The Orioles farm system is so deep that there were tough cuts to make when Nick Stevens, Zach Spedden, and I put together our pre-season top 50 list earlier this week. Guys that would’ve easily made the organization’s top 30 list as early as three years ago are now honorable mentions outside of a group of 50. With so many talented players fighting to earn promotions up through the system and under the Orioles’ player development team which has proven to unlock some potential with their tutelage in the form of increasing the organization’s walk rate offensively and strikeout rate on the mound. Not to mention there should be anywhere from three to 11 graduations from the current list by the time our mid-season top 50 list comes out following the draft. Adley Rutschman, Zac Lowther, and Michael Baumann are near locks to surpass their prospect eligibility by then and eight other players have a chance to – Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Kyle Stowers, Jahmai Jones, Kevin Smith, Robert Neustrom, Yusniel Diaz, and Rylan Bannon. Of course, with the first pick in the upcoming draft and in every subsequent round thereafter there will be plenty of new names filling those spots in the top 50. But just like every season there will be disappointments that fall off the list and pleasant surprises that quickly rise up the ranks. I’m here today to tell you about five names to keep an eye on that have a good chance to make their debut on our list later this year.

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Creed Willems18-year-old catcher

Willems was taken in the eighth round of the 2021 draft and signed for more than five times the assigned slot amount for the 227th overall pick at $1 million. He was also the only player the Orioles selected out of high school and just the fifth high school selection overall in the three drafts since Mike Elias and company took over (other than a handful taken between rounds 34-40 of the 2019 draft class and none of them ever made an in-game appearance). The other four are #4 ranked Gunnar Henderson, #6 ranked Coby Mayo, #28 ranked Carter Baumler, and #41 ranked Darell Hernaiz so as you can see they have made those selections count when they’ve made them (with the obvious note that they are all very young and have plenty of development to go to reach their potential). Willems is a big kid – six feet, 225 pounds at just 18 – with a ton of power potential. He has a good frame for a catcher as long as he doesn’t grow out of it and a strong arm behind the plate (recorded throwing 92-93 as a pitcher). In very limited time post draft in the Florida Complex League he hit only .167 with a .494 OPS but he really didn’t get much time to get into a rhythm. With a full offseason of development there is a chance he starts with low A Delmarva but most likely he is held back a couple months to the start of the FCL season where he can try to earn a promotion. Between Willems and #18 ranked Samuel Basallo (not to mention a certain catcher set to make his major league debut) the Orioles are stocked with catching prospects with power from the left side of the plate.

Carlos Tavera23-year-old RHP pitcher

Tavera was the first pitcher taken by the Orioles (and the only one over the first 10 rounds) in the 2021 draft in the fifth round out of Texas-Arlington. He has a fastball that hit the mid-90’s and has a good spin-rate to go along with an above average slider and developing change-up (a pitch the Orioles feel confident in teaching/improving with their pitchers). He had a 2.25 ERA in limited time with Delmarva after the draft and only gave up four hits over his 12 innings with 13 strikeouts. The problem was he walked 12 batters but six of those came in one appearance over 1.2 innings. In his final college season he had a 3.6 BB/9 to go along with an excellent 12.7 K/9 so the hope is that with an offseason to recharge and build up for April he will be able to get back to the type of pitcher he was in the spring of 2021. The Orioles don’t select pitchers high up in the draft (Carter Baumler being the only other pitcher selected before round eight, also in the fifth round albeit overlsot) so when they do you can be sure its because they see the potential in it. Tavera should start the year in high A Aberdeen and should be able to get promoted to AA Bowie around mid-season if things go well. If that is the case then he will certainly be a strong consideration for the top 50.

