Who Could be Added to the Baltimore Orioles 60-Man Player Pool

Over the weekend, the Baltimore Orioles announced their preliminary list of the 60-man Player Pool for the upcoming shortened season, but they only included 44 players and none of their top prospects currently in the minors.

Obviously more will be added before training camp begins, so lets take a look at who those other sixteen Baltimore Orioles could be.

Of the 44 players, 13 players are non-roster invites, meaning only 31 guys on the 40-man roster (which has 38 players) are currently in the Player Pool.  We know Trey Mancini is out for the year because of his cancer diagnosis, so that leaves out six players: Evan Phillips, Cedric Mullins, Ramon Urias, and top prospects Ryan Mountcastle, Dean Kremer, and Keegan Akin.

All six of these guys will be added to the Pool, but for different reasons.  The first three roughly fit the profile of Norfolk shuttle riders, meaning that they will play in major league games when necessary  but other wise don’t really fit in the long-term mission of the club. Mullins could still figure out how to hit fastballs, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Mountcastle, Kremer, and Akin were all expected to debut at some point over a full season, which is why they are on the 40-man roster.  They may not start at the end of July, but I expected them to contribute in real games this year.

Those six players leave the Orioles with ten spots left, most of which will go to top prospects just as other teams included their best prospects. I doubt any of them will play, but you can bet Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, and Yusniel Diaz will be in camp.  That leaves six spots, and they could either go other top 30 prospects, more non-roster invites, or a mix of both.

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Most of the Orioles’ more polished prospects are pitchers, which they have an abundance of in camp, but I don’t think that entirely matters.  Bruce Zimmerman, Alex Wells, and Zac Lowther all pitched well in Bowie last year and were invited to the original Spring Training, so I think they will be invited again.

I expect the last three spots to go to position players because they are somewhat lacking numbers wise.  Yes, some utility guys like Stevie Wilkerson will hold down the outfield, but another guy who primarily plays outfield will be helpful, and non-roster invite Mason Williams fits the bill.

Rylan Bannon is the only other true prospect who was a non-roster invite, so I think he gets the nod.  No other top prospect is that close to the majors, so I think the last spot is whoever the coaches like better between Jose Rondon and Malquin Canelo.

I’m sure we want to see more exciting names, but Mike Elias won’t push anyone.  With more teams thinking they have a chance in a short season, The Orioles can double down on losing in order to win next year’s top pick.

There will be few things looking forward to at Camden this year, but at least we’ll get a couple debuts, and no players are expected to sit out.