Baltimore Orioles: Ryan McKenna earns Fall League All-Star spot

Baltimore Orioles outfield prospect Ryan McKenna has earned a spot in the Arizona Fall League All-Star game, winning the fan vote on Wednesday night

When the Baltimore Orioles selected outfielder Ryan McKenna for the 2018 Arizona Fall League roster, their expectations for him were likely high, considering MLB Pipeline has McKenna as the 12th rated prospect in the organization.

Whether or not they thought McKenna would make the AFL All-Star team is a different question. However, that’s just what McKenna has done.

Everything in the AFL is small sample size, but the competition is fierce as some of the best prospects in MLB compete there. Over 12 games, McKenna posted a final line of .404/.509/.702 with a homer, 5 doubles and 9 walks to just 12 strikeouts.

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McKenna’s 1.211 OPS was second best in the AFL, just behind Rockies first-baseman Tyler Nevin, and ahead of several top-prospects including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Daz Cameron, Luis Robert, and Cavan Biggio, among many others.

Again, 12 games isn’t truly enough time to derive meaningful data, but the fact that McKenna looks comfortable hitting high-quality pitching, and has been an efficient hitter in those spots is an encouraging sign for his future.

McKenna didn’t make the immediate AFL All-Star roster, but was pushed in by the fan vote. Orioles fans made their voice heard by voting McKenna in, with the decision announced on Wednesday evening. In addition to McKenna, Cubs shortstop prospect Nico Hoerner also got in via the fan vote.

The AZL All-Star game will take place on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.

In other Orioles news

Orioles outfielder John Andreoli was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners yesterday, in a move the Orioles made to open space on the 40-man.

The Orioles had originally acquired Andreoli via waiver claim from the Mariners, back in August of this year. As in all things, baseball is cyclical.

Assuming Andreoli’s career with the Orioles is over, he’ll finish with a line of .232/.279/.268 in just 23 games. He hit 2 doubles, no homers and stuck out 17 times, with just 4 walks.

As a 28-year-old speed and defense guy, Andreoli was one of the “why is he here” guys during the latter part of the 2018 season; he was a younger, slightly worse, slightly cheaper version of Craig Gentry.

The Orioles didn’t need that guy last year, nor would hopes have been high for Andreoli in 2019. We all speculated when Andreoli would be gone; the time has come.

But wait, there’s more!

MASN reporter Roch Kubatko and Jerry Crasnick both tweeted yesterday that a few more Orioles staffers wouldn’t be returning in 2019.

John Stockstill, who has served as Director of Player Personnel, Director of International Scouting and Director of Player Development for the Orioles in the past, but most recently worked as a major league scout, won’t be returning in 2019.

Special Assistant Lee Thomas and Special Adviser Jeremy Kapstein are also out, according to Kubatko.

The releases are the latest in a string of moves made by the Orioles’ lack of a front office in their task of rebuilding the organization. But, as John Meoli wrote for the Sun yesterday, none of these moves matter as much as getting a new President and a new GM in place.

Until the Orioles hire new upper management, the rest is just noise.