There are now 56 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Sarasota in just another 13 days from today. Baseball is going to be back soon, and another dark winter with only inferior sports for entertainment will be through.
Earlier in the week, I wrote about four of the major prospect lists that have come out to date and where the Orioles placed in the top 100(ish) for each. Wednesday brought one more list for the group, with ESPN publishing Kiley McDaniel’s prospect ranking heading into the 2025 season.
McDaniel’s list was different from the others that have come so far because he rates Coby Mayo higher than he does Samuel Basallo, with Mayo as the #8 prospect and Basallo at #17. It’s similar to the others because these are still two very well-regarded prospects. Four of the five big lists to date – only FanGraphs is still to come – have had both Basallo and Mayo within the top 18. There’s a lot to be excited about with these two players hopefully breaking in to regular big league playing time within the next year.
Also on McDaniel’s list is outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., the Orioles first round pick from 2023. Bradfield checked in at #82 of the top 100, the same spot he had in Keith Law’s list from The Athletic. Three of the five rankings so far have Bradfield in the top 100.
I’ve been skeptical of Bradfield as a prospect because I fear that the higher he goes up the minors, the more that his lack of power is going to hurt him. In today’s game, if the pitcher does not fear that a player might hit the ball hard, he is going to have a steep hill to climb. So, it’s interesting to see these independent evaluators giving top 100 status to Bradfield.
I hope that they’re right that the defense and speed that no one doubts he has will be paired with just enough hitting to make him a decent-to-good player. With Cedric Mullins set to become a free agent following this season, it would be helpful for the team to be able to slide Bradfield right in there. His success would be encouraging for showing that the O’s can turn mid-to-late first round picks into quality players.
Bradfield will probably start off this season at the Double-A level, where he ended last year. That affiliate has changed its name from Bowie to Chesapeake in the meantime, but they’re still the Baysox. He had a nice month there in 2024, batting .285/.395/.396 in 27 games, including more walks (15) than strikeouts (14). If he’s able to keep up that level of performance, we should see a midseason promotion to Triple-A, and then it’ll really be interesting to see what he can show once he’s just one rung down from the majors.
