Earlier this week, Camden Chat colleague Paul Folkemer examined how the prospects on our preseason top 20 prospects ranking have been performing this season. That group of players are a mix of exciting, interesting, and disappointing. There are other players in the Orioles system right now who didn’t crack that list before the season who look like they might be heading higher up the next incarnation of an O’s prospect list, if they don’t get traded sooner. Here are ten more prospects (and one non-prospect)
worth some attention for what they’ve done so far this season:
Creed Willems – C/1B
A slow-developing prospect since the Orioles gave him a $1 million overslot bonus five years ago, Willems has finally made it to Triple-A for his age 23 season and he’s been getting some decent results, batting .259/.358/.431 in 70 games. This includes 13 homers, though at the same time he’s only hit two doubles. That’s peculiar.
Willems just missed about three weeks with a hamstring injury, returning earlier this week. If you’d rather see him instead of Sam Huff or Chadwick Tromp, you’re not the only one. They probably want to make sure that Willems is recovered from the hamstring before considering bringing him up into this situation. I suspect they don’t want to bring him up for a short-term absence, so we won’t see Willems this year unless either Adley Rutschman or Samuel Basallo are going to miss extended time.
Yaqui Rivera – RHP
You’ve got to be pretty good as a reliever to be worth mentioning as a prospect. Rivera, who’s only in his age 22 season, is hitting that level, holding batters to a .179 average between Chesapeake and Norfolk this season. Since joining the Tides, he’s struck out 39 batters in 32 innings. I’ve got a concerned eye on his 5.3 BB/9. It’s working out for him for now.
Bonus: Andrew Magno – LHP
He’s 28 and he’s a journeyman reliever, so he doesn’t count as a prospect in any sense, but this Tides lefty has a 0.98 ERA in 32 games. The idea of him may feel better than your least favorite member of the current Orioles bullpen. It does for me.
Ethan Anderson – C/1B
The 2024 Orioles draft class seemed like it was cursed a year ago. Its top three picks, Vance Honeycutt, Griff O’Ferrall, and Anderson, all largely flopped at High-A. The O’s promoted O’Ferrall and Anderson to Double-A this year anyway and Anderson’s looked like he’s fighting away that curse. 22 years old and still about two years younger than the average competition at the level, Anderson has batted .270/.369/.520 in 68 games.
That’s really good and mighty interesting from the switch hitter, though there’s an extreme home/road split going on here. Anderson has posted a 1.174 OPS at home and only .562 on the road. One way he hasn’t avoided the curse is that he’s on the injured list right now as a result of an ankle injury and it’s unclear when he’ll be back in action to continue building his stock.
Brandon Butterworth – IF/OF
One of the sextet of minor leaguers the Orioles received in last July’s Padres deal. Butterworth has only played in 35 games with the Baysox, though he’s back in action now. Solid results over those 35 games: .264/.377/.481. Good walk rate, good power, good speed. This is his age 23 season, so these numbers are less interesting than Anderson’s at the same level, but he’s got some things going for him and if they’re still going like this by season’s end, he’ll be a guy worth following more next season. No known connection to the syrup.
Micah Ashman – LHP
Acquired from the Tigers for Charlie Morton last year, this 23-year-old lefty reliever has been trashing Double-A over the 2026 season: 1.83 ERA in 23 games, 14.7 K/9 Like Anderson above, some odd stuff going on in the splits, including that Ashman has been much worse facing lefty batters than righties so far this season (.776 OPS allowed to lefties, .574 to righties). He’s also got a big home/away split except in the opposite direction of Anderson: .549 OPS at home, .807 OPS away.
Victor Figueroa – 1B/DH
Another of the players from the depths of that Padres trade. Figueroa is 22 and playing for High-A Frederick. He leads all Orioles minor leaguers with 22 home runs, which makes him a fun big guy to root for to beat the odds. There are some long odds to beat; he’s got a 32% strikeout rate for the season. A 1B/DH is going to have to hit and that kind of swing and miss will be tough to keep the homers going at higher levels of the minors.
RJ Austin – IF/OF
Third round pick last year, Austin has also missed some time with an injury this year, only 50 games of action. It’s gone well when he’s played, and for the season he’s working on a .271/.374/.422 line, with 27 stolen bases in 31 attempts. That’s basically “What would it look like if Enrique Bradfield had just a little bit of power?” – which is, like all of these guys, interesting! I don’t know how Austin compares defensively, and High-A is farther off from the majors.
Caden Hunter – LHP
The sixth round pick by the Orioles last year was assigned to Low-A to begin the season, where he was old for the level but nonetheless wrecking that competition. This has continued after a promotion to Frederick: 1.83 ERA, 54 strikeouts in 39.1 IP for the Keys. Walk rate is a little high (4.5 BB/9 between both levels) so there’s stuff to work on. It’s going well against these lower-level hitters, anyway: .513 OPS allowed across 250 PA. Need to see what happens in the high minors.
Twine Palmer – RHP
Arrived from the Astros for Ramón Urías last July, Palmer had a horrendous debut with the organization with Delmarva after that deal. It’s gone better for him at Frederick. This is just his age 21 season and he’s holding batters to a .206/.314/.286 line overall. Walk rate is higher than you want so there’s stuff to work on. There’s also good stuff going on, like only three homers allowed to 291 batters. It’s made for a 3.49 ERA overall.
Jaiden Lo Re – IF
Fifth round pick from an Arizona high school last year only took 20 games in the rookie Florida Complex League to convince the Orioles to send him up to a full-season affiliate, where he’s continued to look interesting. Across 30 games for Delmarva, he’s batted .340/.454/.453. Intriguing stuff for someone who’s just 19. The homer power isn’t there yet, only one so far in 131 PA. They’re playing him all over the infield. If he can sustain this next season, he’ll be a real top notch prospect.
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Can the Orioles turn any of these guys, one way or another, into useful major leaguers? That will say a lot about the team’s chances of success next year and beyond.
