The Orioles referred to as up Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser in a span of 10 days. The group’s different high prospects are jostling to be subsequent.
From prospects who’ve but to make their MLB debuts — Heston Kjerstad, Connor Norby and Coby Mayo — to those that have already gotten a style of the present — Joey Ortiz and Grayson Rodriguez — Baltimore has loads of expertise to select from in Triple-A.
Who could possibly be subsequent? And is there even area (or enjoying time) for any of these gamers on the 2023 Orioles?
Westburg and Cowser have been each placing up large numbers in Triple-A — the previous for primarily a full season’s price of video games, the latter reaching base at an otherwordly tempo. Throughout the primary three months of the season, there was clamoring for the membership to advertise the 2 prospects who rank inside Baseball America’s high 40. Whether the timing was appropriate or not, they’ve now been added to an impressively lengthy checklist of prospects the Orioles have promoted prior to now 14 months: Adley Rutschman, Kyle Stowers, Gunnar Henderson, Rodriguez, Ortiz, and now Westburg and Cowser.
The 5 gamers in query — Kjerstad, Norby, Mayo, Ortiz and Rodriguez — all have totally different paths to Baltimore, some extra seemingly than others.
Norby and Mayo are maybe the least prone to make their debuts this yr. Mayo, one in all 9 Orioles prospects on Baseball America’s high 100 checklist, is 21 years previous and was simply promoted to Triple-A, though he was dominating Double-A to the tune of a 1.026 OPS. Meanwhile, Norby, who’s ranked as Baltimore’s No. 11 prospect, is clearly behind Ortiz and Westburg on the infield prospect pecking order, on high of the established large leaguers already on the Orioles — Jorge Mateo, Adam Frazier, Gunnar Henderson and Ramón Urías. While Norby isn’t placing up Westburg or Cowser-esque numbers, he’s nonetheless hitting .282 with a stable .795 OPS with the Norfolk Tides.
The different participant nonetheless in search of his first large league call-up is Kjerstad, who alongside Jackson Holliday performed within the MLB All-Star Futures Game on Saturday, going 1-for-2 with a single. A yr in the past, Kjerstad was nonetheless in Low-A after lacking the earlier two years with coronary heart and hamstring illnesses. In the 12 months since, he’s zoomed by Baltimore’s minor league system and up prospect lists, the place he now ranks No. 73 within the sport, based on Baseball America.
After hitting .310 with a .960 OPS in Double-A, Kjerstad is slashing .323/.414/.602 — good for a 1.017 OPS — in 25 video games in Triple-A. However, the emergence of switch-hitting outfielder Aaron Hicks and left-handed first baseman Ryan O’Hearn — plus the return of first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and the general well being of the Orioles’ outfield — makes it exhausting to discover a place for Kjerstad to get on a regular basis at-bats within the majors. His outfield protection can also be worse than most of Baltimore’s outfielders, and he’s performed simply 20 profession video games at first base.
Perhaps the almost definitely prospects to make their approach again to Baltimore are Rodriguez and Ortiz after neither might stick within the majors (for vastly totally different causes) earlier this yr. Rodriguez, the Orioles’ high pitching prospect, was largely ineffective in his 10 begins, posting a 7.35 ERA and a 1.743 WHIP earlier than being optioned again right down to Triple-A. Ortiz was referred to as as much as the majors thrice in two months, however he totaled simply 34 plate appearances throughout his 24 video games on the roster and was optioned in favor of Westburg, who ranks one spot forward of Ortiz amongst Baltimore’s prospect corps.
Despite their difficult circumstances within the majors, each Rodriguez and Ortiz have dominated Triple-A upon their returns. Rodriguez, who gained the International League Pitcher of the Month Award for his dominant June, has posted a 1.69 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings since rejoining Norfolk. Ortiz, in the meantime, is hitting .333 this yr, and his profession .951 OPS in Triple-A is healthier than some other Orioles prospect who has performed no less than 40 video games on the stage.
But Ortiz will proceed to have the identical drawback he’s confronted throughout his earlier stints with the massive membership: discovering the sphere. That is, except the Orioles commerce from their infield depth on the deadline. And Rodriguez additionally seems to be the odd man out of the Orioles’ stable — however removed from spectacular — rotation as No. 5 starter Cole Irvin has a 2.92 ERA since returning to the majors a month in the past.
While these 5 prospects have the most effective probability of enjoying within the majors this yr, they’re not the one gamers on the farm who matter. That’s why every week, The Baltimore Sun will break down 5 of the highest performers in Baltimore’s prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for individuals who didn’t make that lower.
