Orioles Prospect Update: Livan Soto, Noelberth Romero's Double Walk Off, Samuel Basallo and Creed Willems is Back!

Busy week on the farm! A bunch of promotions, some big-time performances and a couple of new faces down in baseball's top minor league system.

Norfolk Tides
Tied series with Durham Bulls 3-3

Livan Soto is a name you could very possibly see up in Baltimore over the coming weeks. The recent acquisition from Cincinnati didn't disappoint in his first action with the Tides, going 8-21 while collecting one or more hits in all six games. The shortstop is only 24 years old and has had success on the pro level before, albeit a small sample size, making him a worthwhile dart throw by Elias.

Former major leaguers JD Davis and Jean Segura also made their impressions with the O's AAA club. Davis, a Yankee less than a month ago, had two hits on the week-- both two-run home runs. He also struck out in 35% of his plate appearances.

Segura's debut came on Sunday, where the 2022 All-Star delivered a double in one of his five at bats. It was the 34-year-old's first professional action since the end of last July. He's another interesting project, especially with how Coby Mayo's struggled at the dish in Baltimore.

Two scoreless appearances from Dillon Tate, allowing two hits while racking up three strikeouts. With the big-league bullpen in relative shambles, a few more good performances could earn the man a call back up.

Nice little shutout on Wednesday by the trio of Cole Irvin, Bruce Zimmermann and Colin Selby, giving up just three hits along the way. Like Tate, all three would receive consideration in the event of another reliever going down. Get well soon Danny Coulombe!

Second consecutive 7-inning outing from Cade Povich on Saturday. He gave up 8 hits and 4 earned runs but maneuvered through some messes to limit damage. With Chayce McDermott out for an extended period of time, Povich is likely next in line if the Orioles need a spot starter in the coming weeks.

Bowie Baysox
Won series with Harrisburg Senators 5-1

There were scheduled fireworks on Saturday night, but Noelberth Romero brought his own with a double walk off for the Baysox. He parked a two-run shot off of Marquis Grissom Jr. in the first game of the double header before capping off the evening matchup with a bases loaded, two-RBI double. Fun trivia fact: per Reddit user Antithesys, that's only happened four times in Major League history. Pretty cool way to finish your first week of AA ball.

Samuel Basallo continued his hot August, going 10-22 on the series plus 4 RBI. He's slashing torrid .432/.450/.703 splits so far this month, begging the question of when we'll see him in Norfolk.

Huge week out of Jud Fabian, torching the Senators en route to a .444/1/6 line. It was a welcome bounce back after being held hitless in his final 16 at-bats last series versus Somerset.

After getting shelled for six runs in his last start, Peter Van Loon was out for blood against Harrisburg, striking out 6 over 5 scoreless on Tuesday. Outside of that forgettable, aforementioned outing, Van Loon's surrendered a single earned run in 20.1 innings thrown since his promotion to Bowie, with a .786 WHIP. Really good stuff from the righty.

Alex Pham did his best to replicate Van Loon on the following night, scattering 2 hits and 2 walks across 5 shutout innings of his own. The first few months of 2024 were really rough for the 24-year-old, but he's posted an encouraging 2.52 ERA since the start of July.

Second straight solid start out of Patrick Reilly, allowing 3 hits and a walk in his 4 innings of work. The trade deadline acquisition did allow two runs, but they were unearned, so he's still rocking a blank ERA since coming over to the organization two weeks ago.

Aberdeen IronBirds
Tied series with Hickory Crawdads 3-3

Freshly promoted Tavian Josenberger departed Aberdeen on a high note, posting a .353/2/3 in 5 games against the Crawdads, adding 3 more stolen bases to his totals. The speedy outfielder hasn't been caught on the base paths since July 20th, a perfect 11/11 during that span.

Speaking of outfielders, and promotions, congrats to Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Reed Trimble for their moves up to Bowie as well. Whole new set of guys patrolling this IronBirds' outfield next week.

Love seeing Creed Willems back from IL and ready to mash. The catcher went 5-10 with a dinger and 5 RBI in his three appearances, picking up right where he left off before hitting hurting his hammy last month.

Last year's 14th-round pick Michael Forret allowed just 1 earned over 4 strong during Saturday's start. While his walk numbers need to come down some, Forret manages to keep opposing lineups off of the board, allowing 1 earned in 4 of his last 5 appearances.

Kyle Virbitsky picked up the win on Saturday, tossing 2 shutout frames in relief of Forret. The 6'7" righty's surrendered just 1 run since the beginning of July -- a 13 inning stretch.

Edgar Portes got the rock for the finale, giving up 2 hits and 3 walks over his 4 scoreless innings as Aberdeen split the series with a 4-0 shutout. The fourth-year minor leaguer is in the midst of his best year, currently rocking a 3.46 ERA in 21 appearances at A+ ball.

Delmarva Shorebirds
Lost series with Salem Red Sox 2-4

Lots of hits for Stiven Acevedo, collecting one or more in the 5 games we saw him. All in all, the 22-year-old posted a .286/1/2 line, plus 3 stolen bases.

Aneudis Mordan also had a base hit in the 4 appearances he made. He's batting .286 so far in August, well above his .220 average for the season. The catcher/DH boasts some real power, so hopefully his contact numbers can continue to improve to complement them.

A warm welcome to Low-A ball for Edwin Amparo, going 4-14 in his first series with Delmarva. The Dominican will be tasked with helping Leandro Arias fill the shoes of the recently promoted Aron Estrada.

Rookie free agent Justin Showalter carried the team through 4.1 innings out of the pen on Tuesday, surrendering just 1 unearned run to the Red Sox. The James Madison grad had given up 2 earned in each of his previous 3 starts with the Shorebirds.

Braxton Bragg is on fire, once again shutting out the opposition through 5 innings en route to his third win of the season. He's currently on a 15-inning scoreless streak, striking out 18 while allowing just 5 hits and 3 walks over that stretch. Dominance.

18-year-old Keeler Morfe made his presence known immediately with the club, striking out 7 over 3 shutout innings during his Saturday debut. It was Yeiber Cartaya who picked up the win however, preserving the goose egg while matching Morfe's 7 K's over the final four.