Not all of these players will end up grabbing a roster spot, but they’ve shown enough to be interesting.
Last season, injuries hurt the Orioles, and not just in the literal “ouch” way. At one point, seven pitchers were on the IL, and roster fixtures like Jordan Westburg, Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo all had IL stints. For reasons yet unknown, All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman struggled to a .207/.282/.303/.585 slash line after the break, when the team as a whole went 33-33, the offense falling off the table.
One of the lessons learned from last year, it seems, is that depth—on both the position player and the pitching sides—may help the ‘25 Orioles weather the health problems that dragged them down last fall. Given the grind of a 162-game season, a winning team has to rely on lots of fringe players to pitch in: you never know when you’ll find the next Jorge Mateo or Albert Suárez to save the day.
Depth means several intense battles for roster spots this spring. So what dark horse candidates with an outside chance to make the roster boosted their stock most in spring training so far? Here are five, broken down by position group: catcher, infielder, outfielder, starting pitcher, bullpen.
Not all of these are players have a hold on a rotation spot, far from it, but all of them have shown some of the most interesting stuff in camp so far.
Catcher: Samuel Basallo
No, he’s not exactly an under-the-radar player, but Samuel Basallo is a non-roster invite playing this spring with something to prove. For the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect, this spring is about showing his preternatural maturity at 20 years of age, his ability to hit major-league pitchers and to call a major-league game.
So far: he’s delivering. Pitchers have praised his poise behind the plate, and the bat is as advertised. On February 27, Basallo hit a bomb that sailed over the scoreboard, shown here—one of his “Top 3,” he said, for sure.
In ten spring plate appearances thus far, Basallo is averaging .375 and OPS’ing 1.083. He’s not playing for a roster spot—the catcher position is sewn up, between Adley Rutschman and backup backstop Gary Sánchez. But Basallo is definitely hastening the day of his big league call-up.
Infielder: Emmanuel Rivera
If spring training ABs to date were a true indicator of coaches’ preferences, your 2025 Orioles infield would consist of Emmanuel Rivera at 3B, Luis Vázquez at SS, Vimael Machín at 2B and Coby Mayo at 1B. Don’t go ahead and buy those jerseys just yet.
At the same time, bumps and bruises sustained by the regular O’s infielders may create an opening for a dark horse to get some starts. The 28-year-old Rivera is interesting because, despite being a NRI, he actually has something of an MLB track record. Drafted by KC in the middle rounds back in 2015, Rivera has a career .244/.306/.369/.676 slash line in 340 games over four seasons of play. Not earth-shattering numbers, but last season, Rivera performed in a small sample size with Baltimore, hitting .313 with four home runs, 14 RBI and a .948 OPS in 27 games.
Worth seeing more? Probably. He’s tagging the ball this spring, with an .813 OPS and 2 home runs in 17 AB’s, including this one:
Outfielder: Dylan Beavers
Baltimore’s farm system might not be ranked No. 1 in baseball anymore, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have riches. The 33rd overall pick in 2022, Dylan Beavers is one of the latest Elias first-round picks to reach Triple A. Despite a big frame (6’4”, 206 lbs) the 23-year-old is still a little green, with just six games in Norfolk last year after slashing .241/.343/.413 with 15 home runs and 31 stolen bases at Double-A.
It’s true, the Orioles have had a tough time getting their young outfielders playing time over the last few years—cue grumbling about Kyle Stowers and Heston Kjerstad here. The current outfield remains a crowded group, with newcomers Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Ramón Laureano and Daz Cameron added to the mix. But before getting named in this week’s round of cuts, Beavers impressed with a .375/.444/.875/1.319 line in ten plate appearances, including one home run. Beavers is just about knocking on the door of the majors.
While we’re at it, Dylan Carlson is another interesting case. The switch-hitting outfielder is a former first-round prospect whose hitting has stalled out since a stellar rookie season in 2021. He’s expected to begin the year at Triple-A Norfolk, but should an injury arise, Carlson is worth watching as a potential call-up: he can play all three positions and has a good eye for the strike zone (career 9% walk rate). He was a low-cost, high-potential signing for the Orioles with a chance to turn his career around.
Starting Pitcher: LHP Cade Povich
Cade Povich seems to pitch better when he’s inhabiting the persona of his alter ego, “Slim,” and thus far in spring, Slim is shoving. In five innings across two starts, the 25-year-old lefty hasn’t allowed a run and he’s also struck out seven, including this stunning six-K effort in his last spring start, on March 1:
Last season, Slim was thrown into a starter role of necessity, by all the injuries sustained by his peers. His control was up-and-down, especially of his secondary pitches, and he finished with a shaky 5.20 ERA and -0.5 WAR. The Orioles have added a lot of depth at starter, and it’s presumed Povich, if he makes the team, will do so as a swingman.
On the other hand, control like he’s showed so far in spring will make it difficult to keep him out of the rotation.
Bullpen: RHP Brandon Young
The O’s reigning minor league Pitcher of the Year winner is having a decent, not standout spring, with two runs allowed on four hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. But those 4.1 innings also lead all Orioles relievers, and given, too, the fact that Young was not included in the 12 players cut last Sunday, this appears to mean that the team is interested in seeing what the right-hander has got.
Young enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, putting up a 3.44 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 89 innings with Norfolk after earning a promotion from Double-A last spring. The Orioles added him to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, and has been working on new pitches to implement this spring. It’ll be fun to see whether he sneaks onto the 26-man roster.
That’s the story for now. The baseball season is a 162-game, seven-month grind, and last year’s struggles with personnel give strong motives to seek out greater organizational depth.
Not everybody can be a superstar on the daily: this team will need contributions from the 2025 version of Albert Suárez in order to stay competitive. At this point in the season, it’s far from obvious who such players might be, but it’s a fun thing to keep track of.