Samuel Basallo’s arrival in the major leagues this season was a seminal moment for the Orioles’ organization. After more than a decade of the O’s eschewing the international market under the misguided direction of previous ownership, Basallo marked the first international prospect signed and developed by the Mike Elias regime to arrive in the majors. And now, thanks to the Orioles’ renewed commitment to that market since Elias arrived in 2019, their farm system is brimming with international talent.
While Basallo is practically a household name by now, the Orioles’ second most highly ranked international prospect is one who has seemingly just burst onto the scene, having played only three games for a full-season affiliate. Whether you’re familiar with his game or not, make no mistake: Esteban Mejia can really pitch.
The Orioles signed Mejia for $150,000 as a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic as part of their 2024 international class, projecting him as a middle-of-the-rotation starter who “throws plenty of strikes and competes with great mound presence.” He debuted later that year with the DSL Orioles and made 10 starts, though he never worked more than four innings as the O’s carefully managed his workload. Even in a brief sample size of 27.2 innings, it was clear that Mejia had swing-and-miss stuff, racking up 44 strikeouts for a K/9 of 14.3.
It was also clear that, like many raw prospects, Mejia struggled to find the strike zone. The right-hander issued 15 walks and four HBP and also threw six wild pitches. Still, when he came stateside to begin 2025, there were a lot of interested eyes waiting to get a look at the high-octane youngster. And Mejia did not disappoint.
Baseball America’s Josh Norris was one such observer, taking in a Mejia outing for the Orioles’ Florida Complex League affiliate in June. It’s safe to say that Norris left impressed. “He produces outings that burrow in your brain and stay there for weeks,” Norris wrote. “Seeing ceilings this high requires binoculars.”
Mejia made such an impression on Norris and the Baseball America team that they rated him one of MLB’s best 100 prospects in their July update. The stuff, according to Norris, is already overwhelming.
His four-seam fastball sits comfortably in the upper 90s and has peaked at 102 mph. His two-seamer—a feet-seeking missile against righthanders—comes in a couple of clicks slower, but he already has enough command of the pitch to land it for strikes on either side of the plate or to bury it in the dirt. Mejia pairs the heaters with a low-90s changeup with hard, devastating fade and a slider with sharp three-quarters bite.
MLB Pipeline, too, has taken notice of the flamethrowing wunderkind, ranking Mejia as the Orioles’ seventh best prospect and best pitcher. Pipeline’s bio raves about Mejia’s progress and offers a tantalizing tease of his potential to have “three easily plus pitches” by the time he reaches the majors. That includes the aforementioned 102-mph fastball, a quality changeup, and “a gyro-like slider that can touch 90 mph and miss plenty of bats.”
Yes, please! That’s most definitely the kind of repertoire that can succeed, if not dominate, in the big leagues. And remember: this kid is 18 years old.
But therein lies the rub: this kid is 18 years old. He’s a long way from MLB, and there’s a whole lot that could go wrong on his journey up the minor league ladder. Baseball history is littered with prospects who dominated at the lower levels but hit a wall once the competition got tougher, stalling out their careers without ever getting a sniff of the majors. Mejia, like any prospect, will encounter plenty of obstacles in the coming years that he’ll need to overcome. He’ll need to throw more strikes. He’ll need to adjust to more accomplished hitters. And he’ll need to stay healthy, which seems like an almost impossible task for most pitchers these days.
Still, he’s off to a good start. Mejia made 11 excellent starts for the FCL Orioles, posting a 2.45 ERA and 11.8 K/9, and was named the Orioles’ Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June. He earned a promotion to Delmarva in August and started three times there, holding his own despite being more than 3.5 years younger than the average Low-A player. All told, opposing hitters batted just .191 with a .562 OPS against Mejia in his 14 starts this year.
Listed at 6’3” and 175 pounds, Mejia still has some filling out to do. And as was the case last year, Mejia still had issues with walks. His 5.4 BB/9 rate this season is obviously not going to fly at the higher levels, so honing his command is sure to be a point of emphasis for the Orioles’ development team as they work with the youngster. The good news is he’s got time to figure it out. Did I mention he’s only 18?
Mejia figures to begin the 2026 season back at Delmarva but could advance quickly if he continues to dominate. If 2025 was the year that Mejia broke out onto the prospect scene, 2026 could be the year that he rises to the very top of it. I’m struggling to remember the last Orioles international pitching prospect who had Mejia’s upside. The Orioles frankly haven’t had many international pitching prospects at all.
That’s starting to change. The international pipeline has already begun to bear fruit, and there promises to be more on the way. If all goes well, Mejia will someday join Basallo and others on the Orioles’ major league roster — and he could be one of the most impressive of all.
