{"id":531659,"date":"2026-01-21T22:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531659\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:47:16","slug":"orioles-prospects-baseball-america-top-100-lists-five-os","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531659\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles prospects: Baseball America Top 100 lists five O\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Baseball America released its Top 100 prospects list for the season<\/a>, kicking off the unofficial top prospect list season that will play out between now and the start of the regular season. Relevant to Orioles fans, five O\u2019s prospects appear on this year\u2019s edition of the list, starting with catcher Samuel Basallo at #9. The others who have made the list: Dylan Beavers (#21), Trey Gibson (#72), Nate George (#86), and Luis De Le\u00f3n (#95).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a solid set of top prospects, and it\u2019s notable that the Orioles have managed to do this now that we\u2019re several years removed from when they were regularly picking in the top five of the draft class. This group does not include any top Orioles draft pick at all. Beavers was the highest-drafted as a post-first round competitive balance selection in 2022.<\/p>\n

Two of these players, Basallo and De Le\u00f3n, are fruits of the team\u2019s international amateur signing efforts. The Orioles signed Basallo to a contract extension shortly after he debuted last year. Two others, Gibson and George, were plucked from relative obscurity in the US amateur ranks. Gibson was an undrafted free agent in 2023, while George is a 16th round pick from the 2024 draft.<\/p>\n

Mike Elias finding top prospect list talent from less-obvious avenues – lower-bonus international players and fifth round or later draft picks – is a good sign that we can hope will continue. It\u2019ll be nice if the first round picks return to being top 100-level talent, too. 2025 top pick Ike Irish seems like he could get himself onto the lists starting in the midseason updates if he shows well in his first full pro season. The Orioles are unfortunately back in the top ten of the draft thanks to stinking it up last year, and also unfortunately the lottery didn\u2019t put then in the top five even though they had the fourth-best odds of getting the #1 pick.<\/p>\n

Two more players who the Orioles signed as amateurs made BA\u2019s list of 20 \u201cjust missed\u201d prospects<\/a>. Those were pitchers Michael Forret and Esteban Mejia. Forret, a 14th round pick in 2023, was traded to the Rays in the Shane Baz deal. None of the other traded players were top 100-level talent on this list. Mejia, who only turns 19 in March, could make future top 100 lists if he\u2019s able to start harnessing some of his natural talent as he reaches full-season affiliates. The O\u2019s having three notable pitching prospects is also a new development in the Elias era.<\/p>\n

Nice as it is to see five players in the top 100, it\u2019s worth noting that the top two of these guys, Basallo and Beavers, have already debuted in MLB and will probably have their prospect status expire just weeks into the 2026 season. At that point, the Orioles won\u2019t have any top 50-level prospects unless some of their guys continue on their upward paths. That could happen! I\u2019m particularly excited about George.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a little of what Baseball America had to say about each of these top 100 (or almost-top 100) prospects:<\/p>\n

Basallo boasts elite bat speed and generates significant power to all fields thanks to his advanced bat-to-ball skills. \u2026 he is improving at swinging at pitches he can drive rather than ones his contact ability will allow him to get to. \u2026 He has plus-plus power and could be one of the game\u2019s prolific sluggers, and his contact ability will only help him maximize his significant raw skills.<\/p>\n

Beavers told teams at the 2022 MLB Draft Combine that he knew his swing needed a lot of work. \u2026 The swing work Beavers and the Orioles have done have maximized his athleticism and plate discipline, which allows him to be adjustable and generate power naturally without expanding the strike zone or over-swinging in pursuit of slug. Above-average athleticism also shows up in Beavers\u2019 plus speed and solid-average outfield defense in the corners<\/p>\n

After adding a sinker with unique angles in 2025, Gibson now has a pair of mid-90s fastballs. Righties either hit the new pitch into the ground or took it for strikes. However, Gibson gets his upside from his secondary mix. \u2026 The additions and improvements, plus his developing knowledge of how to use his growing arsenal, helped Gibson strike out batters at an elite level. Gibson has the potential to be a midrotation starter thanks to his pitch mix and aptitude.<\/p>\n

George used a line-drive swing and knack for putting the ball in play to put together one of the best seasons a teenager had anywhere in the minors. \u2026 he is so dynamic out of the batter\u2019s box\u2014with run times of sub-4.0 seconds from home to first base\u2014that he routinely stretches balls into the gaps for extra bases. His double-plus speed helps him in the outfield, where he has the makings of an elite center fielder with more experience.<\/p>\n

De Leon\u2019s raw stuff has always been among the best in the Orioles\u2019 system. \u2026 emphasizing fastball location to righthanded batters elevated his entire arsenal in the second half of 2025 as the rest of his stuff played up. De Leon\u2019s command has always been inconsistent, but he has good zone rates with his fastball, suggesting it\u2019s a trait that can continue to improve.<\/p>\n

Working with four-seam and two-seam fastballs, Mejia overpowered lower-level hitters with his electric stuff. His heaters sat in the mid-90s and averaged 98.4 mph\u2014and there\u2019s still some physical projection left to add to those marks. \u2026 Mejia is one of the most exciting and high-ceiling pitchers the Orioles have, but there\u2019s a lot of work to be done to have him reach his No. 2 starter potential, from physical maturation to secondary pitch refinement.<\/p>\n

This is a pretty good set of top prospects to bring into a season. Beavers is a strong Rookie of the Year candidate based on his 2025 debut performance, and if things click for Basallo before too long into the season, he could end up being a ROY candidate as well.<\/p>\n

BA\u2019s list is only the first of several from the major publications. I\u2019ll be watching to see how other lists like Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline, and the Keith Law ranking at The Athletic assess the Orioles prospects relative to the league\u2019s other top prospects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, Baseball America released its Top 100 prospects list for the season, kicking off the unofficial top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,38868,38559,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-531659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-orioles","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles-commentary-analysis","11":"tag-baltimore-orioles-prospects-minor-leagues","12":"tag-baltimoreorioles","13":"tag-baseball","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-orioles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115935527060837023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}