Griff O’Ferrall and Ethan Anderson know how to share.
They shared a clubhouse at the University of Virginia, where they were teammates for three seasons helping the Cavaliers secure a pair of College World Series berths. They shared an apartment, rooming off campus together for their sophomore and junior years. They shared their excitement two weeks ago when the Orioles selected them on Day 1 of the 2024 MLB draft. Now, they’ve signed with their new ballclub together, further connecting the baseball journeys of two close friends.
“Leading up to the draft, we had talks about how crazy it would be to go to the same team,” Anderson said in a news conference with the two Orioles draftees July 19. “Thinking that there’s 30 teams, I never thought it was a shot and then now having a familiar face and being able to do this together is awesome.”
O’Ferrall, drafted No. 32 overall, and Anderson, a second-round pick, were the first two players to sign with the Orioles as part of a 21-player class the club finalized Thursday just before the deadline. They’ve reported to the Orioles’ spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida, where they will get acclimated with the organization and start working with the team’s player development staff before being assigned to minor league affiliates.
It’s just the latest chapter in a friendship that began in 2022, when they arrived in Charlottesville as freshmen. O’Ferrall was recruited late into his high school career, while Anderson graduated a year early at Cox High in Virginia Beach and moved up a recruiting class. As a result, they were both initially buried on the Cavaliers’ depth chart at their respective positions of shortstop and catcher.
However, they impressed their coaches so quickly that they still managed to crack Virginia’s opening-day lineup that year, with O’Ferrall batting leadoff and playing shortstop and Anderson hitting eighth in the designated hitter spot.
“They both made enormous impacts right away as freshmen in our lineup and playing every day,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor told The Baltimore Sun in a phone interview. “You just saw them both really grow as players and grow as men, and both became great leaders of our team and you just saw them continue to forge a friendship and a bond that is really special and certainly, in their three years here, we had really high level of success and both of them were huge keys to that happening.”
Their friendship is rooted not just in their on-field success, but how they approach their craft. O’Ferrall and Anderson developed reputations as two of the hardest-working players on the team, pushing each other to build strong habits and garnering the respect of their teammates and coaches as clubhouse leaders.
“They’re the guys that basically set the tone for our program because they’re the first ones there and they’re the last ones to leave,” Virginia associate head coach Kevin McMullan said. “They did everything the right way. Their intentions are always right and that’s why they’re in the position they’re in.”
Both players have military connections that have influenced their character and work ethic. Anderson’s father, J.R., was a U.S. Navy SEAL and their family moved several times while he was growing up. O’Ferrall’s brother, Sam, went to West Point; both he and O’Ferrall’s sister-in-law have served. But coaches say the biggest factor the new Orioles prospects have in common are the family environments that instilled natural leadership traits in them.
“He’s always been extremely loyal to where his feet are,” said Matt Ittner, Anderson’s former coach at Cox. “That’s what makes ‘E’ special and what’s made him very successful and I think a lot of it comes from his upbringing with his father.
“His ability to integrate himself into a team, he had to learn that at an early age with the amount of moves that he had to make and being put in different environments. I’m sure there were times where he struggled with his circumstances, but I think ultimately, it’s turned into a strength for him and being able to infiltrate himself into a team, be a good teammate (and) build relationships with those around him.”
O’Ferrall grew up a coach’s son, spending as much time as he could with his father’s high school teams on the baseball field and the golf course. He was always athletic, but wasn’t built physically like a player who might seem destined for professional sports at a young age. What truly separated O’Ferrall was his drive for success, a trait that drew his teammates to follow his lead wherever he went.
“He’s a kid in his class that his peers just naturally look to, not just on the baseball field, but just in general,” said Tony Szymendera, O’Ferrall’s former baseball coach at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond. “He’s not a not a big yeller and screamer, but he is a very intense kid about what he’s doing. Particularly on the field, he’s going to be serious and he’s going to hold others accountable. He knows what people are capable of and will expect them to live up to that.”
From their first game at Virginia on, O’Ferrall and Anderson became integral members of the Cavaliers’ culture and roster. O’Ferrall stuck at leadoff, going on to compile the most career hits (270) and runs (196) of any three-year player in program history. He got on base, racked up 50 stolen bases and played well at shortstop anchored by his strong arm.
Anderson had to wait until his junior year to get the starting catching job to himself, but his bat made him a mainstay in the lineup. He was a doubles machine — his 58 two-baggers rank third in the UVA record books — and he recorded an on-base percentage over .400 in each of his three seasons.
They now join an Orioles farm system with a history of identifying players of O’Ferrall and Anderson’s ilk, talented prospects with the right mind for attacking their development.
A chance to work their way to the major leagues awaits. It’s a challenge they’ll share together.
“It didn’t surprise me at all that Baltimore takes these guys because of just who they are as men and the kind of players that they are,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s a fantastic fit for the Orioles’ organization.”
