Baltimore Orioles: Plenty Of Reasons To Be Thankful This Thanksgiving

Take some time to visit a Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliate.

Thankfully, over the last few years, Orioles fans have taken a much bigger interest in the minor leagues and the stories of many hardworking players have been highlighted and celebrated as the organization continues to build up the talent pipeline down on the farm.

As Orioles fans, we’re lucky to have every affiliate just a short drive away from Baltimore. Growing up next to Harbor Park, I spent entire summers enjoying quality minor league baseball along the Elizabeth River in one of the more underappreciated minor league ballparks.

During my time with the now-defunct website Baby Birdland, I was able to meet many fantastic employees of the Frederick Keys, Bowie Baysox, and Delmarva Shorebirds who all treated a guy with no experience in a professional press box like an old friend. It’s difficult to understand just how much work these men and women put in behind the scenes of a ballgame until you see them work in action.

We also can’t ignore the growing list of quality baseball players who are now gracing the rosters of these affiliates. Thankfully, when times get tough with the big league squad, you can hop in your car and take a quick drive to watch one of the top prospects in all of baseball in Adley Rutschman or exciting young prospects like Adam Hall and Yusniel Diaz.

Do you want to watch high-quality pitching prospects? We get to enjoy that as Orioles fans now! From Grayson Rodriguez to DL Hall, Dean Kremer, Alex Wells, Zac Lowther, Michael Baumann, Brenan Hanifee, Drew Rom, and many more, every night features big-time pitcher somewhere down on the farm.

Enjoy the minor leagues, be thankful that they are all so close, and say hello to the wonderful people working these games.