Mike Elias has a type when it comes to draft picks. He likes tools. He likes upside. And he is willing to take some risk in order to get those things. That made the pick of Griff O’Ferrall in 2024 rather curious. While the University of Virginia product certainly has ability, it’s never been the most exciting skillset, and he didn’t do much in 2025 to change that outlook.
O’Ferall spent most of the season at High-A Aberdeen, where he posted a .226/.318/.299 batting line with four home runs, 14 doubles,
two triples, and 42 stolen bases on 49 attempts. That was enough to earn a 10-game cameo with Double-A Chespeake. In his short time there he hit .250/.357/.361 with two doubles, a triple, and two stolen bases.
Contact is O’Ferrall’s calling card. Here is the FanGraphs scouting reporting on him:
O’Ferrall was also perhaps the toughest player to make whiff in the entire 2024 draft, as he had a 96% in-zone contact rate that year. He is geared for opposite field contact a lot of the time, but unlike a lot of inside-out hitters, he can pull a decent subset of inside pitches and has great plate coverage in the up-and-away part of the zone. He has rhythmic hitting hands, and his wrists are quick through the zone.
That remained true in 2025. O’Ferrall struck out just 14.9% of the time and made contact on 86% of swings. On the season, he struck out 77 times and walked 59 times. That’s a balance that will work. For some context, the Blue Jays have been MLB’s best team at making contact this year. Their contact rate was 80.5% and their strikeout rate was 17.8%.
Power has been an issue though. O’Ferrall hit just eight home runs in his entire college career at UVA, and then didn’t go deep at all in his 20-game pro debut in 2024. There was some improvement there in 2025. His slugging on the season improved from .276 in ‘24 to .304 in ‘25. That included a nice finish to the season in which he hit .250/.357/.361 with three extra base hits in September.
Scouts reported that O’Ferrall was noticeably bigger and stronger going into 2025. And while he did see some better numbers on the stat sheet this year, it is still reasonable to wonder if he is still lacking a bit too much in that department to be a future everyday option.
The added muscle didn’t seem to impact O’Ferall’s ability to run. Across both levels he swiped 44 bases on 52 attempts. Scouts peg his speed at an above-average 60 on the 20-80 scale, so it is certainly a weapon for him.
Defense is another solid trait of O’Ferrall’s. He played 72 games at shortstop and 40 games at second base in 2025, making just nine errors across the whole season. His glovework garnered praise coming out of the draft. Here is more from FanGraphs:
He’s not especially physical or toolsy, with his creative actions and elegant, balletic footwork and body control driving his fit there. Hands and arm accuracy were issues for him as a sophomore, but he improved in those areas as a junior. A lightning fast exchange helps bolster his arm strength enough for him to be a cozy shortstop fit.
The Orioles were impressed enough by O’Ferrall to keep him on a linear development path. He got a late-season promotion to Double-A, and that is where he is due to return for the start of 2026. But he is not turning into the sort of prospect that they may have hoped to get with the 32nd overall pick.
O’Ferrall has slid off of MLB Pipeline’s list of Top 30 Orioles prospects entirely. Austin Overn, the O’s third-round pick in the ‘24 draft, is still on it and earned a promotion to Double-A earlier in the year.
This is not to say that O’Ferall’s status as a prospect is in jeopardy. He is still moving in the right direction. There was more power in 2025. The defense appears solid and versatile. His foot speed is a viable tool. But it does feel fair to say that he is now viewed as a future bench piece rather than an everyday MLB option.
If that is the outcome here, it should not be a huge surprise. O’Ferrall was viewed as a relatively safe pick in that his floor was modestly high while his ceiling was relatively low. That is not inherently a bad thing. Organizations need players like this. Teams cannot take the biggest swing every single round because if they miss each time then they end up with barren rosters in the high minors and need to seek outside talent to construct a major league roster.
The 2026 season will be a big one for O’Ferrall. He is likely to spend the whole year at Double-A Chesapeake. If he can show just a tad more power while stealing dozens of bases and playing a solid shortstop then he should be on the fast track to the big leagues, even if he may not come with massive upside.
Tomorrow: Chayce McDermott
