The Baltimore Orioles are next on our Players Likely to Debut series. In case you missed the previous two installments, the AL East is being rolled out this week. Here’s a look back at where it all started.
Below, you will find a list of three prospects from the respective organization. Each prospect will have a number score next to their name — this number will represent the estimated amount of time we anticipate that player seeing at the big-league level. Players that have already made their big-league debut will not be included on this list.
BREAKDOWN OF TIME ON ROSTER SCORES:
1 — September call-ups / guys that are likely to see less than 20-25 games on the roster
2 — 1/4 of the season (roughly 40 games on roster)
3 — 1/2 of the season (roughly 80 games on roster)
4 — 3/4 of the season (roughly 120 games on roster)
5 — Full season on the MLB roster
Baltimore Orioles
Position — Name (Time on Roster Score)
Given their recent struggles, you could make a significant case that the Orioles should have way more than three prospects likely to make their MLB debut. However, for simplicity sake, here’s a look at three players that you should see at some point during the 2021 campaign.
RHP — Michael Baumann (3)
It should comes as no surprise to see Baumann’s name on this list. For starters, he is very highly regarded among many of us at Prospects Live and he inspired the first-ever Prospects Live Love Story, sorry Jason Kamlowsky.
Entering his age-25 season, the right-hander has proven himself throughout his time in the minors and has little left to prove. He’s pitched 297 innings in the Baltimore organization since being drafted in the third round of the 2017 MLB Draft. Unlikely to blow hitters away, much of his success can be attributed to his ability to inducing ground balls and keep the ball in the park.
Only four pitchers have thrown more minor league innings over the last three seasons (2017-2019) and allowed fewer home runs than the 15 that Baumann has surrendered. Their names? Matt Manning, Tucker Davidson, Daniel Tillo, and Nick Nelson. While Baltimore likely waits until May to call him up, Baumann should soon be reunited with his college teammate at Jacksonville, Austin Hays.
OF — Yusniel Diaz (4)
This is the moment that I admit that I was wrong about one thing. A couple of years ago we published our Bold Predictions for the 2019 season, I announced that Diaz was going to outlast Vladimir Guerrero Jr and win the AL Rookie of the Year. I was way off. Fast forward a bit and here we are again. No, he won’t win the ROY award in 2021, but he will give Orioles fans something to cheer about.
LHP — Zac Lowther (2)
Having been drafted one round ahead of Baumann in 2017, Lowther has operated well under-the-radar in the Orioles system. Coming in at No. 20 on our list of 2021 Baltimore Orioles prospects, the left-hander turns 25 years old shortly after Opening Day. He doesn’t have huge upside but the Orioles could benefit from bringing him up for a spot start or two to see what he can do against big-league bats. In 326 innings pitched he’s posted a 2.26 ERA while striking out 380 batters. Like the aforementioned Baumann, his ability to keep the ball in the park — only 17 home runs allowed — could be a boost in the rotation or in the bullpen given the hitter-friendly Camden Yards, and entire AL East for that matter.
Notable
You may have noticed that DL Hall was not mentioned above, he could have easily been included on this list. He’s currently not on the 40-man roster and with his high-upside, it may not be in the club’s best interest to get the service-time clock going just yet. I do expect to see him this season, but do’t expect it to be more than a late-season ‘let’s see what we have heading into next year’ type of situation.
Tyler Nevin and Rylan Bannon are names to keep an eye on as well. Although Rio Ruiz has shown some reverse splits, faring better against lefties than righties, but given his poor overall batted-ball profile don’t be surprised to see the left-hander lose some at-bats to either one of these right-handed hitting infielders.