Thomas Sosa showed flashes of impressive potential in 2024

The 19-year-old from the Dominican Republic is still very raw, but his first year in Single-A showed encouraging signs of the thing to come.

Before Mike Elias took the reins as the Orioles’ GM, a consistent complaint about the Orioles’ team-building approach was their lack of presence in the international free-agent market. Fast forward 5+ years and the Orioles’ top prospect list is chock full of the fruits of Elias & Co.’s labor on the international market. One of the most promising outfield prospects, Thomas Sosa, got his first taste of full-season and delivered some awe-inspiring results.

Sosa signed with the O’s in 2022 out of Villa Mella, Dominican Republic, joining more hyped prospects like Braylin Tavera and Leandro Arias as one of the 12 players the O’s signed out of the DR. The then 17-year-old stood at 6’0” and 140 lbs at the time of signing and has grown to 6’3” while adding 20 pounds to his lanky frame.

After struggling in the Dominican Summer League in 2022, Sosa started to make a name for himself as an 18-year-old in rookie ball. Across 39 games in the Florida Complex League, Sosa slashed .290/.385/.492 while launching four homers and 14 total extra-base hits.

The impressive stretch earned him a promotion to Low-A Delmarva to begin the 2024 season as he looked to make an impact in his debut in full-season minor-league baseball. His first exposure to Carolina League pitching didn’t start off great. Sosa hit .224 through his first month in Low-A with a .651 OPS, while also striking out 32 times in 76 ABs.

However, those early struggles didn’t deter Sosa as he continued to get better month-to-month. In May, Sosa raised his batting average to .244 while boosting his slugging percentage by 86 points. Sosa collected his first three Low-A home runs in his second month with the Shorebirds, showing flashes of his burgeoning raw power.

Sosa put up the best month of his 2024 season in June. He again raised his average, seeing it jump all the way to .288 while collecting seven extra-base hits for the second month in a row. Perhaps more impressive was the increased discipline the teenager showed as the season went on. After putting up a 42.1% strikeout rate in April, Sosa cut that down to 24.7% in June.

The 19-year-old’s upward momentum was halted in July when he landed on the IL with a shoulder injury. In the last 15 games before his injury, Sosa was beginning to dominate Low-A pitching to the tune of a .300 average and .767 OPS. The young outfielder clearly wasn’t the same after coming off the IL, hitting only .205 with a .536 OPS in his first 13 games back from injury.

Those struggles didn’t stop the Orioles front office from promoting Sosa to High-A Aberdeen, as the young Dominican spent the last three weeks of his season with the IronBirds. Similar to his slow start with the Shorebirds, Sosa’s first exposure to High-A pitching proved to be a humbling experience. The big lefty struggled to a .181 average and .492, putting up only one extra-base hit with 28 Ks.

Despite the struggles down the stretch, it’s easy to see the potentially high ceiling for the teenage outfielder. Signed as a CF, Sosa showed plenty of speed throughout his 93 games in Single-A. Of players in the Orioles Top 30 prospects, only Jud Fabian and Enrique Bradfield Jr. had more stolen bases than Sosa’s 30 swiped bags.

What makes Sosa intriguing is the prospect of his power continuing to develop as he moves through the minors. At 6’3” with a long frame, there’s plenty of opportunity for Sosa to continue to add muscle as he matures physically. MLB.com’s write-up on Sosa compares him to former Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco, who had some near 20-20 seasons with the Buccos in the mid-2010s.

Looking at his stance and watching the way he uncoils as he drives the ball to all fields, I see flashes of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez in his swing. Fangraphs groups Sosa among one of several “Power Projects” in the Orioles system, noting how he “posted some of the best exit velos in this system, but [is] striking out far too often.”

More important than developing physically is seeing how Sosa’s approach evolves as he moves through the Orioles minor league system. The strikeout rate is certainly a problem, but we’ve seen the Orioles minor league coaches help their big power hitters iron out some of their strikeout concerns, as they did with Gunnar Henderson in his meteoric rise through the minors.

While Sosa is still very early in his development, the tools and potential is there for him to grow into a 20-20 type of outfielder at the big league level. Where he starts the 2025 season will be telling in how this Orioles front office views the one of their top international prospects heading into his age-20 season.

Given his struggles at Aberdeen, it may make sense to start him back at Delmarva and have him work his way back up to the Shorebirds. And yet, if he’s back in northwest Maryland to begin 2025—instead of down on the Eastern Shore—it could be a vote of confidence as to the potential the organization sees in Sosa.

Previous 2024 prospect reviews: Heston Kjerstad, Frederick Bencosme, Justin Armbruester, Leandro Arias, Brandon Young, Creed Willems, Trace Bright, Braylin Tavera, Michael Forret

Monday: The 2024 Draft Picks