Less fun: Jackson Holliday hit the injured list with elbow inflammation.
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, with mentions of some standout efforts from players who could be ranked on a future list.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Past week: 3-3 vs. Memphis (Cardinals)
- Coming week: at Lehigh Valley (29-38, Phillies)
- Season record: 35-34, fifth place (13 games back) of ten teams in International League East. The Tides are eliminated from the first half title.
The priority Jackson Holliday update for this week is a bit of a bummer, as the top Orioles prospect played in just two games and then was placed on the injured list with what the team announced as right elbow inflammation. The injury is not believed to be serious, according to The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka, so at least there’s that.
Standing out at the plate this week is a player who was not on the top prospects list before the season and who has won some fans as a kind of underdog player over the course of this season. That’s super-utility guy Billy Cook, who’s played six different positions this season, including all three outfield spots. The 25-year-old righty batter hit three home runs in the six games against the Redbirds, putting a nice power bow on a week where he had 9-22 hitting overall.
Cook now has 47 games under his belt at Norfolk and an .882 OPS – better than, among others, Connor Norby (4-16 with no extra base hits) and Kyle Stowers have done with the Tides this season.
On Sunday, rehabbing Oriole Dean Kremer made a start for the Tides. He only threw about 60 pitches over 3.2 innings, allowing five runs (but only two earned) over the course of that outing. Seems like he should get another game or two in before coming back to Baltimore. The Norfolk pitcher with the best results was Brandon Young, a 6’6” righty who was pitching in his fourth Triple-A game and logged five shutout innings with only one hit allowed and no walks issued.
Others of note
- OF Heston Kjerstad – 8-26 with three doubles and a homer over six games, though he also struck out 12 times; Kjerstad has a 26.8% strikeout rate with Norfolk. (The MLB rate before yesterday’s games was 22.2%.)
- RHP Chayce McDermott – Did he walk too many dudes? Yes, with four across a 6.2 inning start where he allowed four runs (three earned) and struck out three. I just feel like the 5.7 BB/9 has got to come down a lot to count on him for any future Orioles help.
- RHP Justin Armbruester – It’s been a dismal season for the righty so hopefully he can feel alright about this outing, where he allowed two runs (one earned) across five innings. Home runs and walks have been his problem this season. He gave up a homer and three walks over the start.
Double-A Bowie Baysox
- Past week: 2-4 at Harrisburg (Nationals)
- Coming week: vs. Altoona (24-39, Pirates)
- Season record: 31-31, fourth place (4.5 games back) of six teams in Eastern League Southwest. The Baysox have an elimination number of 3 for the first half title.
I’d like to be able to say some awesome things about Samuel Basallo’s performance over this week, but I can’t, because he only got three hits in 19 at-bats. Maybe you’ll like this video that the Orioles player development made about him:
Samuel Basallo became infatuated with the game at an early age, and the game has loved him back. pic.twitter.com/vs37l3Nezb
— Orioles Player Development (@OsPlayerDev) June 17, 2024
Just about the whole Bowie outfield gets some shoutout treatment in this update, so good job for all of these guys. John Rhodes picked up five of his six hits in one game on Sunday, driving in six runs thanks to his home run and five singles. Ahead of Rhodes in the home run department is Jud Fabian, who fired off a second consecutive pretty good week as he hit three dingers; he’s now OPSing .848 in June. Dylan Beavers also had six hits for the week, including a double and a homer, and he drew four walks and stole a pair of bases too. Beavers!
Another week, another nice but also short start for 40-man pitcher Seth Johnson, who’s yet to be asked to throw more than 68 pitches and accordingly has only gone five or more innings once. It was a four inning outing this week with one run allowed on two hits and three walks as Johnson struck out five batters. The Orioles are taking him slowly as he builds back up from August 2022 Tommy John surgery.
Others of note
- OF Matthew Etzel – The 10th round pick debuted with Bowie this week after raking in Aberdeen. He had 5 hits in 18 at-bats, all singles, drew three walks, and stole four bases in five tries. Not a bad start.
