Good morning, Camden Chatters.
We’re just a couple of weeks away now from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. As of now, that group of Orioles pitchers still does not include Framber Valdez. I will continue to update you as nothing occurs.
In the meantime, it’s prospect hype season, as publications continue to drop their top-100 rankings ahead of the 2026 season. Yesterday, The Athletic’s Keith Law unveiled his list, not long after Baseball America and MLB Pipeline did so, and the Orioles
were well represented with five prospects among his top 100. Mark Brown has the details.
One notable thing about the lists released so far is that there’s a wide variety of O’s prospects who are highly regarded by at least one source, even if they’re not all in agreement. Only Samuel Basallo and Nate George are included in all three of BA, Pipeline, and Law’s lists, but there are six other prospects who are included on at least one. Dylan Beavers is a top-100 guy for both Baseball America and Pipeline. BA’s list also includes pitchers Trey Gibson and Luis De León, while Law counts Wehiwa Aloy, Ike Irish, and Enrique Bradfield Jr. among his top 100. That’s a lot of different Orioles prospects with a lot of different skills who are getting some measure of hype from the pundits. That seems like a good thing.
Will any of these prospects contribute to a winning Orioles team in 2026? We know that Basallo and Beavers will be on the roster, and if either one plays well enough to win AL Rookie of the Year, they’ll earn the Orioles an extra draft pick. Gibson and Bradfield will be one level away and could debut this season, but they both have things to work on at Triple-A first. It’ll be a longer wait for De León and the just-drafted Irish and Aloy.
The Orioles might no longer boast the best farm system in baseball as they did in the early years of the rebuild. But there’s no reason to think their talent pipeline is slowing down.
Links
Alonso feeling the love from Orioles fans in his latest visit to Baltimore – School of Roch
Pete Alonso seems to be exactly the kind of clubhouse leader the O’s were badly lacking in 2025. I like that about him. And also that he hits lots of dingers.
For those who were frustrated by Brandon Hyde’s slavish devotion to lefty-righty matchups, good news: Craig Albernaz appears a bit more willing to let young lefty hitters face lefty pitchers.
Ken Rosenthal takes a deep dive into the baseball mind of the former O’s fan-favorite outfielder and executive, who’s now the Angels’ hitting coach. Trey Mancini has particularly glowing things to say about how Brady revitalized his career as an Orioles prospect.
Former Oriole slugger Trey Mancini signs minor league deal with Angels – BaltimoreBaseball.com
…and sure enough, Trey Mancini just signed with Brady’s team. I have a feeling that’s not a coincidence.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Four ex-Orioles were born on this day, including Orioles Hall of Famer John Lowenstein (79), who spent the final seven years of his career with the Birds from 1979-1985 and formed a potent platoon with Gary Roenicke. Other former Birds with Jan. 27 birthdays are right-hander Jonathan Heasley (29), infielder Tim Beckham (36), and catcher Ken Huckaby (55).
On this date in 2015, the Orioles acquired outfielder Travis Snider from the Pirates. The O’s hoped that the former first-round draft pick would be a capable right field replacement for Nick Markakis, who’d left in free agency, but he didn’t come close. Snider posted just a .659 OPS in 69 games before the O’s released him in August.
And on this day last year, the O’s signed Dylan Carlson to a minor league contract. He didn’t figure to get much playing time with the Orioles unless things went very wrong for the team…which, of course, they did. Carlson ended up getting 241 plate appearances for the O’s, batting .203 with a .614 OPS. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs yesterday.
