5 craziest stats you missed from Orioles' Triple-A beatdown of Charlotte

While the Baltimore Orioles just keep rolling along at the big league level, there is a lot more attention on the minor leagues than usual in 2024. When you have several of the top prospects in baseball in Jackson Holliday, Connor Norby, Coby Mayo, Heston Kjerstad, and others on the same Triple-A team, that is bound to happen.

Still, it was quite shocking to see the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides, absolutely crush the Charlotte Knights on Wednesday and, yes, the usual suspects played a huge role in making that record-setting performance happen. Norfolk is in for a treat for as long as these guys are around.

Here is a look at some of the crazier stats from the Tides' rout on Wednesday.

Orioles top prospects go off in minor league game rout

Heston Kjerstad had a game for the ages on Wednesday for the Tides. In a game where there were a number of crazy performances, Kjerstad somehow emerged as the clear star, as he went 5-7, had his second two-homer game in a row, and drove in a whopping 10 runs in the game. The former No. 2 pick in the MLB draft remains in the mix for playing time in the big leagues this year, although Baltimore's crowded outfield picture will need some clarity before that happens.

Kyle Stowers wasn't going to miss out on the fun, either. Stowers connected for three home runs in the game and finished with four hits altogether, driving in seven runs of his own. Many were clamoring for the Orioles to carry Stowers on the Birds' Opening Day roster, and he is hard at work to prove his fans correct, as he has a 1.503 OPS in Triple-A through five games this season.

Jackson Holliday had one of the best games of his young career, but was still somehow overshadowed given how wild this game was. Despite the fact that he went 4-6 with two doubles, two walks, scored five runs, and stole a base out of the leadoff spot, he doesn't probably even crack the top three performances in this game. He still probably should have made the Orioles' roster, though.

The Orioles' third-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, Coby Mayo, would not be denied on this night (yes, this is a familiar theme). He joined Kjerstad in the five-hit club, including two extra-base knocks, and pushed his season OPS to 1.035, which somehow still only ranks sixth in this lineup. Absolute insanity.

Connor Norby also had a great game, even if it paled in comparison to what some of his teammates did. Baltimore's No. 6 prospect hit his third home run of the season, reached base four times, and drove in three runs. It isn't often when a game like that looks pedestrian, but that speaks more to how wild this game was than anything Norby did wrong...in fact, far from it.

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