The final record may not have been great, but the learning in Delmarva was immense this season, and a few highly talented Baltimore Orioles prospects shined along the way.
Delmarva broadcaster Sam Jellinek recently joined On The Verge to provide a detailed wrap-up of the Shorebirds’ 2022 season, which I strongly encourage you to listen to if you haven’t already. Sam provided some great context to the season and told a few really good stories that show the extent to which the Orioles organization is going to make sure the transition from Sarasota to Delmarva is as smooth as possible for the up-and-coming international prospects.
Just as I did last week in my FCL/DSL review, I want to highlight a few players who spent the majority of their seasons in Salisbury and stood out for one reason or another, giving fans a list of players to keep in the back of their minds ahead of next season, beginning with the big man himself, Creed Willems.
Willems was one of the prospects who On The Verge followers had the most questions about this season for various reasons after quickly becoming a bit of a polarizing prospect for his lack of numbers that jumped off the page. However, he’s still firmly on my radar for a variety of reasons. Willems hit .190 with a .585 OPS through 68 games, logging nine doubles and just as many triples as home runs (4). Keep in mind he was called up at 18 after just 10 FCL games in 2021 and felt the same effects of the elimination of short-season ball that many players at this level have since felt.
Behind the plate, Willems made an immediate impact with his arm and showed a lot of those same leadership traits which we praised Adley Rutschman for having as he came up through the system. The connection between Willems and his staff is very clear. Speaking of that staff, Delmarva’s pitching staff experienced a high-degree of turnover this season and featured a large number of spanish-speaking players, resulting in more variables to consider when looking at Willems’ development this season, on top of the fact that he plays a position that typically sees offensive maturation occur much later in the development process.
Willems closed out the year with a .276 average and .816 OPS across his final 24 games, showing noted improvements at the plate, the Orioles believed in him enough to give him a $1 million signing bonus, and he will get to repeat Delmarva next season as a 19-year-old. The duo of Willems and Samuel Basallo is going to be must-watch baseball next season.
Elsewhere around the diamond for Delmarva, Isaac De Leon ended his season with a surprise promotion to Aberdeen, but it was certainly warranted. It was surprising only because he’s 20 years old and it came soon after Orioles Director of International Scouting Koby Perez mentioned that a number of the young guys in Delmarva would be repeating the level in 2023, something that may end up being all part of the plan as teams try to adjust to a lack of short-season ball.
De Leon hit just .222 between the two levels, but had the organization’s highest walk rate at 17% with the Shorebirds and he saw his efforts pay off with a big month of August where he put up an .864 OPS and started really showcasing some notable power.
Originally signed by Miami for $275,000 and acquired by Baltimore as the Player To Be Named Later in the 2020 trade of Richard Bleier, De Leon is another example of a young, up-and-coming international prospect in this system who didn’t receive the big signing bonus payday, but could end up being a notable contributor in the organization.
Fellow infielder Luis Valdez entered the season as a complete non-prospect, but someone who I mentioned could be a fun player to watch in the lower levels of the minors with his speed and athleticism. That proved to be true as Valdez swiped 71 bases on the season, the second highest mark in all of minor league baseball (71/86 on the season). The question was all about the bat. Could he hit enough even to earn a jump to High-A? Yes. After hitting .196 in May, Valdez hit .333 in June and .297 in July, finishing with a .265 average in 115 games across two levels after getting promoted to Aberdeen for his final 20 games. The power will never be there but if he can continue to hit as he moves up the org, he’s the type of speedster who you consider keeping on the end of your bench, especially with new rules coming to baseball to help increase stolen bases.
Reed Trimble gave us one of the more pleasant surprises of the 2022 season, making his 2022 FCL debut in mid-July and eventually his Delmarva season-debut on July 22nd after undergoing shoulder surgery in December and facing a real possibility of missing the entire 2022 campaign. Trimble saw 33 games of action and appeared to very quickly and steadily show more comfort at the plate. The 65th overall pick in the 2021 draft is now off to the Arizona Fall League for additional work and will enter 2023 fully healthy and ready to climb up the prospect rankings, ready to show exactly why the Orioles used a high draft pick on the draft-eligible sophomore.
