For much of the season, the biggest excitement revolving around the Orioles farm was when they would end up calling up Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo. Those players have now been here with the O’s for more than a week, so we can turn our attention to something else, like whether the O’s are ever going to be able to develop a useful, home-grown pitcher out of their farm system.
Each week on Camden Chat, we take a look at how the minor league teams have fared, particularly trying to pay attention
to prospects of note. Some weeks have been better than others.
There are three pitching prospect promotions to note this week. As of this writing, these have not been officially announced by the Orioles or any of the affiliates, but the folks over at On The Verge are on it and that’s good enough for me.
Levi Wells, a fourth round pick from 2023, jumps from Chesapeake to Norfolk. Wells has pitched in 20 games for the Baysox this season, with a solid 3.12 ERA over 75 innings. He’s struck out more than a batter per inning and has cut the walk rate he had with Aberdeen last year by almost a third. Wells is the #22 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s updated Orioles ranking.
Luis De León, an international amateur signing from late in 2021, moves from Aberdeen to Chesapeake. De León, a lefty who ranks #21 on Pipeline’s Orioles list, did not get into action at his appropriate level until May 31, and since then for the IronBirds has put up a 3.59 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 60.1 innings.
Chase Allsup, a fourth round pick from 2024, goes from Delmarva to Aberdeen. Allsup has an unsightly ERA and walk rate (5.64 ERA and 6.4 BB/9 in 23 games). If he can combine the best of July (improved walk rate) and August (improved strikeout rate) then I guess maybe he might have a chance to be more notable.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Last week: 4-2 vs. Charlotte (White Sox)
- Coming week: at Gwinnett (Braves)
- Second half record: 25-24, sixth place (10 games back) in International League East
With Beavers and Basallo in Baltimore, and even non-prospects Jeremiah Jackson and Vimael Machín up with the big club, the quantity and quality of hitting prospects or even remotely interesting remaining performers has thinned out a lot. Pipeline’s top 30 Orioles list has zero Tides batters right now. Baseball America’s has just one: Jud Fabian at #18. Fabian had just two hits in 16 AB this week, striking out seven times. Is his 2025 performance going to keep him safe from the Rule 5 draft this offseason?
Norfolk’s pitching staff, on the other hand, has your choice of guys who are worth seeing how they’re doing. Recently-buzzy pitching prospect Trey Gibson was in action. Or would you rather think about rehabbing big leaguers? There were three of those! You could also take note of two relievers who arrived in the July deadline trades. That’s a lot going on.
I’d like to say something good happened with Gibson. Reality is not so kind. Gibson, who’s now BA’s #8 Orioles prospect, got blasted in his outing this past week, giving up six runs (though only three earned) over just 3.2 innings. He issued only one walk and struck out six, so at least there’s that, but a .316 batting average against for the day is a bad day.
Of the rehab crew: Kyle Bradish gave up three runs in 4.2 innings, Tyler Wells had a solid start allowing just two runs over 5.2 IP, and Albert Suárez made a five-inning scoreless start.
Others of interest
- RHP Cameron Foster – Two scoreless outings totaling 2.1 IP, has struck out 10 batters in 8 IP as a Tide
- RHP Anthony Nunez – One game, one scoreless inning with two strikeouts. 4.76 ERA, but 0.88 WHIP, since joining Norfolk
Double-A Chesapeake Baysox
- Last week: 3-3 vs. Richmond (Giants)
- Coming week: at Reading (Phillies)
- Second half record: 19-32, sixth/last place (10 games back) in Eastern League Southwest
As of two weeks ago, Enrique Bradfield Jr. was off the injured list and back with Chesapeake. He made his presence felt over this series, with six hits and four walks over four games played, and four stolen bases on top of that. He’s only played in 45 games at Double-A this season, but he’s got an OBP over .400 in that time, is walking about as much as he strikes out (29 to 30), and has stolen 23 bases. There’s still something there, even if it’s likely not in the Orioles 2026 Opening Day roster picture as we might have hoped before the season.
Two players from the 2024 struggle bus draft class have punched their way up to this level even after underwhelming overall with Aberdeen. Ethan Anderson is the newest arrival; he went 4-18 in his first five games. Austin Overn has been here for a few weeks now. The outfielder was just 4-19 but still managed to steal six bases. Overn has stolen 14 bases in 15 games and has 57 steals for the season.
