On a day the Orioles will add one other well-regarded prospect to their top-ranked farm system, they moved two of their most profitable draft picks up their minor league ladder.
Less than a yr after taking him atop the 2022 MLB draft, Baltimore is selling shortstop Jackson Holliday to Double-A Bowie whereas additionally sending third baseman Coby Mayo, a 21-year-old taken in 2020′s fourth spherical, and right-hander Chayce McDermott from Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk, a supply with data of the group’s plans confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The Orioles make the seventeenth general choose on this yr’s draft Sunday night time.
By sending Mayo — a 21-year-old who Baseball America ranks as Baltimore’s No. 9 prospect — to Norfolk, the Orioles add to a Tides lineup that misplaced infielder Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser after they have been promoted to the majors in latest weeks.
Holliday would be the fourth participant in his age-19 season or earlier to seem within the higher minors this season. Beginning with the 2013 season, 14 place gamers at that stage of their careers have obtained at the least 100 plate appearances in Double-A, and solely two entered skilled baseball by way of the newbie draft moderately than as worldwide free agent signings.
The son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, Holliday hit .314 with 5 residence runs and a .940 OPS for High-A Aberdeen after being promoted in late April. Between the IronBirds and Low-A Delmarva, Holliday, a left-handed hitter, has slashed .331/.466/.523 in his first full skilled season.
In Baseball America’s newest prospect rankings, Holliday was deemed the game’s second-best prospect, trailing solely Cincinnati Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz. With De La Cruz anticipated to graduate from prospect standing earlier than this winter, Holliday is nicely positioned to comply with Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and infielder Gunnar Henderson as Baltimore’s third straight No. 1 prospect in Baseball America’s offseason rankings.
Since the publication started rating prospects main into the 1990 marketing campaign, no group has had the No. 1 general prospect getting into three straight seasons, even in circumstances by which one participant topped the listing two years in a row. This winter, the Orioles joined the St. Louis Cardinals (1999 and 2000) as the one groups to have completely different gamers atop consecutive Baseball America offseason rankings; with Rutschman the primary general choose in 2019 and Henderson being Baltimore’s second-round choice that yr, the Orioles grew to become the one group to have two gamers from the identical draft class consecutively be named baseball’s high prospect.
Three years later, they chose Holliday from a crop of proficient highschool place gamers. With his senior season at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, Holliday skyrocketed up draft boards, displaying off improved power and strategy from the earlier summer season. He wasn’t seen because the draft’s unanimous high participant accessible, however he provided a five-tool bundle that, paired along with his fast development, Baltimore couldn’t resist. The Orioles signed him to a bonus of $8.19 million, a report for each the franchise and a highschool draftee.
He has rewarded that choice and funding over the previous yr. After impressing in a stint with Delmarva to shut his draft yr, Holliday shined as a nonroster invitee to the Orioles’ huge league spring coaching. In 16 video games towards superior competitors, Holliday hit .429 with a 1.056 OPS, stealing two bases with out being caught whereas strolling 4 occasions towards 4 strikeouts.
“I feel like this is somewhere that I belong, and that’s that,” Holliday advised The Baltimore Sun in March. “I don’t feel like a 19-year-old.”
He continued to play nicely above his age as soon as the common season started. Holliday reached base at the least as soon as in every of his first 40 video games, batting .390 with an on-base share above .500. Although his efficiency finally slowed with Aberdeen, he nonetheless managed to thrive at a stage lots of Baltimore’s different latest high prospects, together with Henderson, struggled at.
This yr at Bowie, Mayo hit .310 with 17 residence runs and a 1.036 OPS. He was named the Eastern League’s and the Orioles’ minor league Player of the Month for June after batting .340 with eight residence runs within the month. Mayo, Baltimore’s fourth-round choose within the 2020 draft, joins outfielder/first baseman Heston Kjerstad and infielder César Prieto as notable hitting prospects who’ve gone from Bowie to Norfolk this yr.
McDermott, 24, was one among two pitchers the Orioles acquired final August within the three-team commerce that despatched Trey Mancini to the Houston Astros. In 16 outings (14 begins) for Bowie, McDermott posted a 3.56 ERA over 68 1/3 innings, placing out 88 batters. Baseball America ranks him because the Orioles’ No. 15 prospect, fourth amongst pitchers behind Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall and Cade Povich. Right-hander Seth Johnson, recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgical procedure after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays within the Mancini commerce, is the group’s No. 17 prospect.
Mayo and McDermott be a part of one of many minors’ greatest groups and at the moment are probably positioned to assist one of many majors’. Holding the American League’s second-best report on the All-Star break, the Orioles are chasing their first playoff berth since 2016.
MASNSports.com was first to report the promotions.
This story could also be up to date.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com