First round pick Vance Honeycutt made his professional debut while a couple of recently promoted outfielders swung hot bats.
Here on Camden Chat, in addition to our daily minor league coverage, we’ll be stepping back every Tuesday morning to look at the bigger picture across a whole week of results and how the team’s prospects are faring so far. Most of the focus will be on players from Camden Chat’s composite top O’s prospects list from the preseason, with mentions of some standout efforts from players who have started to appear on lists that updated in the middle of this season.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Past week: 1-5 vs. Worcester Red Sox
- Coming week: at Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (25-24, Marlins)
- Second half record: 21-30, tied for last place (12.5 GB) in International League East
After a couple weeks of being bereft of hitting prospects, the Tides are starting to re-stock. Coby Mayo (#3) is back with Norfolk after an unsuccessful first taste of the majors, and he homered and tripled as part of a six-hit week. Jud Fabian (#14) homered and doubled twice in his first week since being promoted to Triple-A. True to his swing-and-miss tendencies, he struck out 13 times in 25 at-bats, but when he makes contact, he doesn’t get cheated.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th. 0-2 count. Jud Fabian ties the game with a 104 mph double. pic.twitter.com/aC3DeQ10Bq
— The Verge- An Orioles MiLB Podcast (@TheVergePod) August 24, 2024
The most exciting news came Sunday, when the Orioles announced that catcher Samuel Basallo (#2) is headed up to Norfolk from Double-A Bowie. The club’s prize addition from the 2020-21 international signing period is now just one step away from arriving in the majors. Mayo and Basallo rank as the 10th and 11th best prospects in baseball in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, so the Tides are going to be a lot of fun to watch again.
Norfolk’s opponent, Worcester, boasts Boston’s three best prospects — Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel — and while Mayer missed this week with injury, Anthony torched Norfolk pitchers for three home runs. (The Tides were more successful against Teel, holding him to a 2-for-23.)
As for Norfolk, non-roster outfielder Daniel Johnson hit a pair of dingers before joining the Orioles’ taxi squad as insurance if Cedric Mullins has to go on the IL. Less helpful were veteran infielders J.D. Davis and Jean Segura, who were a combined 1-for-30 with 13 Ks. On the pitching side, undrafted righty Brandon Young continued to open eyes, racking up 10 strikeouts in 4.2 innings this week. He’s turned himself into a legitimate option if the O’s need to promote another starting pitcher before year’s end.
Regrettably, I must mention the recently demoted Trevor Rogers, whose Norfolk debut was even more disastrous than his four Orioles outings. In 4.1 innings, the southpaw was destroyed for 10 runs and nine hits and three walks. Just an absolute disaster class. I’m going to assume the O’s had very specific things they wanted Rogers to work on, even if it meant the early results would be ugly. Boy, were they. (Connor Norby’s current performance with the Marlins definitely won’t help O’s fans feel better about the Rogers trade.)
The Orioles finished the week by designating lefty Nick Vespi for assignment. Vespi had been promoted from Norfolk to Baltimore an unbelievable 17 times over the past three years, and while he’s usually had success in Triple-A — including a 0.94 ERA in 2022 — he’d been hit hard this year, posting a 7.71 mark in 24 games, including nine earned runs in his past 1.1 innings. He’s finally off the Norfolk shuttle, but will another team claim him?
Double-A Bowie Baysox
- Past week: 3-3 vs. Erie SeaWolves (Tigers)
- Coming week: at Akron RubberDucks (33-18 second half, Guardians)
- Second half record: 25-26, third place (8.0 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
Samuel Basallo’s final series at Double-A ended with his winning Eastern League Player of the Week honors. Basallo batted .421 with a 1.256 OPS for the week, reaching base 14 times and tagging a homer and three doubles. Yeah, I think he’s ready for the next level. Basallo got off to a slow start this season while recovering from a stress fracture in his elbow, and didn’t catch a game until April 30, but he has since played 45 games behind the dish, 28 at first base, and DH’ed 30 times. He’s slashing .289/.355/.465 with 16 home runs in 106 games. The hype is only increasing for the Orioles’ top international prospect.
Basallo was the second consecutive Baysox hitter to win Player of the Week after Dylan Beavers (#8) did so last week, but Beavers crashed hard this time around. The outfielder was just 1-for-19. The news was much better for Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#6), who collected a team-leading 10 hits, four for extra bases, in his second week at Double-A. The 2023 first-round pick is off to a hot start at Bowie after putting up a good OBP but middling SLG in High-A. Here’s hoping Bradfield has found a way to unlock some power to the gaps. He stole four bases as well, giving him 65 steals between the two levels this year.
Have yourself a month, Alex Pham. The #24 O’s prospect continued to dazzle in August with 5.1 scoreless, one-hit innings and seven strikeouts this week, giving him an incredible 0.99 ERA in five starts this month. The 24-year-old right-hander, who had a 6.64 ERA at the end of May, has turned his season around with his recent dominance, cutting his season mark to 4.30. Fellow righty Cameron Weston also threw five shutout innings this week, but recently acquired prospect Patrick Reilly suffered his second straight disappointing performance, lasting only 2.2 innings and giving up three runs. Reilly has a 4.40 ERA in four games for Bowie.
