Orioles Prospect Update: Enrique Bradfield Jr., Holliday's low moment, Samuel Basallo

To the surprise of exactly no one, the Baltimore Orioles' impressive crop of prospects has continued to impress in 2024. Baltimore has at least 10 guys in their farm system right now that would be at or near the top of most teams' farm systems which, when you think about it, is quite nuts.

With the Orioles' big league roster getting pretty crowded at the moment and the trade deadline looming, it is worth checking in on some of the Orioles' top prospects have been doing lately to see how quickly they are going to make Baltimore make decisions about their futures with the organization especially with a potentially busy trade deadline looming this summer.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. is heating up

The Orioles' first-round pick from the 2023 draft, Bradfield Jr. features an exciting blend of bat-to-ball skills, insane speed, and Gold Glove defense, along with more pop than he is given credit for. After a strong pro debut in 2023, the Orioles started Bradfield Jr. at High-A this season. He gave the organization a bit of a scare when he suffered a head injury on a play at the plate that caused him to miss a bit of time.

Fortunately, Bradfield Jr. bounced back from his injury quickly and has started to really get going over the last couple of weeks. In his last 10 games, Bradfield Jr. is slashing .342/.381/.447 with seven steals to bring his 2024 season total to 23 base thefts in 31 games played. Given that he was drafted out of college and he is starting to dominate at High-A, a promotion to Double-A soon feels like a strong possibility.

Jackson Holliday just had a true low point down at Triple-A

When the Orioles decided to send Jackson Holliday back to the minors, it came after he struggled mightily against big league pitchers. However, Holliday took the decision in stride and appeared to be in a good mental place despite the move. For the month of May, Holliday has put together a pretty nice .247/.417/.419 line as he works through some swing adjustments. Not amazing, but also far from a poor showing against Triple-A pitchers at just 20 years old.

However, Holliday did have a pretty low moment on Wednesday when facing off against David Fletcher down at Triple-A. Fletcher, who has been an infielder forever and is being used by the Braves as a soft tossing knuckleballer for some reason, managed to strike out Holliday and make him look BAD while doing so. Holliday probably has never seen pitches like the ones Fletcher was throwing, and Fletcher was weirdly good overall against the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate overall, but it was still a pretty rough thing to witness.

Samuel Basallo is destroying Double-A right now

With all of the big name bats that the Orioles have at Triple-A right now, Samuel Basallo has seemingly gotten lost in the shuffle. Baltimore's No. 2 overall ranked prospect had a bit of a coming out party in 2023 when he put up a .953 OPS across three levels of the minors while cracking 20 home runs. This season at Double-A saw Basallo get off to a bit of a slower start than his previous torrid pace, but it looks like he is starting to catch fire once again.

Over Basallo's last 10 games, he is slashing .436/.488/.615 with a couple of homers along the way. Given how crowded things are at Triple-A right now and without glaring need to rush him when it comes to the big league roster, it is likely the Orioles will give Basallo plenty of time at Double-A to refine his craft. However, if he keeps this up, they may not be able to keep him from reaching Triple-A some time in the second half.

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