Orioles minor league recap 7/10: New prospects and promotions in the Orioles organization

Two of four O’s affiliates were rained out, but Billy Cook hit a grand slam for Bowie and G-Rod threw three scoreless innings for Norfolk.

Probably the most exciting things to happen on the farm on Sunday didn’t happen on the field at all. First came the announcement that Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Chayce McDermott are all headed up a level, the 19-year-old Holliday to Double-A and Mayo/McDermott to Triple-A Norfolk. Hard to argue with the decision, and I won’t!

Then, at around 9:30 pm, the Orioles selected Enrique Bradfield, Jr., a centerfielder out of Vanderbilt, with the 17^th pick of the 2023 MLB Draft. It turns out that Bradfield already has one Orioles connection: once upon a time, he and Coby Mayo were on a youth team together. Pretty cool. Here are some enticing highlights of Bradfield (and his speed) in action:

The Orioles had two more picks. With the 53^rd, they selected Mac Horvath, an outfielder who put up gaudy numbers for UNC this season:.305 AVG, .418 OBP, 1.129 OPS, 24 HR, 21 2B, and 25 SB. Finally, with the 63^rd pick, the Orioles took Jackson Baumeister, a right hander who struck out 95 hitters across 69 IP for Florida State last season.

Our own Mark Brown has already filed reports on Horvath and Baumeister.

In addition to all that, two of four Orioles affiliates played on Sunday, though rain washed away Aberdeen and Delmarva’s matchups.

Triple-A: Durham (Rays) 5, Norfolk Tides 2

Grayson Rodriguez threw just three innings, but they were pretty good ones (except for the three walks): 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 SO, 3 BB. Morgan McSweeney relieved him with two scoreless. Alas, Ofreidy Gómez made a mess of the sixth inning, letting five straight batters reach and four runs score. Easton Lucas surrendered a solo home run in the seventh. Joey Krehbiel pitched a scoreless eighth.

It was a quiet day for the bats: the Tides had only four hits between them. Daz Cameron had one, César Prieto had two. (He’s hitting .344 and OPS’ing .904.) The biggest hit came in the ninth: Ryan McKenna walked ahead of Connor Norby, who finally put his team on the board with a two-run homer.

Box Score

Double-A: Bowie Baysox 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants) 0 F/6

The Baysox head into the mid-season break having won three straight. Connor Gillispie threw five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk and striking out two. Billy Cook drove in four-fifths of his team’s runs with one swing, clobbering a grand slam in the third inning of a rain-soaked shutout win.

Coby Mayo was hitless in three at-bats, but he’s probably too busy celebrating his call-up to Triple-A Norfolk to worry much. Mayo has hopefully played his last game for Bowie, and leaves this level with a .307 average and a 1.027 OPS.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds, Greensboro (Pirates) Canceled (Weather)

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds, Fredericksburg Nationals Ppd (Weather) (Makeup on Sept. 6)

All four Orioles affiliates will be back in action on Friday.

• Norfolk: vs. Scranton WB, 6:35. Starter: TBD
• Bowie: vs Akron, 7:05. Starter: TBD
• Aberdeen: vs. Wilmington, 7:05. Starter: TBD
• Delmarva: at Salem, 7:05. Starter: TBD