With Basallo gone, the Baysox called up a new catcher to replace him, summoning Creed Willems from High-A. Willems was batting .238/.332/.456 at Aberdeen, with a team-leading 13 home runs and 51 RBIs.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Past week: 5-1 vs. Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)
- Coming week: at Wilmington Blue Rocks (20-34 second half, Nationals)
- Second half record: 29-25, tied for second place (3.0 GB) in South Atlantic League North
The IronBirds are the only O’s affiliate with a winning record in the second half, and the only one with a puncher’s chance at a postseason berth. With two weeks left, they’d have to make up a three-game deficit on the first-place Hudson Valley Renegades while also fending off the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, who are tied for second. The Renegades and BlueClaws play six games against each other this week, so if those two teams split their series while Aberdeen wins as many as possible against Wilmington, the IronBirds can make up some ground.
The IronBirds won five out of six games this week despite hitting just one homer in the series, a Douglas Hodo III two-run shot in the finale. They showed off a keen batting eye by walking 34 times, including six by Hodo, and all 13 Aberdeen hitters drew at least one free pass this week. Creed Willems walked five times and doubled twice in his final week at High-A.
One player from the Orioles’ 2024 draft class was assigned directly to High-A: right-hander Evan Yates, their 20th-round pick from Cal State Fullerton. He pitched two scoreless innings in his professional debut. The only Aberdeen hurler to work more than four innings this week was righty Zach Fruit, who started the opener and the finale. He fired six scoreless frames in the former, but was tagged for two runs in four innings in the encore. Fruit has a 3.09 ERA and is holding opponents to a .199 average in 23 games for the IronBirds.
Meanwhile, Heston Kjerstad (#5) remains missing in action. It was reported on Aug. 12 that he was to start a rehab assignment at Aberdeen, but it’s been two weeks and he has yet to play. We can only infer that Kjerstad is still experiencing concussion symptoms after getting beaned by the Yankees on July 12. At this point we might not see him return in 2024. If not, hopefully he’s fully healthy and ready to go for spring training next year. Get well, Heston.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Past week: 4-2 at Down East Wood Ducks (Rangers)
- Coming week: vs. Salem Red Sox (30-24 second half)
- Second half record: 24-30, last place (9.0 GB) in Carolina League North
All eyes were on 2024 first-round pick Vance Honeycutt, who joined the Shorebirds mid-week to make his professional debut. The #22 overall selection from UNC had three singles and two walks in 13 plate appearances, but was outshined by a few of his fellow 2024 draftees. Second-rounder Ethan Anderson collected seven hits, including Delmarva’s only home run of the week, and is OPSing .939 in 10 pro games.
Third-rounder Austin Overn led the team with eight hits, including two doubles and a triple, and racked up eight stolen bases in 10 attempts. Fifth-rounder Ryan Stafford was 7-for-13 with five walks. Suffering rougher weeks were Griff O’Ferrall (4-for-21) and eight-rounder Colin Tuft (0-for-13). The O’s drafted O’Ferrall #32 overall as their Prospect Promotion Incentive pick thanks to Gunnar Henderson winning Rookie of the Year last season.
The Shorebirds used 18 different hurlers this week, only one of whom pitched more than one game (reliever Joe Glassey, who had two scoreless outings). Standouts included righty Yeiber Cartaya, who pitched four shutout frames and has a 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings at Low-A, and Riley Cooper, a 13th-round pick in 2023 who worked five scoreless this week. Then there’s Braxton Bragg, last year’s eighth-rounder, who amassed a whopping 11 strikeouts in his 5.1-inning start this week. Bragg has an 11.3 K/9 rate this year, which is certainly something to, well, brag about.
Dominican Summer League
One of the Birds’ two DSL teams, Orioles Orange, qualified for the playoffs after posting an impressive 38-18 regular season record. Alas, their postseason journey came to an end in the quarterfinals after losing two out of three to the DSL Angels. They took a 4-3, 10-inning loss in the opener, won Game 2 by a a 4-1 score, and lost the sudden-death finale, 3-0.
The Orioles ran wild in the series, stealing nine bases in 10 attempts, including multiple stolen bases by Sebastián De Los Santos, Luis Guevara, and Hector Campusano. Campusano, a 17-year-old Dominican infielder, had a good series at the plate, going 4-for-10 with a pair of RBIs. Bulk relievers Kevin Velasco (five shutout innings, seven strikeouts) and Juan Rasquin (4.1 scoreless, eight Ks) were standouts on the mound. Both are 18-year-old right-handers from Venezuela.
**
The votes were spread out in last week’s player of the week poll, with three guys receiving at least 20%, but Dylan Beavers carried the day with 38%. It was his second win of the year, joining fellow two-time winners Kjerstad, Cade Povich, and the since-traded Billy Cook. Single-week winners include Chayce McDermott, Fabian, Kyle Brnovich, Aron Estrada, Mayo, and the traded Norby and Matthew Etzel.