A couple of days off will only get a four-man rotation so far.
The Orioles have yet to replace right-hander Zach Eflin with another starting pitcher on their roster a week after placing him on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain. Two scheduled days off and a rainout Friday have allowed Baltimore to carry an extra reliever in its bullpen for now, but their upcoming full week’s worth of games will force the club to give the ball to a fifth starter by Saturday’s afternoon contest against the Cincinnati Reds.
With Grayson Rodriguez, Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott still nursing injuries on the IL and late-offseason addition Kyle Gibson needing at least one or two more starts in Triple-A Norfolk to build up his arm for a starter’s workload, the Orioles have only one readily available starting pitcher on their 40-man roster: right-hander Brandon Young.
Young, 26, put an MLB debut within reach during his breakout 2024 season. The former undrafted free agent out of Louisiana-Lafayette won the Orioles’ minor league pitcher of the year award for going 5-4 with a 3.44 ERA, 96 strikeouts and 33 walks in 20 games (18 starts) over 89 innings with the Tides. He’s carried over that success into this year with a 2.76 ERA and 17 strikeouts to just two walks across his first three starts.
“I know our guys are really high on him, the multiple pitches that he throws for strikes,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “He had a couple good appearances for us — a guy the organization is high on. I haven’t seen him a ton besides a couple spring training outings, but he’s a guy that can throw strikes and I know that some of our video guys as well as the guys in the pitching room like his stuff quite a bit.”
Prospect evaluators recognized the leap this winter as MLB Pipeline ranked him the 19th overall prospect in the Orioles’ farm system and Baseball America placed him at No. 20, only a year after being absent from either list and two years removed from overcoming his second Tommy John elbow surgery.
“Things have changed in a good way, for sure,” Young said during spring training. “I’m just glad to be healthy and had a good full season last year to put me in this position.”
Young doesn’t blow anyone away with his fastball, which averages between 92 to 93 mph, but he has a five-pitch repertoire that features heavy doses of his four-seam and curveball with a slider, changeup and cutter mixed in. He tinkered this spring with a two-seam fastball and a modified version of his changeup that moved more like a splitter, though Statcast hasn’t picked up any two-seamers so far and his changeup has similar readings on its spin rate and vertical movement to what it registered last year.
Even so, he’s made a strong impression early into this year’s campaign. Young tossed a quality start with two unearned runs allowed in his first appearance and carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning his second time out. His third start Saturday resulted in five earned runs in as many innings, but he issued only one walk and still managed to pick up six strikeouts.
The Orioles already announced their starters for their upcoming midweek series against the Cleveland Guardians, and Cade Povich is expected to start their opener against the Reds on normal rest Friday. Should they go with Young on Saturday, he would be starting on six days’ rest — the same number of days between his previous two starts.
Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down three of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out superlatives for those who didn’t make the cut.
1. Triple-A Norfolk infielder Coby Mayo
After a slow start, Mayo heated up this week with two home runs, a double and five walks in five games. He finished the week reaching base in each of his final nine plate appearances, further reinforcing the notion that he’s mastered the Triple-A level offensively. So far this season, he’s started six games at first base and seven at third.
2. Low-A Delmarva right-hander Chase Allsup
Making only the second start of his professional career, the 2024 fourth-round pick earned the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week award for allowing one hit over five scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts for the Shorebirds on Thursday. Allsup had mixed success at Auburn, bouncing between the rotation and bullpen, but he offers high swing-and-miss potential.
3. High-A Aberdeen outfielder Vance Honeycutt
Barely edging out fellow 2024 draftee Ethan Anderson and his 11 RBIs for the week, Honeycutt claims the No. 3 spot on this list for going 7-for-18 (.389) with his first career home run, a double, a triple, seven walks and four stolen bases. Though Honeycutt did strike out eight times, his first full season in the Orioles’ farm system is off to a strong start.
The top prospect not featured so far
Double-A Chesapeake outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. became the second Orioles prospect in as many weeks to suffer a hamstring injury after joining catcher Samuel Basallo (Triple-A) on the 7-day injured list Friday. Bradfield, their 2023 first-round pick, slashed .389/.476/.556 with a double, a triple and two stolen bases in his first six games.
International acquisition of the week
Infielder Aron Estrada has been one of the fastest-rising international prospects in the Orioles’ farm system since signing for $150,000 out of Venezuela in 2022. He made the Dominican Summer League All-Star team in his first season, got a taste of rookie ball in 2023 and earned two promotions to High-A Aberdeen at 19 years old last summer. Estrada returned to Aberdeen to open this year and has hit the ground running, hitting .353 with six stolen bases and an .862 OPS over his first nine games.
Time to give a shout-out to …
Right-hander Braxton Bragg — yes, he shares a name with the Civil War general — built upon his strong first outing with High-A Abderdeen by going 5 1/3 innings with no runs on one hit, two walks and eight strikeouts on Thursday. Bragg struggled to get his professional career going early after being selected in the eighth round of the 2023 MLB draft out of Dallas Baptist, but he took a step forward in Delmarva last season. The 24-year-old would be a candidate for a quick promotion if he can continue that success.
Farm files
The Orioles announced Monday that they claimed right-hander Scott Blewett off waivers from the Minnesota Twins and designated left-hander Luis González for assignment. González was a nonroster invitee in Orioles camp this spring and he allowed three runs in four appearances (5.79 ERA) for Norfolk to begin the year. Blewett, who has a 2.19 ERA in 19 career MLB games, is out of minor-league options and the Orioles must clear a space for him on their 26-man roster.
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.