New prospect weapon emerging in Orioles' bullpen mix at spring training

A big development down on the farm in Baltimore last season was the rise of a large handful of pitching prospects taking notable steps forward and garnering national attention for their standout performances and intriguing upside.

More people became aware of the likes of Nestor German, Michael Forret, Keeler Morfe, Trey Gibson, and others, but unless you follow Texas State college baseball or are an avid follower of the Orioles minor league system, the name Levi Wells probably doesn't ring any bells for you.

Wells made quite the spring training debut on Monday evening against Pittsburgh, hitting 100.1 mph while averaging 98 mph with his fastball and throwing a slider with about 18 inches of horizontal movement. He also gave this unfortunate Pirates hitter jelly legs with his curveball.

The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher was a fourth-round draft pick out of Texas State in the 2023 MLB Draft and made his pro debut last year in High-A Aberdeen. His final stat line won't impress, finishing his first season with a 6.71 ERA across 60.1 innings, but looking under the hood a bit showed a good bit of promise with Wells.

After missing about five weeks with a shoulder injury, Wells returned and posted a 4.5% walk rate across his final 19 innings and ended with 4.09 FIP and 3.78 xFIP (better indicators of pitching performance compared to ERA). He also posted a near 50% groundball rate and a 26% strikeout rate across his full 60.1 IP.

Levi Wells could be the next stud Orioles pitching prospect

Following Wells last season in the minors, the stuff he showed on Monday night against the Pirates was certainly new. According to Baseball America, Wells posted the third-best Stuff+ metrics among all 22-year-old pitching prospects in minor league baseball, but his max velo was more 97-98 mph and his slider was considered an average offering. He may have been amped up a bit trying to impress in what could be his only outing of the spring with the big league club, but if Wells going to sit in the 97-98 mph range and his slider is going to grade out as a plus-offering, it's safe to say Wells is fully healthy entering 2025 and he's been working on some things in the lab this offseason.

Going into the 2023 draft, most scouting reports agreed that Wells better profiled as a future reliever, but after cleaning up some mechanics and seeing his four-pitch mix take a step forward in his final year at Texas State, there was more intrigue about him possibly working out as a potential starter.

Right after the draft, Wells was identified by Baseball America as one of eight rookie pitchers who could make a quick rise through the minor leagues and reach the big leagues in 2024. That obviously didn't happen with his injury and the Orioles being much more willing to stretch out pitching prospects and develop them as starters as long as possible. However, the underlying data and metrics clearly stood out to include Levi Wells on that list.

It's safe to assume that Wells finds himself in either the High-A or Double-A rotation to begin the 2025 season, but if his spring training performance was a sign of things to come, could Wells live up to the lofty expectations put on him immediately after the draft? It's a long season. Crazier things have happened.