The Orioles are currently putting together the kind of season that will leave everyone looking to the farm for something to get excited about for the future. This was not supposed to be happening in 2026. A lot of things were not supposed to be happening in 2026. Here we are anyway. To be determined over the course of the season whether the current state of the farm is able to generate much of that excitement.
These weekly updates focus on the team’s top prospects, particularly those on Camden Chat’s
composite top 20 Orioles prospect list from before the season. They also include other guys who interest us who might develop into prospects over time. I do not tend to spend much time on non-prospect journeymen, though one never knows who might turn into the next Jeremiah Jackson. Or even, over the long haul, whether someone turning into Jackson is worth all that much.
Here’s how things went this week:
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Last week: 3-3 at Nashville (Brewers)
- Coming week: vs. Gwinnett (Braves)
- Season record: 13-20, ninth place (9 GB) in International League East
With Enrique Bradfield Jr. not having played since April 21, this is a rough lineup when it comes to following prospects. The only guy on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 who is active is Creed Willems, who continues to put up unexciting but perfectly acceptable batting numbers. Willems went 4-16 over this week, drawing three walks and hitting one home run – that’s a .788 OPS for the week, almost identical to his season totals.
Jud Fabian is also kicking around. Those who want to see Colton Cowser demoted are basically saying they want to see Fabian. He had five hits in 23 AB, with two stolen bases. This wasn’t one of his better weeks, though he is OPSing .805 in 32 games so far.
Norfolk’s pitching staff has been in flux with so many rehabbing major leaguers shuffling through, and lately they had Trey Gibson called up to the majors as well. That leaves Nestor German and Levi Wells as the prospects pitching for this team. German pitched just four innings, and while he allowed only one run, he walked six guys. Tough to feel good about that. Wells allowed two runs (one earned) in a five-inning outing.
Others of interest
- IF Payton Eeles – Seven hits in 14 AB, with three walks in his first full week of games. It’ll be fun if this guy is some kind of hitter.
- OF Reed Trimble – Started a rehab assignment with Low-A Delmarva this week. I wonder if he might have been a Cowser replacement by now if he hadn’t gotten hurt.
Double-A Chesapeake Baysox
- Last week: 1-5 at Erie (Tigers)
- Coming week: vs. Altoona (Pirates)
- Season record: 11-15, fifth place (9 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
A poor week for the Baysox overall, sending their season record tumbling from a respectable .500 to where it is now. One guy who gets a thumbs-up is my guy Aron Estrada, who managed to collect eight hits, including three for extra bases, in 21 AB over six games. The 21-year-old infielder still has some more work to do to improve on his season OPS of .628.
Beyond Estrada, this roster has a trio of guys who weren’t all that good in High-A last year but are now at Double-A anyway. Are they hitting now? Well, one of them is: Ethan Anderson. Except not this past week, when he had just three hits in 18 AB. Anderson is sitting on a .268/.395/.352 batting line. I think it is unlikely that the OBP will remain that high as long as the ISO (slugging minus batting average) remains so low. Power is just not part of this profile: Anderson has one homer and three doubles in 20 games played.
Things did not go very well for anyone I find worth mentioning on this pitching staff. Top lefty prospect Luis De León had a start of just 3.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) with four hits and three walks. That included allowing two homers. De León’s thing last year was not allowing homers; that had to end eventually. These were his first two homers allowed of the season, but the 6.52 ERA and 1.707 ERA is unsightly.
My honorary hyphenated cousin Juaron Watts-Brown absorbed an even worse outing, allowing six runs in four innings. That included three home runs. This was the first outing of the season at this level for Watts-Brown after starting the year on the IL.
Others of interest
- OF Thomas Sosa – Three hits in 18 AB, with no extra-base hits. .655 OPS for the season.
- IF Brandon Butterworth – The syrup heir (not really) had four hits in 19 AB, a down week compared to his performance so far as he’s got a .753 OPS in 22 games.
- RHP Tyson Neighbors – Reliever from the Padres trade last year allowed two runs in 1.2 IP over two outings, 10.97 ERA in nine games. I was hyped for this guy before the season. That’s muted.
