Reviewing the Orioles’ top minor leaguers
Only two years ago, the Orioles ‘farm system was packed with prospects. They were the top-ranked minor league system, and MLB Pipeline’s top 10 prospects all played in the major leagues in 2024.
Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, Heston Kjerstad, DL Hall, Joey Ortiz, Connor Norby and Coby Mayo were an impressive top 10.
Hall and Ortiz were sent to Milwaukee for Corbin Burnes, and Norby and Kyle Stowers went to Miami for left-hander Trevor Rogers.
The 14th- and 19th-ranked prospects, left-hander Cade Povich and right-hander Chayce McDermott, also pitched for the first time in the major leagues this year.
Right-hander Seth Johnson, the Orioles’ 16th-ranked prospect, was traded to Philadelphia in the deal that sent left-hander Gregory Soto to Baltimore. César Prieto, an infielder who was rated 18th, and left-hander Drew Rom were dealt to St. Louis at the 2023 trade deadline for right-hander Jack Flaherty.
Right-hander Ryan Watson, a surprise choice as the Orioles’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2022, was sent to San Francisco in August for cash considerations.
Because of the graduations to the major leagues, the Orioles’ top 30 looks much different now.
Mayo, who was just 4-for-41 in two late-season stints with the Orioles, is the top-ranked prospect now and the eighth overall in baseball. McDermott, who started one game for the Orioles, is fifth.
Samuel Basallo is baseball’s top-ranked international prospect and the 13th overall. Basallo, who finished the season with Triple-A Norfolk, is the Orioles’ second-ranked minor leaguer.
The team’s most recent No. 1 draft picks, outfielders Vance Honeycutt (2024) and Enrique Bradfield Jr. (2023), are third and fourth.
Honeycutt finished his season with five games for High-A Aberdeen after playing five for Single-A Delmarva.
Bradfield stole 59 bases in 68 attempts in 61 games for Aberdeen and concluded the season at Double-A Bowie, where he stole 15 of 19 bases in 27 attempts.
Outfielder Dylan Beavers, who was rated 11th two years ago, has moved up to sixth. Beavers finished the season with six games at Triple-A Norfolk. Beavers hit .241 with a .756 OPS with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs for Bowie.
Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall, who was the 32nd overall pick in the 2024 draft, is the seventh-rated prospect.
While the names have changed in the last two years, and it’s unlikely that the top 10 success will be duplicated, the Orioles’ ways of procuring players is apparent in the current Top 30.
Including Basallo, there were seven international players in that Top 30. The current list has 13 international players.
Right-hander Juan Nuñez, left-hander Luis De Leon and outfielder Stiven Martinez are ranked eighth, ninth and 10th. None were in the top 30 two years ago. Outfielder Thomas Sosa (15th) is also new
Another outfielder, Braylin Tavera, was 25th two years ago, and he’s 16th now.
Third baseman Jesus Liranzo (20th) is new while shortstop Leandro Arias is 21st now. He was 28th in 2023.
Shortstop Emilio Sanchez (24), right-handers Esteban Mejia (26) and Keeler Morfe (27), outfielder Jordan Sanchez (28) and infielder Arpon Estrada (29) are new to the rankings.
The highest rated for the rest of the prospects is outfielder Jud Fabian, who was 17th in 2024 and currently 11th. Fabian showed power at Bowie, where he hit 18 home runs and drove in 58 runs while hitting .233 with a .758 OPS, but struggled in 30 games for Norfolk, where he hit only .159.
Right-hander Trace Bright (12), catcher/first baseman Ethan Anderson (13) and right-hander Patrick Reilly (14) are a trio of intriguing prospects.
Bright, a fifth-round draft pick in 2022, was 0-11 in 2024 for Double-A Bowie. Because he was on a strict pitch count, he wasn’t in games long enough to record a win. Bright averaged fewer than five innings a start but struck out 120 batters in 112 innings.
Anderson was drafted behind O’Ferrall in this year’s draft, and Reilly was acquired from Pittsburgh in exchange for infielder/outfielder Billy Cook. Reilly was 1-1 with a 3.73 ERA in eight games for the Baysox and averaged six hits per nine innings.
Outfielder Austin Overn, the Orioles’ third-round pick this year, and right-hander Michael Forret, who had 124 strikeouts in 99 2/3 innings for Delmarva and Aberdeen, are 17th and 18th.
Right-hander Brandon Young, an undrafted free agent signee in 2020 who was named the team’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, is 19th. Young is expected to be added to the team’s 40-man roster next month.
Catcher/first baseman Creed Willems, who’s playing in the Arizona Fall League, is 22nd.
Max Wagner, a second-round pick in 2022, had a rough 2024. He played just 25 games becauseof injuries and slipped in the rankings from 13th in 2023 to 23rd.
Right-hander Alex Pham, who struck out 138 in 119 innings for Bowie, is ranked 25th, and shortstop DJ Layton, the Orioles’ sixth-round pick in 2024 who didn’t play this year, is the 30th-ranked prospect.
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