Baltimore Orioles Feature 8 Prospects in Baseball America's New Top 100

Earlier this week Baseball America announced it's new ranking of the top 100 prospects. 8 Orioles made the cut, which was more than any other team in the majors. Let's take a deeper dive into the rankings and highlight the O's who made the list.

The infield depth throughout the Orioles farm system has been a popular topic over the past couple of seasons. This won't change after the new rankings, which featured 4 Orioles infielders. The top ranked position player for the O's was 2022's first overall pick, Jackson Holliday. He came in at Number 7 on the list. This doesn't come as much of a surprise after seeing his production so far in his career. He's been rising through the farm system and was recently promoted to High A Aberdeen. So far this season he's slashed an incredible .355/.483/.602, while having the same amount of walks as strikeouts. The 19 year-old looks like a star in the making.

Along with Holliday, the Orioles featured middle infielders Jordan Westburg (No. 68), Joey Ortiz (No. 81), and Connor Norby (No. 88) all in the top 100. All three of these players are playing at Triple A Norfolk and we should see them in the majors sometime in the near future. Ortiz recently made his major league debut before being sent back down to Norfolk.

To round out the position players on the list, outfielders Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad also were featured in the top 100. Cowser has soared through the farm system after being the 5th overall pick in 2021, landing himself at Number 34 in the rankings. He is currently slashing an impressive .300/.442/.500 with 5 homeruns at Triple A Norfolk. He also is on track to make his major league debut in the near future. As for Kjerstad, he has dominated Double A pitching with a slash line of .298/.383/.638, while clubbing 8 homeruns.

Although the one weakness of the O's farm system may be the starting pitching, Baseball America's top 100 still featured 2 O's starters. This included Grayson Rodriguez who ranks as the 5th overall prospect and is the top Oriole on their new rankings, and D.L. Hall who came in at number 67. Rodriguez will soon be promoted from prospect rankings since he has become a staple of the Orioles rotation. He has had his ups and downs in the majors so far, but he's coming off of a win against the first place Tampa Bay Rays.

These new rankings from Baseball America represent yet another successful aspect of Orioles baseball and present even more excitement for the teams future.