On the mound, there were six pitchers who stood out, with four of them being international prospects are currently 18-20 years old. RHP Juan De Los Santos was able to transition from a super fastball heavy approach to flashing multiple secondaries to complement a powerful fastball that can reach the upper-90s from his 6’3” and 250 pound frame. He allowed just five runs across his first 27 innings before the results started to be a mixed bag, but the process was right with De Los Santos as the numbers started to crater a bit as he started using his secondaries more, but balanced out after gaining more feel. An innings limit ended his season early, but he enters 2023 with a chance to establish himself as a legitimate starting pitching prospect.
19-year-old RHP Moises Chace overcame injuries and walk issues to close out the year on a high note, throwing back-to-back five inning starts (first time going 5 IP all season) and allowing a combined two earned runs and two walks while striking out 11. He has a solid fastball/slider combo to build on going into next season where he likely begins back in Delmarva’s rotation with a chance to be in Aberdeen not long after his 20th birthday. Fellow teenage arm LHP Deivy Cruz could follow the same path, but be in Aberdeen as a 19-year-old next season. Cruz struck out 52 in 53.2 innings with Delmarva and saw his prospect status skyrocket to Top 30 ranks by midseason with a 93-95 mph fastball, slider, and changeup repertoire and impressive swing and miss numbers. A big start in 2023 will surely earn Cruz much more national attention. Looking at all of the arms that saw action in Delmarva and in rookie ball this season, I think Cruz is the most exciting pitching prospect with the highest ceiling.
One thing that has stood out among some of the younger prospects in the system is how impactful many of the younger trade targets have been (see Jean Pinto last season). Typically, those PTBNL and teenage “throw-ins” in deals don’t get much attention since they usually aren’t the focal point in trades or don’t end up hanging around their new orgs for very long, but so far the Orioles have been able to turn these types of players into intriguing players. That includes RHP Juan Nunez (Jorge Lopez trade) and RHP Yaqui Rivera (PTBNL in Cole Sulser/Tanner Scott trade).
Nunez began his Delmarva career with a very uncharacteristic seven walk performance, but don’t let that outing fool you. Nunez didn’t allow a single run over his last three outings (11 IP) and has received very high praise from some outlets, including Baseball America which recently named him one of the top prospects of note in the FCL this past season, citing his mid-90s fastball, “potential plus-slider”, work-in-progress changeup (a pitch we know the Orioles feel confident in developing), and “potential MLB role”. As for Rivera, holy curveball. He was clearly very raw out on the mound this season, but he’s just 19 and was not only able to showcase a 6 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K outing at one point, but was able to transition into a late-inning arm for Delmarva with a fiery demeanor perfectly suited for a lock-down ninth-inning arm. He’s near the very top of my intrigue list for 2023.
Last but not least, I want to mention RHP Ryan Long. Listed at 6’6” and 240 pounds, Long was a 17th round pick in 2021 out of Pomona-Pitzer (CA) and fits the mold of a few other mid/later round arms the Orioles have recently taken and developed into impressive arms now in the upper levels of the minors (see Justin Armbruester, Peter Van Loon, Noah Denoyer, Ryan Watson, etc. Although, Denoyer and Watson went undrafted). Long finished with 73 K in 72.2 IP and gave up just five earned runs over his last 27.2 IP (included a scoreless stretch of more than 20 innings). Impressive side note with Long, not only is he working towards a possible major league career, but he’s also working on his goal of going to law school.
I usually don’t take much stock into draft year performances from guys, especially pitchers, seeing as they are making a major life adjustment, playing through a 50-60 game pro season after a full year of college ball, and other reasons, but I will take a moment to highlight Jackson Holliday and his time in Delmarva. He played with the poise of an advanced college bat in his first taste of pro ball and worked some of the more impressive at-bats I saw at any point during Delmarva’s season. Mike Elias said after the draft that Holliday wasn’t going to end up with Delmarva this year, yet he played in 12 games and walked more than he struck out (15 BB/10 K in 12 games). With a strong offseason and minor league camp, I won’t be shocked at all to see him start the year in Aberdeen.
Speaking of Aberdeen, we’ll take a trip there next week to highlight one of the most successful teams in all of Minor League Baseball in 2022.
Orioles Analyst
A former high school teacher and coach in the mountains of Virginia, Nick Stevens has been writing about the Baltimore Orioles and their minor league system for five years. When he isn’t at a minor league stadium, he’s enjoying a Wizards game or supporting his alma mater, James Madison University. Co-Host of The Verge.