High-A Frederick Keys
- Last week: 4-2 at Brooklyn (Mets)
- Coming week: vs. Jersey Shore (Phillies)
- Season record: 14-12, t-third place (1.5 GB) in South Atlantic League North
This is it. This is the affiliate where it’s happening right now. The top of the 2025 draft duo of Ike Irish and Wehiwa Aloy is getting things done at the start of their first full pro seasons. Irish added another great week, with five hits, including two doubles and a homer, in only four games. He’s got a .987 OPS through 21 games. Pretty good! Aloy homered twice across five games. Last year’s prospect sensation, Nate George, had five hits over the week, all singles, though he stole five bases. It’s a good way to help your team win.
Keys pitchers are generating some excitement early in the season as well. That’s been largely the duo of Joseph Dzierwa (pronounced: Jerva) and JT Quinn, each high draft picks last year. Dzierwa allowed a run over four innings, with some command problems as he hit two men and walked one. Quinn blanked the opposition over a five inning start where he gave up three hits, walked two, and struck out five. It’s been fun following these guys.
Even 20-year-old prospect Boston Bateman, the headliner of last year’s Padres deal, got in on the act this week, tossing six scoreless innings. Command has been a problem for Bateman, but this time he didn’t walk anyone and he struck out eight batters. I haven’t been enthused by his results since joining the Orioles system. If he can put together a few more good starts, it’ll feel a lot better that he was the big name in that trade.
Others of interest
- OF Vance Honeycutt – On the injured list with a thumb issue, last played April 26.
- 1B Victor Figueroa – A cooler week with just 5-23 batting, though he hit his 7th homer of the season and is still OPSing 1.076 through 22 games.
- RHP Twine Palmer – I wrote about a lot of bad Palmer games after joining the organization last year so I want to highlight seeing a decent one: one run allowed over 4.1 innings, with five strikeouts to only two walks. Palmer has a 0.911 WHIP through five games. I’m not not interested.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Last week: 2-4 vs. Hill City (Guardians)
- Coming week: at Salem (Red Sox)
- Season record: 10-17, t-fifth place (9 GB) in Carolina League North
This affiliate has been one of the worst teams in its league for both hitting and run prevention for a few years running, even through roster changes as new players arrive. There was more of that on display over the last week.
Some individually-interesting performances continue. Outfielder Stiven Martinez is just 18; he batted 5-16 this week and added a pair of walks, giving him a .791 OPS for the year. Shortstop DJ Layton, a high school draft pick from last season, batted 3-11 with three walks across only four games played. This actually lowered his season OPS since he’d been so hot; that’s now “down” to .935.
Less exciting has been the one hyped pitching prospect on this roster as the season began, 19-year-old righty Esteban Mejia, who gave up three runs across 3.1 innings. About the only good thing to say about that is at least he didn’t walk eight guys in one start, which did happen to him earlier this year. Five games into the season, it’s a 7.36 ERA and 1.977 WHIP for Mejia. The medium-term future for the Orioles is really going to feel better if one of these international pitching prospects sustains any kind of hype.
Others of interest
- OF Jordan Sanchez – I was excited for this guy before the season began. 2-17 this week with eight strikeouts; he’s batting .181/.216/.337 through 20 games.
Shorebirds season-to-date stats.
Bonus Florida Complex League
As of Saturday, the Florida Complex League season, the short-season rookie league, is under way. The roster consists of a variety of players who were either high school draft picks recently or international signings a couple of years ago. Perhaps there’s a Nate George-like breakout lurking on this roster. As the season begins, the only top 30 prospect on MLB Pipeline is infielder Wilfri De La Cruz, who the Orioles received from the Cubs for Andrew Kittredge last year.
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Now that The Feed section of the site is able to display polls, we are able to revive the minor league player of the week poll. To be honest with you, this is a disappointing facsimile of the functionality that we had before, but, it’s what we’ve got now. Make your choice and we’ll start keeping track of the weekly winners.
Tuesday’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: vs. Gwinnett, 6:35. Starter: Nestor German
- Chesapeake: vs. Altoona, 6:05. Starter: TBD
- Frederick: vs. Jersey Shore, 6:00. Starter: Joseph Dzierwa
- Delmarva: at Salem, 11:05. Starter: TBD
