Two years ago, pitcher Trey Gibson made his professional debut in rookie ball after he signed with the Orioles as an undrafted free agent.
Now, he’s a top 100 prospect and one call away from the big leagues.
Gibson on Wednesday was ranked by ESPN as the No. 95 prospect in baseball, marking the right-hander’s first time cracking into a top 100 list. The elevation follows Gibson’s promotion to Triple-A Norfolk last week amid his rapid rise through Baltimore’s farm system.
Gibson, who began the year with High-A Aberdeen, is one of the only pitching prospects in the Mike Elias era to be promoted twice and pitch at three at levels in a season. That honor has mostly been bestowed to the Orioles’ top hitting prospects like Jackson Holliday, Samuel Basallo and Gunnar Henderson. The difference is Gibson is one of the first pitching prospects worthy of rushing through the system — and the Orioles, as proved by their disappointing 2025 season, are in need of more pitching.
Basallo and Dylan Beavers were ranked inside ESPN’s top 100 at Nos. 4 and 94, respectively. The two prospects both made their MLB debuts in Houston last weekend and have already shown flashes in the big leagues.
Gibson, 23, put up impressive numbers as a freshman at Liberty, but he struggled in 2022 and was suspended for his junior season. After posting a 10.24 ERA and 2.10 WHIP in the Cape Cod League, the best college wood-bat summer circuit in the country, he wasn’t selected in the 20-round MLB draft. After signing with the Orioles and briefly debuting in rookie ball in 2023, Gibson impressed in his first full professional season, posting a 3.72 ERA and 30.3% strikeout rate to earn notoriety as one of the better pitching prospects on Baltimore’s farm. He’s been even better this year.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound righty struck out a whopping 40.3% of batters in nine games with Aberdeen and then posted a 1.55 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 10 starts with Chesapeake. He was just as impressive in his first start for Norfolk last week, striking out six and allowing only one hit across five scoreless innings to be named the International League Pitcher of the Week. On the season, Gibson has a 2.91 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 141 strikeouts in 96 innings.
Most Orioles top pitching prospects, such as Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott, needed around 100 innings to earn the call to Triple-A. Grayson Rodriguez pitched 79 2/3 innings in Double-A before beginning the 2022 season in Triple-A. Gibson, meanwhile, needed only 52 1/3 innings with Chesapeake to reach Triple-A.
The rankings give the Orioles five top 100 prospects across the three major lists (Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline). Basallo is ranked inside the top eight in all three. His rank at No. 4 by ESPN is the highest he’s ever been and puts him in contention for the top spot entering next season if he continues to play well in the majors. Baseball America also has Beavers (No. 82), Aberdeen outfielder Nate George (No. 80) and Low-A Delmarva right-hander Esteban Mejia (No. 94) inside its top 100. Basallo is the only Oriole ranked as a top 100 prospect by MLB Pipeline.
Beavers’ inclusion on ESPN’s list is also notable. If he remains ranked on two major lists, he would be eligible to net the Orioles an extra draft pick should he win the American League Rookie of the Year Award next season.
MLB’s prospect promotion incentive (PPI) program was instituted in 2022 to help curb service-time manipulation. The most notable part of the program is the incentive for a player winning the Rookie of the Year Award. A player who wins the award can earn his organization an extra pick at the end of the first round of the following year’s draft. The Orioles received a PPI pick in 2024 after Gunnar Henderson won the award in 2023.
However, that player must be a top 100 prospect on two major preseason lists. Basallo has long been a consensus top 100 prospect, but up until this month, Beavers had never been. However, amid his tear in Triple-A, Baseball America added the 24-year-old to its list and now ESPN has done the same — giving Beavers a solid chance to be PPI eligible entering next season if he continues to play well in the majors. Still, he’d need to beat the entire AL rookie field, including Basallo, to earn Baltimore the additional 2027 draft pick.
The Orioles waited to promote Beavers (and Basallo), and the PPI program might have played a role. A prospect promoted before Aug. 15 would not be rookie eligible in 2026. Beavers made his MLB debut Aug. 16, while Basallo’s came on Aug. 17.
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