The Orioles went a little different direction than usual when they selected outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. out of Vanderbilt with the No. 17 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft.
In previous drafts under GM Mike Elias, the club had typically emphasized big, physical college position players with high-end hit and/or power tools. Think of Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman, Stanford outfielder Kyle Stowers, Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad, Mississippi State infielder Jordan Westburg and Sam Houston State outfielder Colton Cowser.
Bradfield is a college position player just like those big leaguers, but his game is about speed and defense. He had questions about his swing and pop coming out of Vanderbilt, but the consensus was that if the Orioles could help him develop at the dish, he could be a difference-making talent at the big league level with his wheels.
Bradfield believes he’s well on the way to making that a reality. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound outfielder is hitting .274/.355/.375 with 65 steals between High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. He said he talked with the folks in the Orioles’ hitting department heading into last offseason to get on the right path.
“I know the caliber of hitter [I am]. I’m going to be a guy that gets on base a lot, but I do have the potential to do some damage as well — hit the ball in the gap, doubles, triples, run into a ball and it’s going to leave,” Bradfield said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 22. “It’s being able to consistently do that that I’ve been working toward. It’s been a little bit of a stance adjustment, some different swing focuses, swing cues to get me moving in the right way. It’s just kind of been a constant build, even last year in Delmarva to the offseason. It’s just been a constant evolution. I’m excited for what it can look like in the next year.”
Bradfield had what many considered to be a down year at Vanderbilt in 2023, when he slashed .279/.410/.429 in 299 plate appearances. The quality approach (45 walks, 40 strikeouts) and speed (37 steals) were still apparent, but the power output (21 extra-base hits) and smaller frame made observers wonder how much he would impact the baseball in the professional ranks.
Bradfield will never be a power hitter, but if he can find his way on base, it might not matter. He believes he’s become “a completely different hitter” since signing with the Orioles last summer.
“You constantly are learning different things. Some of them take months to figure out. Some of them take a week,” Bradfield said. “You just have these moments where you’re probably not really expecting much and something happens and you’re like, ‘That’s interesting, let me see how this feels.’ That feeling might be something that can change something in your swing and you end up going out there and having some success and it’s like, ‘OK, that works for me.’ So it’s been a lot of moments like that, just small moments that I’m able to piece together and kind of put together a bigger picture with.”
What has never been in question is the speed:
Bradfield even thinks he can put together a 100-steal season at some point in his career.
“I think it’s very much a possibility,” he said. “I think it’s more than a possibility in my mind. I think there is going to be a year and there are going to be years where that number is right there in my reach.”
Bradfield has shared his brief journey through the Orioles’ farm system with fellow SEC speedster Tavian Josenberger, who has 50 steals between Aberdeen and Bowie. Josenberger played his college ball in 2023 at Arkansas, so he got a chance to play against Bradfield before the two got drafted by the Orioles.
The two have become friends since last year’s draft, as Josenberger recently explained.
“Tavian’s been awesome. We’ve lived together the entire year on the road, in Aberdeen. Now in Bowie we share an apartment together, so just having him around constantly, it’s good to have people that you really trust around you,” Bradfield said. “We sit down, we talk about baseball. We talk about how our games are developing, what’s changing for us. It’s very exciting to have one of your best friends here with you.”
For more from Bradfield, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Joe Noyes