One scout’s look at the Orioles’ farm: Hays, Sisco, Scott, Castro, Mountcastle and others

Earlier this week I spoke to a major league scout from an opposing team about the Orioles organization.

You can read the first part – which takes a look at some of the current big leaguers – here.

Today, we’re running the second and final segment, which focuses on several players that spent a chunk of the year in the minors – or are still there.

The Orioles’ farm system has been much maligned over the years, but to be fair, much of the core of the 2018 team was developed by the organization: Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Trey Mancini, Zach Britton, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Mychal Givens, Caleb Joseph.

Here’s a look at the next wave through the eyes of a talent evaluator from another organization.

The system

“It’s gotten a little better. I like Hunter Harvey a lot if he can come back healthy. I like the (Keegan) Akin kid. He can pitch a little bit. And Austin Hays is a pleasant surprise, a shock really. They have a relatively high pick recently that can do something. That’s rather uncharacteristic on their part. Seriously, their system has gotten a little bit better, but it’s a far cry from, say, Washington or the Yankees.”

Austin Hays

“I really like the kid, Hays. He looks like he might end up making the Opening Day team next year. They started the clock on him. You only hope there’s not a hole that the big leagues figure out and start abusing it. But it looks like he can protect himself right now and do a pretty good job. And it would get (Mark) Trumbo into that DH role, where you wouldn’t have to run him out to right field, too.”

Chance Sisco

Sisco took a little step forward defensively for me last year. He at least cared, it looked like. Two years ago, when I saw him in 2016 in Double-A early in the year, his want to be a good catcher wasn’t really there. And I think last year he finally figured out that I’ve got to work at this to get better. Because he did get better last year as the year went on. There was just more energy. He was more engaged than before. Maybe that was the newness of being in the big leagues. Maybe that was him finally realizing there’s a reason nobody wants to catch. It’s the hardest job in the game. He’s got a good bat. It’s not gonna be a powerful bat, but he is gonna hit.”

Miguel Castro

“I loved what they did with him last year. Letting him go back to the minor leagues and stretching him out. He needs that. He was made a closer in the big leagues at 20, so he didn’t have enough experience. But I would certainly try him as a starter. That was a baffler to me that Colorado moved him.”

Tanner Scott

“He’s got the stuff to succeed. He reminds me of (former Oriole closer) Randy Myers. That kind of guy. He is gonna pitch at the back end of the game. There is going to be some deep counts. But what they did for him and Castro (at Double-A), when they would have them splitting games and stretching them out for three innings, helped both kids.”

Ryan Mountcastle

“This kid is gonna hit, but they are gonna have to buy him a first baseman’s mitt. He can’t play on the left side of the infield and he can’t play second base, either. He’s just not capable. Every ball he throws across from third is an adventure, whether it’s gonna come close to hitting his mark. He’s got this funky arm action and release. But he is definitely gonna hit. And he’s a big RBI guy, too. He gets hits when it counts.”

Drew Dosch

“For me, he’s an up and down (Triple-A shuttle) guy. I’ve never seen anything that has jumped out at me, that I’ve said, ‘I really want to acquire this guy.’ I think he is a solid guy, he plays hard. He just doesn’t jump out at you with anything. But I do know some other guys that like him.”

Some 40-man-roster pitchers

“I like David Hess (pictured above) a little bit. I think he’s got a chance to be a bottom-end starter. I like Stefan Crichton a little bit, too. (Jimmy) Yacabonis, I think, is just a thrower, but he’s got a good arm.  Some of these kids just need to figure out how to pitch.”