick Allen, Kevin Merrell, Eli White, Alexander Campos, Yerdel Vargas and Marcos Brito. Martin was ranked the A’s 21st-best prospect in 2017, according to MLB Pipeline, but he was not among the top 30 in 2018.

Martin, who turns 24 next week, has not played at the Triple-A level and the A’s have a 40-man-roster crunch. Given their many needs this winter, Oakland declined to select a player in the Rule 5 draft but did take three players in the minor-league portion of the draft: middle infielder Corban Joseph from Baltimore, outfielder Mark Payton from the Yankees and first baseman Anthony Miller from Cleveland.