Three Baltimore Orioles Prospects Who Saw Their Stock Soar In 2021

For the vast majority of Baltimore Orioles minor leaguers, the end of the 2021 season is just two weeks away (pending a Bowie or Delmarva playoff push), with only the Triple-A Norfolk Tides scheduled to play through October 3rd.

While the major league product has been largely unwatchable this season, the 2021 minor league season never failed to entertain on a nightly basis as high-end prospect talent and the depth of the league’s top farm system was on full display to enjoy.

Adley Rutschman, the top overall prospect in baseball, and Grayson Rodriguez, the top pitching prospect in baseball, left no doubts about their prospect ranks with their play on the field this season. When attempting to remain optimistic about the future of the Baltimore Orioles organization, the elite play of these two special prospects provides plenty of comfort.

But Rutschman and Rodriguez won’t be able to save the organization by themselves. Luckily, plenty of their minor league peers have stepped up in a major way in 2021, putting themselves in a position to make some noise come spring training 2022.

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I’ll save the younger prospects who made the most noise for a later article, but want to focus on three prospects in the upper-levels of the minors who could make an impact at the major league level in 2022. These three Orioles prospects have raised their stock the most in 2021.

OF Kyle Stowers (Norfolk)

Opinions were mixed on Stowers coming into 2021, largely due to a less than stellar debut in 2019 with then short-season Aberdeen, but the tools to become a  major leaguer were there with a bit of refinement. Stowers has certainly refined plenty while spending the season with now High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie.

Stowers hit .275 with a .900 OPS in 36 A+ games before a promotion to AA where he made what is typically seen as the biggest jump to make in minor league baseball look fairly easy. It’s not very often you see a player like Stowers adjust so quickly after this sort of promotion. As of September 6, Stowers is hitting .283 with a .938 OPS in 66 games with the Baysox and leads the entire organization with 24 home runs on the year. He’s turned his above-average raw power and translated it into games well, while maintaining a solid batting average and getting on base at just under a 40% clip.

Just hours after Sunday’s game in Bowie, his agent announced that he was being promoted to Triple-A Norfolk, his second promotion of the season. Two additional weeks of getting to watch Kyle Stowers? Yes please.

The big red flag with Stowers is the strikeout total (34% in High-A/30% in Double-A), but with Stowers showing the ability to hit for average, a high degree of power, and draw a walk at about a 15% rate, his high strikeout rate isn’t as big of a detriment. It’s something that Stowers has worked on with the help of instructors like Ryan Fuller, who had high praise for Stowers when speaking with us at On The Verge earlier this summer and highlighting Stowers’ ability to not veer from his plan of attack during a game. Even during a tough stretch, he’s sticking to the plan with confidence that any cold streak won’t last long. Whether it’s against a lefty or a righty, Stowers has excelled under the tutelage of Fuller and the O’s player development staff, posting an .868 OPS against LHP and .999 OPS against RHP.

The former Stanford Cardinal shows a little bit of speed on the basepaths and his arm is capable of handling right field duties. His ability to play all three outfield spots also helps. While the power at the plate is impressive, it’s far from his only tool available in his tool box.

Stowers’ impressive season has launched him up the prospect rankings, making him the clear best outfield prospect in the Orioles system behind Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad. He will enter spring training with an opportunity to force himself into the Orioles’ 2022 plans. Even if he isn’t able to lock down an everyday major league spot, his power from the left side, defensive versatility, and overall athleticism will make for a very nice platoon piece.

IF Jordan Westburg (Bowie)

In just his first season of professional baseball and at the young age of 22, Jordan Westburg has earned himself two promotions in 2021, spending just 20 games with Delmarva before being pushed to Aberdeen and then bumped to Bowie after posting an .858 OPS and 133 wRC+ in 62 games with the IronBirds.

After the Orioles used the 30th overall pick in the 2020 draft on the former Mississippi State standout, one of the bigger questions surrounding Westburg was whether or not he would be able to tap into his power at the next level. His response has been a combined 13 home runs, 22 doubles, and 4 triples in 99 games, showing an ability to use his power to all fields. And like a large percentage of Orioles minor league hitters, he compliments his power with high walk totals (around 14%), softening the blow of his strikeout numbers (around 26%). Once he settles in against Double-A pitching, it would be nice to see a bit more over the fence power. Westburg hasn’t had much issue when it comes to hitting hard line-drives with his knack for barrelling pitches, but more in-game power would go a long way in cementing his role as a future major league starter on the infield (and he hits his first AA home run as I work on this piece, right on cue).

I only mention the strikeout numbers for Stowers and Westburg because it never fails that those two numbers are instantly pointed out by others. Given the current state of professional baseball, my concern level over their numbers are fairly low. We can’t know for sure until we start seeing some hitting prospects play a significant amount at the major league level, but the training techniques being instituted in the minor leagues have had a notable impact this season, leaving plenty of room for optimism.

Defensively, Westburg has been a steady presence at both shortstop and third base. It’s still TBD whether he plays SS, 3B, or even 2B at the next level, but the arm strength and accuracy from the left side of the infield is there. Neither has really stood out, but has been steady compared to some of his peers like Gunnar Henderson, who has all the arm strength in the world, but has piled up his fair share of throwing errors in his first full season of pro ball (admittedly, he’s put together a string of great defensive games recently and he’s not even 21 yet).

