The Baltimore Orioles should seriously consider these five players among the 2019 free agent class.

The Orioles have built a lot of buzz around their system over the years, but the current batch of players came in through trades, the draft, and international free agency. In addition, they have a little bit more homegrown pitching coming than they have since the new ownership arrived. Although they have more depth throughout the roster—so much so that they could trade away a top-100 prospect for Corbin Burnes and not even notice his departure—it is still just as strong at the top, with MLB top prospect Jackson Holliday being the third prospect they have had to rank in the top two in the entire sport in the last five years. (I see their farm director remarking, when he wakes up one June morning, “huh, I haven’t seen Joey Ortiz in a while.”)

Orioles top 20 prospects for 2024
The seasonal ages are accurate as of July 1, 2024. Scouting grades follow the conventional 20–80 or 2–8 scouting scale.)

1. Jackson Holliday, SS (2024), ranked first among 100
Batter: L; Thrower: R; Stature: 6-0; Weight: 185; Age at season in 2024: 20

Holliday experienced an incredible rise—you could call it meteoric, but I prefer to avoid such clichés—that is a testament to both his natural talent and his incredible feel for the game. In the fall of 2021, during his senior year of high school, Holliday went from “maybe he’s a first-rounder” to “oh my God he’s the best prospect in baseball” by May of 2023. In 2023, he participated in all four full-season levels of the minor leagues, winning three of them and finishing strong at Triple-A Norfolk. His season total was.323/.442/.499, with 101 walks and 118 strikeouts. Because of his remarkable hand-eye coordination, he frequently succeeds in making contact with pitches that trick him, even when they hard contact. I do think major-league pitchers will force him to shorten up his swing sometimes, as he nearly always swings full bore and no one has given him any reason to do otherwise.

2. Samuel Basallo, C. (2024: 20 places in the top 100)
Batter: L; Thrower: R; Stature: 6-3; Weight: 190; Age at season in 2024: 19

After more than ten years of abstaining from the yearly Latin American free-agent scramble, the Orioles have finally returned to the fray, but the delay between when those youngsters sign (usually at age sixteen) and when they develop into prospects still hurts their farm system. One of their first high-profile additions in that area, Basallo will receive a $1.3 million incentive in 2021. This year was his first full-season ball season, and he batted so well in Low A and then High A that he managed to conclude the season with a four-game cup of coffee with Double-A Bowie. Basallo just turned 19 in August and his bat is already very advanced, with a very short but powerful swing and what appears to be very good pitch recognition.

3. Coby Mayo, 3B (2024: 27th place out of 100)
230 pounds; height: 6 feet 5 inches; throws: R; bats: R; seasonal age in 2024: 22

For any bat-first prospect, Mayo’s ability to hit the ball hard and frequently is a great place to start. Last season, between Double A and Triple A, he drew 93 walks in addition to 29 home runs and a 24 percent strikeout rate, which, in my opinion, shows that he is “just” a three true outcomes hitter. Due to his large arms and reported weight of 230 pounds, he has a wide strike zone and a naturally long swing. He deserves credit for improving his eye at the plate over the last three years, with help from the Orioles’ staff, allowing him to make better swing decisions and look more for pitches he can drive to take advantage of that natural strength. There may always be some swing-and-miss here, notably on breaking stuff in the zone, due to his size and his wide setup at the plate, but a team could live with it because what he does on contact is so good — he hits it hard, and in the air, and can go the other way a little bit even though his power is mostly to his pull side.

4. Heston Kjerstad, OF (2024) (62nd place out of 100)
Hitters: L; Throwers: R; Stature: 6-3; Weight: 205; Seasonal age in 2024: 25

In just his second professional season, Kjerstad made it to the majors last year, and I don’t think enough has been said about how difficult his journey was from draft day to the major leagues. After a COVID-19 bout in 2020, Kjerstad suffered from myocarditis. He missed all of 2021 while healing, and when he returned in 2022, he didn’t look like the player he was at Arkansas in 2019–20; instead, he was rusty and struggled to pick up his pace. He was back to full strength and then some last year, applying more and more frequent heavy contact than before; when the O’s picked him second overall in 2020, his high strikeout rates against SEC pitching stood out as a red flag, but last year he showed the best two-strike approach of his career and kept his season strikeout rate under 20 percent until he reached the majors.

5. Enrique Bradfield, Jr., OF (2024) (ranked 64 in the top 100)
Baseballs: L; Throws: L; Stature: 6-1; Mass: 170; Seasonal age in 2024: 22

Bradfield has two excellent tools that give him a high floor and plenty of time to improve the other areas of his game. He is an 80 runner and, depending on who you ask and maybe when you see him, an 80 or 70 defender in center. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. After his first year at Vanderbilt, where he hit.336/.451/.414 as a 19-year-old in the SEC and stole 47 bases in 53 attempts, Bradfield appeared to be a cinch for a top-10 pick; yet, somehow, someone persuaded him to try a different swing. To hit for power, and while he did go from one homer as a freshman to hitting 14 the next two seasons, his overall hitting went backward and I think helped Baltimore land him at pick 15 last season. (It did not help that Bradfield constantly tried to bunt for hits, putting himself behind in the count and doing nothing to right his swing. I have a lot of feelings about this.)