Eric Booth Jr. didn’t wait long to make an impression in Baltimore.
Just weeks after finishing his high school career at Oak Grove High School in Mississippi, the Orioles’ first-round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft - No. 7 overall - stepped onto the field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday and started driving baseballs to the places fans love to see them land. During batting practice before Baltimore’s game against the Atlanta Braves, the 18-year-old left-handed-hitting center fielder sent multiple balls into the right-field seats and onto the stadium’s Flag Court.
Then he took the conversation a step farther down Eutaw Street.
When asked about the B&O Warehouse beyond the right-field fence, Booth didn’t back away from the challenge.
"We're going to get it one day," Booth said when asked about the iconic B&O Warehouse that towers beyond Eutaw Street.
That’s a bold line for any hitter, let alone one who was playing on Mississippi high school diamonds only a few months ago. The warehouse sits 439 feet from home plate at its closest point, and the geometry of the place makes the target even nastier.
A ball has to not only travel an enormous distance, but also keep climbing high enough to clear the right-field wall and keep carrying toward the brick facade. A shot down the line can drift foul before it ever gets there, and one toward right-center has to go even farther.
In the 34-year history of Camden Yards, no player has ever hit the warehouse on the fly in a Major League game. The only known ball to do it came from Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who hit the warehouse during the 1993 Home Run Derby on a blast estimated at 465 feet. A plaque marks the spot where that ball landed.
Booth, though, has already shown real pop. He estimated the longest home run of his career so far at between 430 and 450 feet, and the Orioles believe that power should keep growing as he matures physically in their system.
He wasn’t the only recent high school star getting a look at Camden Yards on Saturday. Kevin Roberts Jr., a Jackson Prep graduate and Baltimore’s fourth-round pick, was there too, along with second-round selection Ty Head out of North Carolina State.
Booth and Roberts had plenty to laugh about, too, given their history of facing each other in high school and travel ball. When Booth was asked about the last meeting between Oak Grove and Jackson Prep, he couldn’t resist taking a playful shot at his new teammate.
Later, Booth joined Orioles broadcasters Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald during the team’s broadcast for an in-game interview, and the 18-year-old made it clear Baltimore was the destination he had hoped for all along.
"That's what I always hoped," Booth said. "I hoped I ended up coming here.
I enjoyed it when I came for the workout and I hoped I'd come here, which I did. The workout just felt like home."
He also had plenty to say about seeing the ball fly in his first real look at the park.
"It's amazing," he said. "This is my first time getting out here and seeing how the ball flies. It's amazing."
For Booth, being taken seventh overall was the kind of moment he had been chasing since high school.
"I'm just blessed to be in that position," Booth said. "To hear my name called early was amazing.
Going into high school, it became a real dream, knowing I wanted to play baseball for a long time. I had to continue to put in the hard work to be able to get to where I am today."
And as for what kind of player Baltimore is getting, Booth kept it simple.
"I'm a hard worker and a competitive player that always wants to win," Booth said. "I'm going to do whatever I can do to help this team get better."
His warehouse prediction may have been the line that turned the most heads, but the bigger takeaway from Saturday was how quickly a high school career can turn into something much bigger. Booth is already talking like a player who expects to belong in Baltimore for a long time.
In Other News...
Maryland Faces A Familiar Nightmare As Columbus Trip Looms
Maryland heads to Columbus on Oct. 10 with the same problem that has shadowed this matchup for years: Ohio State is still the standard, and the Terrapins are still chasing a breakthrough that has never come. The Buckeyes enter this one with another loaded offense, led by quarterback Julian Sayin, wideout Jeremiah Smith and running back Bo Jackson, while Ryan Days program keeps operating with the kind of consistency that makes every trip to Ohio Stadium feel like a climb.
The challenge is not just the names on the other sideline, either. Ohio States defense has been as suffocating as ever under Day and Matt Patricia, ranking among the nations best in every major category that matters. For Maryland, the question is whether this is simply another familiar trip into a bad matchup, or the kind of October night that finally gives the Terrapins a chance to change the script. [Read more 🡒]