- IF Frederick Bencosme – The early season standout (.838 April OPS) has slumped since, including this past week, when he batted just 3-19. His season OPS is down to .640.
- RHP Alex Pham – Bowie’s two-start guy this week struck out 14 batters across 11 innings and walked just one, allowing only three runs. Pham had a tough time in April and a slightly better (but still bad) time in May, so hopefully he can carry forward this June success.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Past week: 4-2 vs. Hickory (Rangers)
- Coming week: at Wilmington (29-34, Nationals)
- Season record: 33-30, fourth place (3.5 games back) of six teams in South Atlantic League North. The IronBirds have an elimination number of 1 for the first half title.
Coby Mayo joined the IronBirds this week to rehab after recovering from his fractured rib. He demonstrated his readiness to return to his normal Triple-A level in these games, picking up six hits – all XBH – in 13 at-bats. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do back at Norfolk and whether the Orioles will decide that he can contribute something this season at the major league level.
Mayo’s obviously above this level now. One guy who has more to prove here still is last year’s first rounder, Enrique Bradfield Jr., who collected the first two home runs of his pro career in these games. Bradfield had six hits in total, was on base three more times thanks to drawing walks, and stole another three bases, giving him 29 for the season. He’s built his season batting line up to .263/.339/.380.
There are a pair of notable pitching prospects playing for Aberdeen right now: Lefty Luis De León and righty Jackson Baumeister from the CBB round of last year’s draft. De León had a good outing, allowing just one earned run across 4.2 innings; Baumeister did not have a good outing, surrendering four runs over 4.1 innings. Baumeister, who’s been with the IronBirds all season, has done well overall, with a 2.47 ERA and no home runs allowed. There’s even a little silver lining in that the walk-prone pitcher didn’t walk anyone in this outing.
Others of note
- C Creed Willems – Following a May slump, Willems has been back doing good things in June, recording four XBH out of six hits in this series, including a home run, and OPSing over 1.000 for the week. He sits at an .800 OPS for the year.
- IF Mac Horvath – Last year’s second rounder had a tough April and May but is coming on strong in June, with four hits across four games this week, including a double, triple, and a home run.
Aberdeen season-to-date stats.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Past week: 3-3 vs. Kannapolis (White Sox)
- Coming week: at Fayetteville (27-36, Astros)
- Season record: 22-40, last place (16.5 games back) of six teams in Carolina League North. The Shorebirds are eliminated from the first half title.
Out of this young roster, the batter who rose to the top this past week was Leandro Arias, who picked up six hits and five walks in just five games, and stole a couple of bases. Since returning from an injury that cost him more than a month of action at his assigned level, Arias has batted .300/.383/.471. That’ll play for a 19-year-old in full season ball.
Another guy who missed about a month of the season had a good week: Outfielder Jake Cunningham, one of several outfielders the O’s drafted last year. Cunningham is still with Delmarva, but if he can build on a week where he notched seven hits in 17 at-bats and stole three bases, maybe he’ll get up to join the Aberdeen crew soon, especially with Etzel having gone up to Bowie.
The youngest pitcher currently active for the Shorebirds is 20-year-old Juan Rojas, who was part of the trade return for Jorge López two years ago. Rojas only made his season debut with Delmarva on May 25. In a three-inning relief outing this week, Rojas kept the Cannon Ballers off the board, scattering three hits and one walk.
Others of note
- OF Braylin Tavera – Has been out with a shoulder strain for more than a month; .478 OPS before injury.
- OF Thomas Sosa – Sosa, who like Tavera is a 19-year-old outfielder, grabbed four hits including two doubles and added four walks across four games this past week.
Delmarva season-to-date stats.
**
In a four-player poll last week, Basallo took down the win with 57% of the vote. It’s his first win of the season, so he joins a list of winners that also includes Brnovich, Etzel, Cade Povich, McDermott, Beavers, and Fabian. Additionally, Kjerstad is the lone two-time winner of the season.
Will we add another repeat winner to the list? Nope, because I decided not to include any of the past winners in this poll. It was close for Fabian. Sorry, Jud! Keep hitting those dingers and you’ll get back in here.