Dylan Beavers played his way into Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect list with a strong 2025 season. The former first-round pick slashed .304/.420/.515 over 94 games at Norfolk before finally earning a promotion in the middle of August. Baltimore could have called up Beavers sooner, but the organization waited to preserve his rookie eligibility for the 2026 season. The move could have yielded Baltimore a Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick if Beavers won the Rookie of the Year award last
year. That did not happen.
Beavers provided reason for optimism with a strong close to the 2025 season. The rookie posted a .375 on-base percentage over his first 35 big league games. Beavers tallied four home runs and five doubles, but he also walked 26 times in 137 plate appearances. The numbers led to plenty of Moneyball “he gets on base” memes throughout the month of September.
Beavers failed to carry that momentum into the 2026 season. His .228 batting average actually represented a one point increase, but his OBP dropped to .307. His plate appearances increased by 226, but he only walked nine more times. The drop led to a below-average 93 OPS+ in 2026.
The Rookie of the Year award was always a long shot, but Baltimore hoped to see continued success from the 25-year-old. Instead, his lack of progress represented one of the many failures in the outfield. Colton Cowser shined defensively but struggled for extended stretches at the plate. Taylor Ward lost his power. Tyler O’Neill continued to fall short of the performance his contract should demand. Heston Kjerstad never arrived, and we saw more of Leody Taveras than we ever expected.
Beavers posted pedestrian numbers in April before suffering a strained oblique in mid May. The injury cost Beavers six weeks and prevented the outfielder from establishing an everyday role in Baltimore’s disappointing lineup. The injury may have impacted his defense, but Beavers looked below average out there all season. There’s plenty of reason to believe that Beavers could bounce back at the dish next year, but the team will also look for an improvement in the grass. He posted a -9 Outs Above Average and -8 Defensive Runs Saved over 660 innings in 2026.
The numbers weren’t there at the end of the season, but Beavers displayed something that can’t be taught—an ability to rise to the occasion in the biggest moments. Beavers delivered a pair of walk-off hits in 2025 before adding two more last season. According to Yahoo Sports, Beavers’ four walk-off RBIs tied for the most by any player in his first 110 games since the stat became official in 1920. Funny enough, Christian Encarnacion-Strand is one of five other players to match the number with four walk-off hits in his first 110 games.
The Orioles just threw in the towel on Kjerstad, but the team still believes in Beavers. There is clearly room to upgrade the outfield in free agency, but the team desperately needs Beavers and Cowser to take a step in the right direction. O’Neill, Christian Franklin, and Rece Hinds remain in the organization. Blaze Alexander can play some center field, and Enrique Bradfield Jr. should receive an opportunity at some point next season.
Where does that leave Beavers? He could easily start on Opening Day in either of the outfield corners. The team should probably stop attempting to play him in center field, but he still has time to develop into an average corner outfield defender. There’s some pop in the bat (nine homers in 2026), but a return to his patient approach could lead to more at bats at the top of the order.
Beavers probably shouldn’t be Plan A on a team hoping to reach the postseason, but he could develop into that by the end of the year. Looks for the Orioles to make external additions to the outfield while keeping Beavers in the picture for 2027 and beyond.
