Jackson Holliday’s promotion to High-A Aberdeen might feel as if it came quickly. But by the Orioles’ standards for moving prospects up the minor league ladder, it’s fairly typical.
Baltimore sent Holliday, last season’s No. 1 overall draft pick and the organization’s top prospect still in the minors, from Low-A Delmarva to the IronBirds on Monday after only 25 games for the Shorebirds split across the past two seasons. In them, the 19-year-old infielder hit .323 with a 1.000 OPS, 13 of his 30 hits going for extra bases and seven more walks than strikeouts. In 193 defensive innings at second base and shortstop, he made three errors, though only one came in this year’s 117 frames.
But that 25-game benchmark isn’t otherworldly for the Orioles, who seek to ensure their top minor leaguers are continually challenged. Holliday’s ascension is in line with the paths of Baltimore’s top infield prospects, though it’s the fastest for any of them who were drafted out of high school.
Of the Orioles’ six young infielders who appeared on at least one publication’s top 100 prospects this winter, only Gunnar Henderson — the unanimous top overall prospect before graduating earlier this month — spent more than 30 games with Delmarva before joining Aberdeen, playing 35 games as a Shorebird in 2021. Jordan Westburg, at 20 games, was the only one with a faster promotion than Holliday, with Connor Norby (26) and Coby Mayo (27) a tick behind. Joey Ortiz never played a game at Delmarva, though that was largely a byproduct of the 2020 minor league season, the first campaign after he was drafted in 2019′s fourth round, being canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Extending beyond infielders, outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser, who preceded Holliday as first-round picks, played 22 and 25 games as Shorebirds, respectively, and outfielders Dylan Beavers and Jud Fabian, who Baltimore took behind Holliday in the 2022 draft, ended last season with Aberdeen after 16 and 10 respective Low-A games. But all four of those players were college draftees. This time a year ago, Holliday was getting ready to graduate from high school.
In his final week at Low-A, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday hit .450 with two home runs, both in the same game and both going the other way out to left field, to earn Carolina League Player of the Week. But Holliday wasn’t the only offensive star on the Orioles’ farm, with others mentioned above also hitting well.
Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down five of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for those who didn’t make that cut.
1. Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Colton Cowser
A day after Holliday’s two-homer Friday, Cowser went deep twice for the Tides in a rain-shortened game, accounting for two of his three long balls as he earned International League Player of the Week honors. Even with 0-for-3 showings Friday and Sunday, Cowser hit .391 with a 1.307 OPS on the week, reaching base in every game to extend his on-base streak to 15 games. Another player later on this list has exemplified how difficult playing time is to get in the Orioles’ outfield, but Cowser — a 23-year-old hitting .290/.407/.474 for Norfolk — could soon push his way into the mix.
2. Low-A Delmarva catcher Samuel Basallo
Even when Holliday was a Shorebird, he wasn’t the youngest rising star with Delmarva. The Orioles’ top-ranked international prospect, Basallo — who won’t turn 19 until August — has been on a tear in his first stint with a full-season affiliate. Last week, he hit .381 and slugged .714 while driving in 10 runs. In 14 games with Delmarva, Basallo is slashing .333/.365/.583.
3. Double-A Bowie infielder Coby Mayo
Mayo homered in each of his first two games last week, giving him three home runs in his first 11 contests after he hit five home runs in 34 Double-A games in 2022. The hot start carried the 21-year-old third baseman to a slash line of .294/.429/.706 for the week after he entered hitting .222/.317/.361. He notably cut down on strikeouts from that stretch, with a 14.3% rate last week after a 22% mark coming in.
4. Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Kyle Stowers
Stowers presents somewhat of a quandary. He’s spent enough days in the majors to no longer be rookie-eligible, but he hasn’t received enough playing time during those stints for Baseball America not to consider him a prospect. The 25-year-old made the Orioles’ opening day roster, then started only one of their first eight games before being sent back to Norfolk to receive regular at-bats. He capitalized on them last week, walking twice as often as he struck out for a .423 on-base percentage while slugging .632 thanks to two home runs. Across the past three seasons, Stowers has appeared in 129 Triple-A games, slashing .264/.363/.497 with 24 home runs and 102 RBIs. The Orioles, though, have had trouble giving him consistent major-league opportunities.
5. Double-A Bowie right-hander Justin Armbruester
As the Orioles enjoyed a standout pitching week in the majors — allowing no more than a run in any of last week’s five games and winning them all — it was rather quiet in that regard on the farm, with several solid but hardly any spectacular outings. Armbruester, Baltimore’s preseason No. 20 prospect according to Baseball America, did enough to make the cut here with a scoreless start of 5 1/3 innings Thursday. The Orioles’ 12th-round pick in 2021, the 24-year-old Armbruester has given up two runs over 14 1/3 innings for the Baysox across three starts.
The top prospect not featured so far
With Henderson graduated, Grayson Rodriguez also in the majors and Holliday already highlighted, this space belongs to left-hander DL Hall. The 24-year-old experienced back discomfort late in the offseason that kept him from truly competing for a big league rotation spot this spring, but with a five-inning, two-run start Friday for the Tides, Hall seems to be nearing a point where the focus shifts to results rather than building up. In his four starts, he has yet to reach 90 pitches or go beyond five innings. He’s interestingly had trouble in left-on-left situations; although Hall has struck out 38.1% of opposing righties, he’s struck out only four of 34 left-handers (11.8%) while walking six of them.
International acquisition of the week
When Bowie infielder César Prieto signed with the Orioles in January 2022, he was the defending batting champion of the Cuban National Series after hitting .403. He’s not far behind that mark with the Baysox, hitting .397 with a .953 OPS after going 9-for-19 last week. His 11-game hitting streak ended Friday, but he bounced back in his next game with three hits Sunday. His strong contact skills were also on display throughout the week, as he didn’t strike out in any of his 21 plate appearances.
Time to give some shine to …
It’s often hitting that earns a player recognition here, but a pair of defensive highlights will do Bowie outfielder Donta’ Williams. Playing left field for the Baysox on Wednesday, Williams, Baltimore’s 2021 fourth-round pick, dove forward for an impressive catch.
He topped it Sunday going the other direction in center field, ranging back and leaping for a catch that landed him the No. 2 spot in the top 10 plays on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
Williams wasn’t all glove, with five walks giving him a .438 on-base percentage for the week and leaving his mark at .410 for the season.
Minors moves
Holliday wasn’t the only infielder promoted from Delmarva, with Anthony Servideo, Baltimore’s third-round pick in 2020, sent to Bowie. Limited by injuries much of his professional career, the 24-year-old Servideo went 5-for-34 with a home run to start the year with the Shorebirds. His promotion comes as a corresponding move to the Orioles moving Gilbert Lara, a 25-year-old they signed as a minor league free agent in February, from Bowie to Norfolk after placing infielder Greg Cullen, whom they acquired from the Atlanta Braves in the trade for Tommy Milone in 2020, on the Triple-A seven-day injured list.
Red Sox at Orioles
Tuesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
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