1. High-A Aberdeen outfielder Kyle Stowers
Sure, Stowers isn’t really a High-A participant, however he’s nonetheless prospect eligible with 121 at-bats — 9 away from graduating from such standing. During his rehabilitation stint after lacking greater than a month with irritation, Stowers dominated the decrease stage, going 9-for-18 final week with three dwelling runs and eight RBIs.
2. Double-A Bowie outfielder Billy Cook
Stowers’ eight RBIs, nonetheless, weren’t sufficient to steer all Orioles minor leaguers. Cook, who isn’t amongst Baltimore’s high 30 prospects, drove in 10 runs for the Baysox, together with 4 with a grand slam Sunday — his ninth homer of the season. The 24-year-old went 5-for-18 final week to spice up his seasonlong slash line to .257/.331/.431.
3. Triple-A Norfolk left-hander Drew Rom
Rom, the Orioles’ sixth-best pitching prospect, had an excellent begin to the season. But in his eight appearances since he was referred to as as much as the majors and despatched again down after not taking the massive league mound, he struggled with an 8.91 ERA. The 23-year-old lefty acquired again on observe Wednesday by pitching 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball with 9 strikeouts to decrease his ERA to five.58.
4. High-A Aberdeen outfielder Dylan Beavers
It wasn’t simply Stowers who raked for the IronBirds final week. Seven gamers, together with Beavers, posted an OPS north of 1.000 throughout the membership’s 5 video games. Beavers, Baltimore’s No. 19 prospect, went 6-for-16 with three doubles, two dwelling runs and eight RBIs to spice up his OPS to .771.
5. Double-A Bowie left-hander Cade Povich
Povich, the Orioles’ third-best pitching prospect, has had a perplexing 2023 season. His 35.1% strikeout charge is elite, however he’s allowed 11 dwelling runs in simply 71 1/3 innings and owns a subpar 4.92 ERA. It wasn’t the 13-strikeout begin he posted a month in the past, however Povich pitched 5 innings of one-run ball with 9 punchouts Saturday.
The high prospect not featured to date
Holliday won’t have been featured on this report till now, however he was closely concerned throughout the Futures Game on Saturday. Holliday, the 19-year-old who’s the game’s No. 1 prospect based on MLB Pipeline, carried out extra interviews throughout the Futures Game broadcast on Peacock (two) than at-bats he acquired (one). Before flying to Seattle for the sport that options the game’s high minor league expertise, Holliday continued his robust season by going 8-for-14 with two doubles and two walks for High-A Aberdeen, incomes his promotion to Double-A.
International acquisition of the week
In his first 4 years within the Orioles group, infielder Noelberth Romero struggled on the plate, posting an OPS under .700 at each cease since 2019. That continued with Double-A Bowie this yr, however since he was despatched again right down to Low-A Delmarva in mid-June, Romero has hit .321 with seven extra-base hits in 15 video games. Last week, the 21-year-old the Orioles acquired from the Boston Red Sox within the Andrew Cashner commerce went 8-for-19 with two doubles, two dwelling runs and eight RBIs.
Time to present a shout-out to …
Two extra Aberdeen hitters. No gamers within the group posted the next OPS final week than first baseman Maxwell Costes (1.806) and catcher Silas Ardoin (1.881). Costes, a former Terps and Gilman standout, went 4-for-8 with two dwelling runs and 4 RBIs, whereas Ardoin, a fourth-round decide in 2022, went 6-for-13 with three solo dwelling runs, a double and 7 walks.
Short-season snippets
Cristian Benavides, a shortstop the Orioles signed out of Venezuela in January 2022, hit the lone dwelling run for Baltimore’s Florida Complex League group over the previous week. He went 3-for-9 with two runs, two RBIs and a stroll. … In the Dominican Summer League, right-hander Alberto Leandro, a 21-year-old Venezuelan the Orioles signed in May, struck out six batters in 2 1/3 scoreless innings. … Also within the DSL, 17-year-old left-hander Francisco Morao, who the Orioles signed out of Venezuela in January, struck out eight batters in 5 innings of one-run ball. … Infielder Victor Celedonio, a Dominican Republic native who signed with Baltimore in January 2021, went 6-for-13 with three doubles and three RBIs within the DSL.
Minors strikes
This weekend was full of a number of promotions, with Mayo and right-hander Chayce McDermott going from Double-A to Triple-A and Holliday from High-A to Double-A. But there was disappointing information a few member of the Orioles’ 2019 draft class. Four of Baltimore’s first 5 picks in that draft — Rutschman, Henderson, Stowers and Ortiz — have made their MLB debuts. The one who hasn’t was launched Monday. Zach Watson, a third-round decide, had a .660 OPS in Double-A a yr after posting a .577 OPS with Bowie.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com