Baseball America released its O’s prospect rankings, though it’s a somewhat less exciting group than last year.
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Happy day after Thanksgiving, everyone. Hopefully you got to eat some good food and avoid any dinner-table arguments with your problematic uncle.
While we wait for MLB hot stove action to heat up, Baseball America recently published its updated Orioles top 10 prospects list. And while the O’s still have three blue-chip prospects at the top — Samuel Basallo, Coby Mayo, and Heston Kjerstad — the rest of the top 10 seems to have quite a few more question marks than in recent Orioles seasons.
There’s a steep dropoff after Kjerstad, at least in my view, starting with 2024 first-round draft pick, outfielder Vance Honeycutt, at #4. Honeycutt boasts prodigious tools but also a lot of risk due to his extreme swing-and-miss tendencies (including 24 strikeouts in 56 PAs in his pro debut this summer). The rest of the top 10, too, includes toolsy but unpolished prospects or those who have limited ceilings. I don’t see any players beyond the top three that I would call a sure thing to be a future major league contributor.
Compare that to BA’s top 10 list for the Orioles from a year ago, which was absolutely stacked, led by the #1 prospect in baseball, Jackson Holliday. Eight of the 10 players from that list already have gotten to the majors. Colton Cowser was the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, and Joey Ortiz also had an impressive rookie campaign for the Brewers while Connor Norby made an early splash for the Marlins. It was an elite group of prospects that the O’s have been hard-pressed to duplicate a year later due to the graduations of Holliday and Cowser and the trades of Ortiz, Norby, and DL Hall.
Still, while the Orioles might not be as rife with can’t-miss prospects as before, they’ve still got a strong farm system overall and by all accounts a quality player development program. They’re going to continue to churn out prospects who can supplement their already established young core and, if all goes well, keep the Birds in position to be a contending team for years to come.
Links
A look at the Baseball America O’s top 10 prospects list – Steve Melewski
Melewski offers his take on Baseball America’s rankings, and ranks his 10 favorite Thanksgiving foods as a bonus. Green bean casserole at #5 is an extreme overslot.
Orioles free agency: 4 outfielders the team could sign – The Baltimore Banner
Paul Mancano profiles a few free agents outfielders the O’s could pursue. I do like the idea of signing Randal Grichuk just so he can stop tormenting Orioles pitching all the time.
Orioles Sign Franklin Barreto To Minor League Deal – MLB Trade Rumors
Who says the Orioles have been quiet this offseason? They just landed a guy who was a top-100 prospect in baseball…a decade ago.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Four ex-Orioles were born on this day: outfielder Craig Gentry (41), catcher Guillermo Quiroz (43), right-hander Brian Holton (65), and lefty Joe Price (68).
On this date in 1967, the Orioles swung a notable trade with the White Sox, sending Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio — who was a two-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glover and 1966 World Series champion with the Birds — back to Chicago, from whom they’d acquired him five years earlier. In exchange, the O’s received outfielder Don Buford, who himself was a useful contributor for the next five seasons.
And on this date last year, Félix Bautista won the Mariano Rivera Award as the AL’s best reliever after posting a ridiculous 1.48 ERA and 16.2 K/9 in 56 games, notching 33 saves in 39 attempts. It’s a testament to Félix’s dominance that he had the best season of any AL reliever despite missing the entire last month of the season with injury.