This Baysox roster also has a bunch of pitchers who are now worth tracking. 80% of a five-man rotation is on the Pipeline Orioles top 30 list. Levi Wells earned the promotion on the heels of a five inning start where he gave up three runs (two earned) while striking out six. Michael Forret turned in 4.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts; this was just his second start at the level and he still has a 0.00 ERA. My hyphen cousin Juaron Watts-Brown surrendered two runs in a 4.1 inning start where he walked four batters and gave up two home runs. And last but not least, Nestor German had five scoreless innings, striking out six against three hits and three walks. Whew!
Others of interest
- RHP Carter Baumler – The oft-injured, Rule 5-eligible righty joined this roster last week and allowed just one hit and zero runs in 2.2 innings of relief. I wouldn’t rule out his going on the 40-man if he finishes strong.
- RHP Tyson Neighbors – Yet to allow a run in 7.1 innings since being traded to the Orioles organization. He added two more scoreless innings this week.
- C/1B Creed Willems – With two homers this week, Willems has 15 in 95 games on the year and is batting .256/.343/.448. These aren’t eye-opening batting numbers, but he just keeps chugging along.
- IF Aron Estrada – My guy got hurt this week. He left Wednesday’s game early with a right quad injury and is now on the injured list. Dang.
- IF Brandon Butterworth – The highest-level position player from July’s wheeling and dealing cooled off a bit this week, with just 4-17 batting. .756 OPS in 18 games with the Baysox.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Last week: 4-2 vs. Brooklyn (Mets)
- Coming week: vs. Jersey Shore (Phillies)
- Second half record: 26-27, fourth place (10.5 games back) in South Atlantic League North
Per my 2025 tradition, Aberdeen’s section must begin with this question: How many times did Vance Honeycutt strike out? The answer for this week is 11 times in 18 at-bats over the five games. He has struck out in 41.3% of plate appearances this season. It’s just going to take some kind of radical adjustment for him to do something different next season.
I’d like to be able to counter this with some good stuff from Nate George, the 19-year-old outfielder who recently got promoted after dominating Low-A. Alas, not really. He batted 3-17 over these five games, with a pair of doubles as well as four walks. He got thrown out two of the three times he tried to steal.
The tough week extended to a couple of recent arrivals to the organization from the July deals. Wellington Aracena gave up five runs (four earned) while walking four batters in only four innings. Just-promoted Boston Bateman, the big man from the San Diego trade, debuted for the IronBirds and had a rough introduction to the level, giving up five runs, all earned, in a 3.2 inning outing.
Others of interest
- OF Thomas Sosa – 4-18 hitting for the 20-year-old, all of which went for extra bases: two doubles, a triple, and a homer.
- RHP Tanner Smith – Reliever from the Padres deal debuted at this level this week, 1.1 innings without allowing a run in his lone outing.
IronBirds season-to-date stats.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Last week: 3-3 vs. Kannapolis (White Sox)
- Coming week: at Carolina (Brewers)
- Second half record: 17-36, sixth/last place (12.5 games back) in Carolina League North
The 2025 draft picks are here! Or at least many of them are. This is how the week went for the high-round picks:
- IF Wehiwa Aloy – 6-21 hitting with two doubles, a homer, and two stolen bases
- C Caden Bodine – 7-20, also drew two walks
- C-but-not-really Ike Irish – 5-19 with a homer
- OF RJ Austin – 6-15, stole three bases
It’s nice to see some promising beginnings for these guys. Hopefully they fare a lot better at Frederick next year than the Honeycutt/Anderson/Griff O’Ferrall trio did for Aberdeen this year.
Others of interest
- RHP Kiefer Lord – Third round pick from 2023 who needed TJ surgery before throwing a pro pitch made his debut. 2.1 innings scoreless, three walks, one hit, three strikeouts
- RHP Twine Palmer – Still can’t believe his name is Twine. Got blasted for seven runs in four innings and sports a 9.00 ERA since joining the organization.
- OF Braylin Tavera – 5-19 batting with six walks and a pair of stolen bases, raising his season line to .216/.341/.330.
Shorebirds season-to-date stats.
**
In last week’s minor league player of the week poll, Trey Gibson took down the win in a four-way poll with a strong 59% majority of the vote. That’s Gibson’s second win of the season. Three-time winners are Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers. Two-time winners Gibson joins are Braxton Bragg and Nate George. These guys have won a single week: Brandon Young, Vance Honeycutt, Alex Pham, Adam Retzbach, Yasmil Bucce.
No chance for a repeat winner this week since the best ones are in the majors and the rest were hurt or bad. Who will take down his first win of the season? The choice is yours:
