Orioles minor league weekly recap: Standout starting performances lead a strong week of pitching

Two O’s minor league hurlers won their respective leagues’ Pitcher of the Week honors.

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: 4-2 at Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals)
• Coming week: three games vs. Nashville Sounds (11-7 second half, Brewers)
• Second-half record: 8-9, tied for seventh place (4.5 GB) in International League East

The Tides had a good week offensively, with much of that production coming from veteran major leaguers who were acquired to boost the Triple-A roster. Recent signees Niko Goodrum and Garrett Cooper, who between them have played nearly 1,000 big league games, combined for 14 hits and 10 RBIs this week, and the also well-traveled Nick Maton crushed three home runs and drove in nine. These guys aren’t the future of the Orioles, but they’re useful roster depth if injuries occur in the second half.

Don’t worry, the actual prospects performed well, too. Connor Norby (#7 on Camden Chat’s prospect list) was the star this week, reaching base 14 times in 29 PAs, leading the team in both hits (eight) and walks (six). Two of his hits were dingers, giving him 16 on the year. He’s the fourth Tide to top 15 homers, joining Coby Mayo, Kyle Stowers, and Heston Kjerstad (and Daniel Johnson is one away). With Norby tearing the cover off the ball at Triple-A for the second year in a row, will he find a major league opportunity somewhere at the July 30 trade deadline?

Mayo, too, should be big league-bound by the end of the month, and he’s much more likely than Norby to get that chance with the Orioles. Mike Elias indicated last week that Mayo is “very close” to an MLB promotion (and if you ask most O’s fans, it probably should have happened already). The #3 prospect had another fine week, collecting a homer and two doubles among his seven hits. And of course we must mention #1 prospect Jackson Holliday, who reached base nine times, with three doubles. He continues to be a DH only as he works his way back from right elbow inflammation.

The Norfolk pitcher attracting the most attention is #10 prospect Chayce McDermott, who continued to make a case for a call-up with 6.2 scoreless innings this week, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Awesome! He also walked four. Not so awesome. McDermott has looked unhittable in two of his three July outings, but he’s still having trouble harnessing his control, averaging 5.4 BB/9 this season. As much as his power arm might tempt the Orioles to audition him in the rotation, big league hitters will eat him up if he doesn’t throw strikes (see Povich, Cade).

McDermott earned International League Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance, which is a little surprising because one of his own teammates was arguably even better. Justin Armbruester (#20) delivered a much-needed dominant outing with six shutout innings, 10 strikeouts, and just one walk. Only four batters reached base. Armbruester’s otherwise horrible year had muddied his prospect status, but two of his last three outings have been scoreless. Maybe something is starting to click. His season ERA is still 7.58, so he has a ways to go.

Norfolk season stats

Double-A Bowie Baysox

• Past week: 1-5 at Altoona Curve (Pirates)
• Coming week: three games vs. Hartford Yard Goats (9-8 second half, Rockies)
• Second-half record: 8-10, fourth place (5.0 GB) in Eastern League Southwest

Offense hard to come by this week for the Baysox, who managed only eight runs in the six games combined. (Orioles fans can relate.) No Bowie hitter managed better than a .666 OPS this week, though Matthew Etzel at least contributed six hits (all singles). The Baysox didn’t hit a single homer, and in fact had only two extra-base hits in the entire series, a double apiece for Jud Fabian (#14 prospect) and Collin Burns. Fabian, by the way, had to leave Sunday’s game after getting hit in the head with a pitch, so best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

The top-ranked Bowie hitting prospects were quiet. Samuel Basallo (#2) had two hits in 11 at-bats before departing for the All-Star Futures Game, in which he drew a walk and grounded into a double play. Dylan Beavers (#8) was 4-for-20. Beavers is OPS’ing .729 in his first full season at Double-A, a disappointing follow-up to his .895 OPS in 34 games at the same level last year.

On the pitching side, Alex Pham (#24) pulled an Armbruester, delivering a strong start in what’s been an otherwise difficult season. He held Altoona to one hit in six scoreless innings, striking out six and walking one, and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week. Pham is still carrying a 5.38 season ERA, but he’s averaging 11.7 K/9, including eight straight starts of six or more strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Seth Johnson (#11), who some fans hope could be a relief option for the Orioles this year, worked five innings — matching his longest outing of the season — and gave up one run. His ERA is down to 2.84 and he’s striking out a batter per inning, but like many O’s pitching prospects, walks have been an issue (5.4 BB/9).

Bowie season stats

High-A Aberdeen IronBirds

• Past week: 4-2 at Asheville Tourists (Astros)
• Coming week: three games vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (9-11 second half, Nationals)
• Second-half record: 12-9, second place (4.0 GB) in South Atlantic League North

Last year’s first round pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#6) remains a work in progress offensively, but this was one of his better weeks. The speedster had six hits and stole four bases and also popped his third home run, his first in nearly a month. Bradfield is slashing .274/.348/.376 in 62 games. It was second rounder Mac Horvath (#12) who carried the Aberdeen offense this week, leading the team with seven hits and six walks for a .520 OBP. He also swatted a pair of dingers.

IronBirds starting pitchers showed out this week, combining for a 1.73 ERA. That included strong outings by 2023 draftees Michael Forret and Zach Fruit and undrafted free agent Trey Gibson. Gibson was particularly impressive, working 5.1 scoreless innings in his High-A debut.

The Orioles’ top drafted 2023 pitcher, competitive balance pick Jackson Baumeister (#15 tied), made two starts in the series and gave up three runs (two earned) in 7.2 innings, striking out 11. There’s no question about Baumeister’s swing-and-miss stuff; he’s racking up 11.21 strikeouts per nine. But — and stop me if you’ve heard this before — he needs to stop walking so many people (5.7 BB/9).

Aberdeen season stats

Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds

• Past week: 3-3 at Lynchburg Hillcats (Guardians)
• Coming week: three games vs. Down East Wood Ducks (11-10 second half, Rangers)
• Second-half record: 9-12, fifth place (7.0 GB) in Carolina League North

Soon enough, the Shorebirds will receive a roster boost from the Orioles’ newly drafted college players. First round pick Vance Honeycutt, among others, will likely make their way to Delmarva before the year is out. Until then, the club will have to make do with its current underwhelming personnel.

Two years ago, the Orioles made Braylin Tavera (#15 tied) the highest paid international signing in franchise history, awarding the Dominican infielder a $1.7 million bonus. The now 19-year-old hasn’t exactly broken out as the O’s had hoped. With a 2-for-20 slog this week, Tavera is batting .149/.263/.188 with no home runs in 44 games. There just hasn’t been much to like. On a brighter note, Delmarva’s home run leader, catcher Aneudis Mordán, added to his total with his 12th dinger this week, adding a pair of doubles as well.

The pitching star of the week was right-hander Blake Money, who worked nine scoreless innings and struck out nine across two appearances. If only there were a word to describe how good he was. The 2023 twelfth-round pick already had my attention because of his delightful name, and now he’s got it because he’s pitching pretty well. The 22-year-old Money has a 3.46 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 10.5 K/9 in 17 games at Delmarva.

Delmarva season stats

**

I can’t believe it took more than halfway through the season for Coby Mayo to earn his first win in our Player of the Week poll, but he did so decisively last week, pulling in 79% of the vote. The full list of winners this season includes Etzel, Povich, McDermott, Fabian, Beavers, Kyle Brnovich, Basallo, Billy Cook, Aron Estrada, and two-time winner Kjerstad.

We’ve got a crowded field for this week’s ballot and only one candidate for a repeat win. Who’s your pick?