Every O’s affiliate either won or tied their series in a good overall week on the farm.
Each Tuesday on Camden Chat, we look back on the last week of action from the Orioles minor league affiliates, with a particular focus on the performance of players from Camden Chat’s composite top Orioles prospect list.
In terms of team success, this was the most successful week so far in the Orioles minors. It was the first week this season in which none of the four O’s affiliates had a losing record. Chesapeake and Delmarva each won their series while Norfolk and Aberdeen settled for six-game splits.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Last week: 3-3 at St. Paul Saints (Twins)
- Next opponent: vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies)
- Season record: 19-31, eighth place (16.5 GB) in International League East
After two rainouts to start the week, the Tides and Saints packed six games into a four-day span, splitting them down the middle. Norfolk’s three wins each were decided by five runs or more. The Tides bashed 11 home runs in the series, three of them by catcher Chadwick Tromp, who played only three games. Tromp has since been called up to Baltimore as insurance for the ailing Adley Rutschman. First baseman TT Bowens had two homers, four doubles, and a team-best seven RBIs.
It was a good week for Orioles prospects, too. The team’s top prospect, Samuel Basallo, reached base seven times and clubbed two homers, lifting his season OPS to .909. His bat is big league ready; now it’s just a matter of getting him more reps behind the plate. He started three times at catcher this week but has done so just five times this season. Outfielder Jud Fabian (#12, tied) tripled and homered as part of a six-hit week. Coby Mayo (#2) also had six hits and a homer, but struck out eight times without drawing a walk. Mayo, after a dominant 2024 season at Norfolk, has had a middling performance this season with a .224 average and .779 OPS.
On the mound, top pitching prospect Chayce McDermott (#5) suffered a rude welcome back to Triple-A after a two-game tryout with the Orioles. The Saints drummed him for four runs in 3.1 innings, including five walks and a hit batsman. Norfolk’s best pitching performance came from righty Cameron Weston, who delivered a quality six-inning, one-run start, though he walked four.
Yet another O’s prospect suffered an injury this week when outfielder Dylan Beavers (#6) went on the 7-day IL with a right shoulder sprain. Beavers apparently suffered the injury by running into a wall…during batting practice. Dylan, my dude, were you trying to make a home run-robbing catch during BP? Don’t be a hero!
Double-A Chesapeake Baysox
- Last week: 5-1 at Harrisburg Senators (Nationals)
- Next opponent: vs. Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets)
- Season record: 23-21, third place (6.5 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
The Baysox enjoyed their best series of the year by taking five of six from Harrisburg, despite never scoring more than six runs in a game. Chesapeake’s pitching staff held the Senators to a combined 13 runs in their five victories. As usual, Braxton Bragg was their most impressive starter, fanning eight batters in a quality start (six innings, two runs). Bragg has an eye-popping 1.01 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 12.29 K/9 in 44.2 innings across two levels this season. Nobody’s prospect stock has risen faster than his. Less successful was righty Nestor German (#8, tied), whose second career start at Double-A was a six-run mess.
The Baysox bullpen did a sensational job this week, with 10 relievers combining to allow just three earned runs in 25.2 innings for a Braxton Bragg-like 1.05 ERA. Chief among the contributors was righty Keagan Gillies, a 15th-round pick in 2021, who made three scoreless appearances and carries an 0.86 ERA in 17 games this year. It’s worth mentioning that Gillies is a 27-year-old who is in his third season at Double-A, so he’s long overdue for a promotion to Norfolk. If he continues his success there, he could be an option for the Orioles’ bullpen later this year.
As noted, this was not a banner week for the Chesapeake offense. The team hit only one home run, by former top-20 prospect Hudson Haskin, who was promptly moved up to Triple-A for the rest of the week. The Baysox did welcome back #3 prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. from a hamstring injury, and he contributed two doubles and two stolen bases in his return.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Last week: 3-3 vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals)
- Next opponent: at Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)
- Season record: 19-26, fourth place (13.0 GB) in South Atlantic League North
It’s hard to play a more tightly contested series than this one. Each team had three wins and every game was decided by three runs or fewer, including four straight one-run games to start the week.
Infielder Aron Estrada led the Aberdeen offense with seven hits in 17 at-bats, including two doubles and a homer. The 20-year-old Estrada, a 2022 international signing from Venezuela, is both the youngest and the best player in the IronBirds’ lineup, with a .318/.365/.453 slash line for the season. For good measure, he also leads the team in stolen bases (18).
A trio of 2024 draftees — Vance Honeycutt (#4 prospect), Ethan Anderson (#14), and Austin Overn — each collected multiple extra-base hits this week as well. Honeycutt, though, continued to show an egregious amount of swing-and-miss, whiffing 11 times in 21 at-bats this week. He has struck out in 36% of his plate appearances this year. Meanwhile, Colton Cowser began his rehab assignment in Aberdeen with two hits in nine at-bats, including a homer.
Aberdeen’s best currently active pitcher, Blake Money, suffered his worst start of the year, giving up giving up four runs and nine hits in 4.1 innings. Even still, his season ERA is an impressive 2.89 in eight games. The right-hander was a 12th-round pick from Louisiana State in 2023.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Last week: 4-2 at Salem Red Sox
- Next opponent: vs. Hickory Crawdads (Rangers)
- Season record: 18-27, sixth place (11.5 GB) in Carolina League North
What got into the Delmarva offense this week? The Shorebirds bashed Salem pitching for 49 runs in six games, including three outbursts of 11 runs or more. Their 68 hits and .388 team OBP this week were both tops in the 12-team Carolina League.
Seven different Shorebirds hitters reached base at least nine times, led by standout catcher Yasmil Bucce, who racked up nine hits and five walks along with a team-leading eight RBIs. Bucce, a 20-year-old Venezuelan, has enjoyed a breakout campaign with a .299/.444/.478 performance in 38 games. Outfielder Raylin Ramos and infielder Alfredo Velasquez joined Bucce in the nine-hit club this week, and infielder Edwin Amparo had six hits and six walks. The Shorebirds also went 19-for-23 in stolen base attempts.
The most notable pitcher at this level, lefty Luis De León (#11 prospect), is on a rehab assignment with Delmarva before he’ll presumably move up a level to Aberdeen. The high-90s-throwing southpaw has pitched four games, striking out 14 but walking eight in 11 innings so far.
Florida Complex League
The FCL Orioles are 9-6 through their first 15 games. The club’s top hitter early on has been outfielder Nate George, who turns 20 next week. He’s slashing a cool .438/.509/.646 in 13 games. Outfielder Jordan Sanchez (1.102 OPS) and infielder Joshua Liranzo (team-leading 11 walks) are also pacing the offense so far. Among pitchers, left-hander Andy Fabian (6.2 scoreless innings, 11 Ks) and righty Luis Beltran (7.1 IP, 1 ER, 12 K) have impressed.
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In last week’s player of the week poll, top prospect Samuel Basallo resoundingly took home his first win with a three-dinger week. He joins previous winners Braxton Bragg (twice), Brandon Young, Vance Honeycutt, Alex Pham, and Adam Retzbach. This week we have a couple of new names on the ballot and a guaranteed first-time winner. Who gets your vote?