Now in Double-A, Westburg is being challenged, hitting just .148 with a .563 OPS, but he’s walking at a 14% clip and has a .184 BABIP. In watching his at-bats with Bowie, Westburg appears to have the same approach he’s shown all season. It’s been more about just learning to adjust to AA pitching right now. If some reports from earlier in the summer are accurate and the quality of play across the lower levels of the minor leagues has taken a notable step back in 2021, it’s to be expected that Westburg will have a big learning curve to overcome with his second promotion.

Just how impressive has Jordan Westburg been overall? As I was writing this piece, MLB Pipeline released this Q&A that notes Westburg as a name to watch in next year’s Top 100 update.

While 2023 may be a better guess as to when Westburg makes his MLB debut, I’m not counting out a 2022 debut with his advanced approach at the plate, defensive abilities, and plenty of holes within the Orioles major league infield.

RHP Kyle Bradish (Norfolk)

In terms of pitching prospects who I think make the biggest impact in 2022, that honor goes to Michael Baumann. Baumann entered the 2019 season with questions about just how much of a prospect he actually was, but ended the season as the Co-Minor League Pitcher of the Year (with Grayson Rodriguez) in the Orioles system and should already be in the major leagues if it wasn’t for an injury at the Alternate Site last season and a longer than anticipated return to full-go. He has the size and stuff to be an effective major league starter. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

However, it’s Kyle Bradish who has seen his stock rise the most from the start of 2021 to now.

If you go back and look at various preseason prospect rankings, you will find Kyle Bradish all over the place, from the 10-15 range, to into the 20’s, to as low as 31st on FanGraphs’ preseason list. He’s now a consensus top 10 prospect in the top farm system in baseball and has changed the minds of many about what his potential is.

Take MLB Pipeline for example- “He has enough weapons though, at this point, to silence any prior chatter about potentially ending up in the ‘pen.” Bradish has also received high praise from Eric Longenhagen over at FanGraphs, who ranked him 31st in the system just a couple of months ago. Longenhagen has given Bradish a Future Value bump and now views him as a “five and dive mid-rotation arm.” His colleague at FanGraphs, Kevin Goldstein, has said in a chat this season that his opinion on Bradish has always differed from Eric’s. Kevin is even higher on him.

Bradish has had a bumpy road as he works to master the Triple-A level, but there’s a lot to consider here. First, he made his pro debut in 2019 at the High-A level, posting a 27% strikeout rate, a 4.28 ERA but a 4.08 FIP and 3.87 xFIP, and a respectable 0.80 HR/9 in what was then the California League, a league that could make Richie Martin a 30 HR guy.

Then, 2020 happened. Luckily, the Orioles have been given high praise for their work at last year’s Alt Site and the work put in has translated into 2021, but it wasn’t a 140+ game regular season with all of the trials and tribulations of living the lifestyle of a minor league baseball player. Still, we saw Bradish bump up his fastball velo into the mid-90s and the buzz about Bradish being a name to watch in 2021 started to swirl.

The organization was so comfortable in what he was showing on the mound, the Orioles promoted Bradish to AAA after just 13.2 Double-A innings. With so few innings under his belt and now facing the same 4-5 Triple-A lineups stacked with former major leaguers and notable prospects, Bradish’s growing pains were to be expected.

He’s now closing the season on a positive note, allowing zero walks in his last two appearances and just 10 over his last 26 IP (28 K). In 66.2 total AAA innings, Bradish owns a 26.8% strikeout rate, a 10.9% walk rate, and a 4.17 FIP, which is more than a full run lower than his 5.27 ERA. The key takeaway is that there’s even more to unlock when it comes to Bradish. The walks will likely always be an issue. With all of the moving parts in his delivery, it’s going to be difficult to make a significant dent in his walk numbers, but when he controls the top of the zone with his fastball and has his hammer curve is working, those are two major league quality pitches with a good amount of swing and miss potential. And his slider and changeup aren’t just extra pitches he mixes in from time to time.

I want to drop a few honorable mentions here as well. Outfielder Robert Neustrom might have more memorable home runs than anyone in this system as he puts together a huge 2021 campaign in Bowie and Norfolk. The lefty has an .835 OPS with 43 total extra base hits between two levels. He does everything pretty well and doesn’t have any glaring holes in his game. He will enter spring training as a legitimate roster candidate.

Cody Sedlock and Blaine Knight are on that same path. Both are Rule 5 eligible this winter and have a full month in AAA to make their final case for protection. Sedlock has rebounded from a long list of injuries and struggles, putting together a noteworthy 2021 season with his fastball that he runs up to 95-96 mph, a curveball that he drops in with authority to finish at-bats, and a changeup that was on full display in a recent start. Knight’s adjustment has been a little less smooth, but he’s jumped two levels this season and became a brand new dad just a few weeks ago. After a disastrous 2019 season, Knight has put himself back on the map in 2021 and should at least be able to find a home in a major league bullpen with his high-intensity fastball and swing-and-miss slider.

A lot of questions about certain players have been answered this season and the amount of growth we’ve seen is a huge positive. The biggest question of whether or not they can make the jump to the major leagues has yet to be answered, but to have so many prospects play their way into a position to answer that question shortly is a big win for 2021.