The Two Prospects The Orioles Should Promote In September

The Orioles are contending or competing for anything real, and are going on nine years into a rebuild and yet have received no significant interna contributions from the farm system all season.

That’s pretty astonishing and captured just what a disaster baseball failure Mike Elias has been running the team here. Outside of some very fringy bullpen arms, there has been nothing from within – journeymen minor-league free agents like Christian Encarnacion-Strand don’t count – and with rosters about to expand in September there is no one to get excited about.

No one.

Yikes.

The Norfolk Tides were one of the worst teams in pro ball, sad sack in just about every category in the International League, and have failed collectively and individually for the most part. And it’s begged questions about what this team will do with the extra roster spots next month. The recent injury to outfielder Tyler O’Neill perhaps changes things a little bit, and there are two youngsters who I would take a look at and bleed into the MLB level while in a nominal chase for the final Wild Card spot.

With the Orioles still in the payoff hunt, I’m not looking for redundant skillsets or pieces that cannot do more than one thing; so positionless AAA slugger Heston Kjerstad just to pinch hit against righties once in a while doesn’t do it for me, and he’s going to be 28 and elsewhere next season anyway.

We are part the point of worrying if any of these quasi prospects “plays everyday” and the AAA season is about to end, anyway (no playoffs for these Tides).

Here’s who I would recall:

OF Enrique Bradfield Jr.

So what he will be used few and far between. That’s all he projects to at best at this level, anyway. I know be can bunt and run like the wind and would be the best centerfielder around here since peak Cedric Mullins. I know he will steal second base pretty much whenever you ask him.

Now, he also might not get on base that much but I am fine deriving utility from him close to every night as a defensive replacement, spot starter, and pinch runner. This is a first-round pick out of Vandy three years ago, in an organization where the outfield is an abject failure and total wasteland. He's already done the Arizona Fall League thing and been an All Star there FWIW.

Bradfield, 24, has some confidence going with a .301/.395/.411 slash at AAA this month, with 12 walks to 15 strikeouts. He has stolen 34 bases and been thrown out just five times and is getting on base 36% of the time. He has been oft injured and let’s not mess around and have him play out the season down there; get him up here next week.

Nestor German

The Orioles have what appears to be a real wave of starting pitching percolating at AA and Michael Forret returning to the system in the Tyler Wells trade puts him a call away at AAA. But he has been struggling mightily at that level and German, 24, another one of that host of 2023 draft picks used on pitchers, has been quite solid and you might as well start getting a look at some of this.

Kyle Bradish is probably breaking down pushing 150 innings this season after throwing about 75 the previous two years combined. Brandon Young was great on Friday but he has never thrown this many innings and is tiring. Go to a six-man rotation and give this kid a few starts and see what he can do.

A 4.00 ERA in that league aint bad and he does at least have more strikeouts than innings pitched – swing and miss in this system tends to be thin – and he’s been pretty consistent and they already gave Trey Gibson a shot and he couldn’t throw strikes and he has been throwing at all lately.

His last three outings haven’t been great. And maybe he is an opener of sorts as well and that’s another way to cut down on the inning toll on some of the other starters.

I’d rather see something new maybe catch spark than bring back some 28 or 30 year old super fringy relief arm with no real potential.

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