Moises Ramirez19-year-old third baseman

Ramirez came in at #29 on the top 50 Oriole prospect list that ‘Prospects 1500’ recently released and #28 on ‘Eutaw Street Report’s’ top 33 written by friend of the podcast Eric Garfield but didn’t get much consideration on our own. Its not for lack of results in the Florida Complex League at just 19 years old, the kid can flat out hit, posting a .314 batting average and .878 OPS with eight doubles, two triples,  and five homeruns. He didn’t strike out all that much either, right around 20%. The problem is he only walked four times over 126 plate appearances, around 3% of the time. That’s almost Hanser Alberto levels of patience. He has shown better plate discipline in the past, he had an 8.5% walk rate in the Dominican Summer League in 2019 at 17 years old. Perhaps the Orioles told him to be more aggressive to try and unlock the hit tool that he obviously possesses or maybe the pitching in the FCL gave him too many pitches to hit and he took advantage of it. Regardless, if he puts up similar numbers in low A Delmarva where he will almost certainly start at for the 2022 season then there is a good chance he is on the next top 50. Players with plus hit tools tend to find their way towards the upper minors even if they struggle at taking a walk.

Frederick Bencosme19-year-old infielder

Bencosme was mentioned multiple times when we recently had Orioles Senior Director of International Scouting Koby Perez on an episode of ‘On the Verge’. Perez was very insightful in his responses about the most recent international signing class as well as the most heralded players from past classes but he brought up Bencosme unprompted when discussing players who have developed and players who could surprise some people. I certainly noticed him when tracking the box scores in the Dominican Summer League last year as he was a consistent performer. He had a 125 wRC+ with them over 158 plate appearances, batting .310 with a .816 OPS, six doubles, four triples, two homeruns, and 10 stolen bases. He had a slightly below average walk rate at 7% but also barely struck out (just 11.4% of the time). As a shortstop who can play all over the infield (12 of 46 games at second base, six at third base, and the other 28 at shortstop) that versatility is valuable to have in a system that is suddenly deep with talented shortstop prospects. He should start the season on one of the two FCL rosters along with his fellow exciting international prospects Maikol Hernandez (ranked 16th), Samuel Basallo (18th), Anderson De Los Santos (42nd), and Junior Lara. A year older than most of them Bencosme has a chance to earn a promotion to low A Delmarva before the season ends and any time a teenager is playing in full season ball they’re ahead of schedule and most likely deserve a spot on the top 50.

Cesar Alvarez/Anthony Morillo/Deivy Cruz/Moises ChaceTeenage starting pitchers

One of these guys is destined to be 2022’s Jean Pinto, a very young starting pitcher who started the year off of the list but finished it in the top 30, I’m just not sure which one of them its going to be. Alvarez and Morillo are both 19-year-old right-handed pitchers that excelled in the Domincan Summer League last season. Alvarez had a 2.49 ERA over 47 innings pitched with 63 strikeouts and a 1.23 WHIP while Morillo posted a 2.65 ERA over 34 innings with 45 strikeouts and a 1.06 WHIP. Cruz is a left-handed pitcher that doesn’t turn 18 until next month. He had a 5.20 ERA over 45 DSL innings last year but also showed off the ability to strikeout batters at a high rate, 63 of them to be exact. All three of them should be starting pitchers for the Orioles Florida Complex League team in 2022 which is the same path Pinto started at in 2021. Speaking of the FCL, Chace pitched there this past season despite being 18 years old until this coming June. He had a 5.64 ERA over 22.1 innings but struck out 32 batters and walked 12. He should start the season with full season Delmarva and if he can get the walks down a bit the stuff is there to be a legitimate starting pitcher prospect. Hopefully they all excel after another year of development but the odds tell me that a couple will be middle of the road, one will regress, and one will be on our mid-season top 50.

Bob Phelan
Bob Phelan

BSL Analyst

Bob is a co-host of ‘On the Verge’ an Orioles podcast focused on the O’s farm system here on BSL. He used to run the baseball blog ‘The Oriole Report’ before transitioning to podcasting about movies, TV, Video Games, and MMA. ‘The Redbox Report’ movie podcast was started in 2013 followed by ‘The Redbelt Report’ MMA podcast in 2016. Bob has also written for Konsume.com and BaltimoreSportsReport.com and delivers mail for a living in Baltimore County. Follow him on Twitter @TheOrioleReport.

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