Within a day after the first half of the minor league season ending, Jackson Holliday reached the top of one ranking of baseball’s top prospects, Jordan Westburg ascended to the majors, and Holliday and Heston Kjerstad were named as participants in the MLB All-Star Futures Game.
Such is the state of the Orioles’ top-ranked minor league system, where accolades can come in quick succession. Holliday is MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, Westburg is a major leaguer, Kjerstad has reestablished himself as a rising talent and many others join them in marching toward Camden Yards, where the Orioles hold the American League’s second-best record.
“This is what healthy organizations do,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “They have not just a talented major league team, but they have guys competing in the minor leagues, also.
“We have a lot of fun guys to watch right now and more guys who will be making their debuts for the next couple years.”
To Hyde’s point, Westburg’s promotion invites a simple question: Who’s next? A look at the Triple-A roster he left behind offers several possible answers, many of whom, like him, played key roles in Norfolk securing the International League’s first-half title.
“Obviously, this is where everybody wants to be, so I was excited to leave, but not excited to leave my buddies and teammates,” Westburg said. “Especially with how well we were playing down there. Clinching last week was a lot of fun. You don’t know how many times you’re going to get to celebrate that in a career.”
The Orioles hope Westburg and his new teammates will have plenty of such occasions in the future. Those, too, could come with those he left behind in Norfolk.
Many of them also join Westburg here, on The Baltimore Sun’s list of the top performers among prospects in the Orioles’ system throughout the first half of the minor league season.
Low-A Delmarva’s Samuel Basallo: The first product of the Orioles’ international pipeline to be ranked a top 100 prospect, Basallo has hit .301 with an .845 OPS as an 18-year-old.
High-A Aberdeen’s Creed Willems: This is a machination of the exercise, given that Willems is primarily a catcher, but with him and Basallo both opening the year in Delmarva, both have seen time at first. After hitting under .200 with a .586 OPS at Low-A last year, he had an OPS above 1.000 this season before joining Aberdeen, where he’s slugging .466 so far.
Triple-A Norfolk’s César Prieto: The 2021 batting champion in his native Cuba, Prieto flirted with a .400 batting average into mid-May with Bowie. He ended his tenure there hitting .364 and is off to .316/.333/.526 start with Norfolk.
Double-A Bowie’s Coby Mayo: Known for his power since being drafted in 2020′s fourth round, Mayo has routinely put it on display for the Baysox. His 26 doubles, .609 slugging percentage and 1.041 OPS lead all Orioles minor leaguers with at least 100 plate appearances, while only Westburg and Kjerstad have more home runs than his 14.
High-A Aberdeen’s Jackson Holliday: The improvements Holliday made between his junior and senior years of high school played a key role in persuading the Orioles to make him the first overall pick in last summer’s draft, and he’s just kept getting better since. After hitting almost .400 at Low-A Delmarva, the 19-year-old has continued to thrive at Aberdeen. Overall, he’s hitting .325 with a .994 OPS, 14 doubles, six triples, seven home runs, 20 steals and a balanced strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Colton Cowser: Cowser seems best positioned to follow Westburg as the next Orioles debutant. Drafted fifth overall in 2021, Cowser has a .451 on-base percentage that ranks fourth among qualified Triple-A hitters. After striking out nearly twice as much as he walked in 2022, he’s greatly improved this year, with his 18.3% walk rate placing him second behind only Holliday among players in the system.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Heston Kjerstad: Two years to the day after Baltimore drafted him second overall in 2020, Kjerstad, delayed by heart and hamstring ailments, made his professional debut. It took him less than a year to reach Triple-A, and between there and Bowie, he’s hit .304 and slugged .579 with 15 home runs, trailing only Westburg.
Double-A Bowie’s Jud Fabian: In the first dozen games of his first full professional season, Fabian hit .191 with a .536 OPS. In 50 games since, he’s slashed .294/.405/.559 with 14 doubles and 11 home runs. The 67th overall pick in last year’s draft went 6-for-27 with nine strikeouts in his first week with Bowie, but half of his hits were home runs.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Jordan Westburg: Westburg’s 18 home runs led all Orioles minor leaguers, and he likely would prefer not to add to that total, given that would mean sticking in the majors. Making appearances at three infield spots and dabbling in the outfield, he hit .295 with .939 OPS for the Tides to earn his promotion.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Justin Armbruester: In an organization that hasn’t invested much draft capital in pitching in recent years, Armbruester stands out as a mid-round success story. Baltimore’s 12th-round pick in 2021, the 24-year-old right-hander posted a 2.47 ERA in 12 starts with Bowie before pitching five scoreless innings in his Triple-A debut.
Double-A Bowie’s Alex Pham: Taken seven rounds after Armbruester with the Orioles’ penultimate pick in 2021, Pham had a 4.23 ERA in 26 Rookie-level and A-ball relief appearances in his first two seasons with the organization. Starting 11 of his 13 outings this year, he has a 2.24 ERA between Aberdeen and Bowie, with 35.1% strikeout rate the highest of any Orioles minor leaguer with at least 30 innings pitched.
Double-A Bowie’s Chayce McDermott: One of two pitchers the Orioles acquired for trading away fan favorite Trey Mancini last summer, McDermott struggled in Bowie after the trade but has performed well there this year. He has a 2.90 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 59 innings.
High-A Aberdeen’s Ryan Long: After pitching for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic, Long has a 2.31 ERA in 50 2/3 innings while working as a starter and bulk reliever for the IronBirds. His strikeout rate is 25.3% above his walk rate, the best differential in the system among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings.
Double-A Bowie’s Jean Pinto: Pinto had a solid 2022 season in High-A, and back at the level this year, he built on it, increasing his strikeout rate and dipping his walk rate to drop his ERA by nearly a run to earn a promotion to Double-A. A right-hander acquired from the Los Angeles Angels for infielder José Iglesias, Pinto has a 2.93 ERA overall.
Low-A Delmarva’s Yaqui Rivera: Like the draft pick that produced Fabian, Rivera is a byproduct of the trade that sent relievers Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser to the Miami Marlins last spring. The 19-year-old has 1.69 ERA in 18 appearances, with 39 strikeouts and no home runs allowed in 26 2/3 innings.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Easton Lucas: Another pitching prospect acquired from Miami — 2019′s swap for infielder Jonathan Villar — Lucas struck out 38.7% of batters he faced in 11 outings with Bowie before joining Norfolk. His four appearances with the Tides have included one dud, but his overall numbers are still strong.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Wandisson Charles: In the Oakland Athletics’ system, Charles was viewed as having impressive stuff but an inability to command it. He’s seemingly honed it since signing a minor league deal with Baltimore. In 15 upper minors relief appearances, Charles has struck out 29 of the 70 batters he’s faced while walking five. His 0.74 WHIP is more than a full base runner below his career mark entering this year.
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