Down on the Farm: April 26, 2022

Welcome to ‘Down on the Farm’, a minor league spin-off of my weekly article ‘3 Up, 3 Down’. Every week I will highlight the three hottest and three coldest players in the Orioles minor league system from the previous week. Hopefully this will help in keeping track of the progress of the prospects playing for the Norfolk Tide, Bowie Baysox, Aberdeen Ironbirds, and Delmarva Shorebirds. Also be sure to check out my threads on the message board that are tracking both pitching and hitting statistics for the Orioles top prospects.

(You can discuss this on the BSL board here.)

On Fire

Cesar Prieto – .368/.500/1.105 (1.605), 4 R, 2 doubles, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 3 K, 19 AB (A+ Aberdeen)

The scouting report on Prieto coming out of the Cuban National Series was that he had a great hit tool but was more of a Terrin Vavra type of slap hitter without the on-base skills. Well apparently he did some lifting between defecting from Cuba and signing with the Orioles as an international free agent in January because he is hitting the ball with authority with A+ Aberdeen so far this season. His four homeruns this week give him an organization leading six on the season to go with two doubles and two stolen bases. The one thing he wasn’t doing prior to this past week was work a walk. He had no walks and seven strikeouts coming into the week and ended up with more walks (5) than strikeouts (3). Through 63 plate appearances he has a 7.9% walk rate, which is around average, and a 15.9% strikeout rate which is really good. With a 174 wRC+ he is proving to be a good bit ahead of the competition at this level and should be one of the first promotions of the season fairly soon. Its tough to balance letting him get acclimated to the minor league lifestyle and challenging him from a pure skill standpoint and with AA Bowie loaded with infielders its going to take one of them getting promoted to start that chain of events.

Dylan Harris – .500/.545/1.000 (1.545), 7 R, 4 doubles, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 SB, 20 AB (AA Bowie)

This was Harris’ first week playing this season and it was surprising to not only see him jump straight up to Bowie after struggling at the plate as a 24 year old in low and high A last season but to come out of the gate scorching hot with six extra base hits and two walks over his first 22 plate appearances. Coming out of college (UNC) he was know for his plate discipline and did put that on display in 2021 with a 21.4% walk rate with low A Delmarva and a 12% walk rate with A+ Aberdeen. Unfortunately he didn’t show much power and batted an identical .224 while with each club. Harris was an undrafted free agent following the 2020 draft along with the likes of JD Mundy, TT Bowens, Brandon Young, and Shane Davis so obviously the Orioles saw something in him and hes going to get a chance to contribute at a level where if you have success you’re not too far away from a shot in the majors. Like a lot of players coming up since COVID hit he is older than you would typically see so new to professional baseball but that doesn’t mean he is a lost cause when it comes to player development. Not only did he have a great week offensively he also had a very nice outfield assist. Similar to Patrick Dorrian last year for the Baysox he is suddenly a name I’m paying attention to.

Kyle Bradish – 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 0.83 WHIP (AAA Norfolk)

This could have very easily been top pitching prospect in baseball Grayson Rodriguez in this spot for the second week in a row after he mowed down the Durham Bulls over 5.1 innings, shutting them out on one hit, one walk, and eight strikeouts. The reason I went with Bradish instead is because despite a slightly higher WHIP he was equally as dominant and could be called up to make his major league debut for the Orioles as soon as this week. After pitching to a 4.26 ERA last season for AAA Norfolk over 86.2 innings (including ending the season with a five start stretch that saw him strikeout 33 batters and only walk six over 28 innings with a 2.57 ERA) he has started 2022 with a 1.20 ERA over 15 innings with 17 strikeouts and just three walks in his first three starts. His stuff looks better than ever touching 97-98 mph with his fastball and his command has been on point. After looking so good in spring training facing major league hitters I think it is just a matter of building up his pitch count so he can pitch into the sixth inning before he joins the major league rotation. He may not have the pedigree of a Rodriguez or DL Hall but Bradish has a very good chance to be the best pitcher in the Orioles rotation by the time the 2022 season comes to a close.

Ice Cold

Jahmai Jones – .143/.217/.143 (.360), 1 R, 1 RBI, 21 AB (AAA Norfolk)

I feel like we’ve relived Jones’ 2021 season over the first three weeks of the season. He looked good in the limited run he was given at major league spring training, hitting the ball hard and showing off the raw tools that have kept him on top 30 prospect lists over the years. That translated into a fast start back with AAA Norfolk where he hit .333 over his first 40 plate appearances with four doubles and a homerun, not to mention eight walks to go with only three strikeouts. In the 30 plate appearances since then he has struck out eight times and only walked once leading to a .107 batting average and no extra base hits. Altogether he still has a wRC+ of 101 so if you combine the two stretches of play he has been a league average hitter. You can see the flashes of a player that should at least be able to provide a spark at the plate and in the clubhouse as a role player in the major leagues. He is a fun player to watch and seems like a super supportive teammate so I’m still holding out hope he can find some consistency this year to earn another shot in the big leagues before the higher upside prospects in AA Bowie surpass him.

Zach Watson – .111/.200/.222 (.422), 1 R, 1 triple, 1 BB, 7 K, 18 AB (AA Bowie)

Watson was a guy that broke out a bit in 2021. The third round pick taken out of LSU in the 2019 draft was known for being a great defensive center fielder and someone with plus speed that can steal bases. Both of those have turned out to be true. The surprising part is the power he showed off last season split between A+ Aberdeen and AA Bowie making him the only player in the Orioles farm system to post a 20/20 season. He had 21 homeruns to go along with his 24 stolen bases and entered 2022 as a top 50 prospect for BSL. I personally thought there was a chance he started the year with AAA Norfolk but Johnny Rizer got that nod instead (and has shown why with a revamped swing resulting in more power) with Watson returning to Bowie. Based on his time in the Orioles system it seems like hes not a guy that is going to hit much higher than .250 and isn’t going to walk more than 6% of the time. While great speed and defense provide a higher level floor as evidenced by a guy like Jorge Mateo at the major league level, hes going to need to be able to tap into that power if hes going to hit his ceiling as a Ryan McKenna type reserve outfielder.

Zac Lowther – 0-1, 33.75 ERA, 1.1 IP, 6 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K, 5.25 WHIP (AAA Norfolk)

It’s a shame that Lowther wasn’t able to spend the 2020 season that was lost due to COVID with AAA Norfolk getting used to the major league ball and more experienced competition. It seems to have really hurt his development more than some others. It didn’t help that he could never get his feet under him in 2021 bouncing around from the majors and the minors with some time on the injured list as well. That excuse no longer applies in 2022. Guys in a similar boat have found ways to make progress. Dean Kremer strained his oblique but was in line to be a major league contributor before doing so. Bruce Zimmermann has taken a step to cement his spot in the Orioles rotation. Keegan Akin has found success pitching out of the bullpen and even Alexander Wells performed well in his lone major league appearance this year. Lowther is struggling to get AAA hitters out at the moment and couldn’t make it out of the second inning in his most recent outing. For the season he has a 11.05 ERA and 2.05 WHIP with eight strikeouts and four walks over three appearances covering 7.1 innings. Its not that he can’t still turn things around but with the major league pitching staff miraculously performing well and top pitching prospects like Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, and DL Hall due to make their major league debuts this year and even relief prospects like Nick Vespi, Cole Uvila, and Logan Gillaspie around the corner, its going to get tougher and tougher for him to make an impact at the major league level.