Orioles Prospect Update: Bombs away Jackson Holliday, Seth Johnson and Peter Van Loon, Nestor German locked in

Refreshed from that four-day All-Star Break, the Baby Birds headed into their three-game weekend series'. Bowie's bats continued to falter, but results were good elsewhere on the farm.

Norfolk Tides
Won series with Nashville Sounds 2-1

What an encouraging way for Jackson Holliday to kick off the second half, posting a .500/2/6 line in 3 games. He's continued to walk as often as he strikes out and added a stolen bag on his only attempt. It'll be a restless week and a half here for the O's top prospect, focusing on his craft while the rumor mill continues to churn out ideas about where he'll end up.

Billy Cook also went deep twice and drove in 5 while going 4-10 at the plate. Not sure he has the gusto to usurp some of these guys ahead of him for a spot in the major league outfield, but more performances like that will get him onto the diamond somewhere. He's batting .261 in a growing sample size at AAA.

Welcome to the prospect update Shayne Fontana! The 2019 draftee has been on fire, upping his average on the month to .533 after a 4-7 series. While he didn't collect any RBI, he did score thrice and added 4 walks.

Trey McGough continues to impress for the Tides, striking out two over two scoreless relief innings Saturday night. He's currently rocking a 2.20 ERA while allowing opposing batters to hit just .195 in 15 appearances since getting promoted.

Given the Orioles' ever-growing need for bullpen help, curious how many solid outings Dillon Tate and/or Bruce Zimmermann would need to string together to get the call. Neither surrendered a run over the weekend, in their 1 and 2 inning outings, respectively. While both represent wholly uninspiring choices, there aren't really a ton of other internal candidates currently scratching at the door for a move up. Key word there though: internal.

Bowie Baysox
Lost series with Hartford Yard Goats 1-2

In a quiet offensive week by the Baysox, Samuel Basallo was one of the few standouts, going 3-12 at the dish with 1 RBI and 3 strikeouts. He's only batting .220 this July, quelling much of the speculation that he could be called up during the playoff push.

Jud Fabian posted a .273/1/1 line in his 3 games-- his first home run since June 26th. Not the best look for a guy being developed as a big-time power bat.

Another really strong start from Seth Johnson on Friday, surrendering a hit and a walk across 4 scoreless. He's really cut down on the free passes, giving up just 2 in 13 innings this month after averaging 1 per inning in June.

Peter Van Loon has still not allowed a run since returning to Bowie, racking up 7 K's across 4 shutout frames in relief of Johnson. The big righty's been fantastic, holding opposing batters to a .128 average over his last 12.1 IP.

Saturday featured another outstanding tandem, started out with Alex Pham. Last week's Eastern League Pitcher of the Week exited after 4 innings with a goose egg on the board, giving up just 3 hits while striking out 6. Cameron Weston followed him up with 4 scoreless of his own, lowering his Double-A ERA to 2.94. A real logjam of arms on this roster.

Aberdeen IronBirds
Lost series with Wilmington Blue Rocks 1-2

Four days off didn't do anything to throw off Enrique Bradfield Jr.'s rhythm, as the 22-year-old went 4-9 at the dish and 3/3 on the base paths. He's been as productive as he's been consistent since the end of a cold April, reminding the world why he was a first round pick.

Carter Young's turnaround has been awesome to witness. His average was sitting at .129 as the team went into June, looking completely overmatched at High-A. After a 4-12 series versus Wilmington, Young finds himself batting .333 on the month, raising his average to .208 on the season. Still a long way to go, but glad to see him righting the ship.

Randy Florentino needs to be on the field with more regularity. The catcher went 3-3 in his only appearance this weekend, boosting his line on the season up to .291/1/19. Love some Creed Willems and Adam Retzbach, but Florentino's earned the extra looks.

The IronBirds pitchers couldn't have come out of the break any hotter, combining for a no-no on Friday night. Zach Fruit got the start, lasting 4.2 innings before ceding the decision to Deivi Cruz. Preston Johnson and Kyle Virbitsky polished off the final 3 frames to seal the deal, with all four combining to strikeout 11.

Jackson Baumeister put the team in position to win the series on Sunday, striking out 8 while surrendering just 1 run over 4 innings. Unfortunately, the bullpen failed him late, giving up 4 runs in the ninth to fall 5-3.

Delmarva Shorebirds
Won series with Down East Wood Ducks 2-1

After being left out of our last prospect update, Aron Estrada's found his way back, going 5-12 against the Wood Ducks while adding an RBI and swiping a bag. He may not offer a ton of pop at the dish, but he can make contact with the best of them in Class A.

Another strong display from Aneudis Mordan, posting a .364/1/1 stat line in his 3 games. Delmarva's certainly benefitted from him reasserting himself as an offensive presence over the last few weeks with Thomas Sosa on the mend.

International prospect Maikol Hernandez had far and away his best series as a professional, going 4-9 with a home run and 2 driven in while holding down the left side of the infield. He's 6'3",175 pounds and only 20-years-old-- making him a fun guy to project down the road.

Decent start out of Eccel Correa on Friday, surrendering 2 hits and 2 walks in 2 scoreless frames. Not his best work, but he kept the Shorebirds in position to get the win.

Nestor German was lockdown once again Sunday afternoon, shutting out the Wood Ducks while striking out 6 in his 4 innings of work. He's allowing opposing batters to hit just .177 as the organization slowly increases his allotted pitch count, letting him venture deeper into these starts.

Johan Rojas did his best Nestor impersonation in relief of German on Sunday, posting 4 scoreless innings of his own to wrap up the home stand. He struck out 5 and allowed 3 baserunners en route to his second decision victory in 2024.