Baltimore Orioles: Which prospect will we see next?

With the Baltimore Orioles finally calling up Adley Rutschman, one of the most exciting and celebrating prospects that the Orioles have had in quite some time, the question must be asked: Who will the Orioles call up next?

While the answer may seem fairly obvious, this article will look at who fills the needs that the Baltimore Orioles have and that player’s potential for making it to the bigs soon.

Who is the first prospect the Baltimore Orioles will call up?

The Orioles haven’t been too horrible this year so far, but one of their biggest needs (heading into Wednesday’s action) is starting pitching. The starting pitching has been much improved over the 2021 season. However, with the loss of John Means for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and losing Spencer Watkins for at least 15 days due to a 106 mph line drive that he took off his pitching arm, the Orioles need starting pitching … and they need it badly.

One of the next prospects they will likely call up from Triple-A will be Grayson Rodriguez. While the Orioles are attempting to keep Rodriguez in Triple-A for a bit in order to keep his workload down, he is impressing in Norfolk. So far this season, he has pitched in nine games, throwing 43.1 innings and accumulating a 4-1 record. Through those nine games, he has a 2.70 ERA, a WHIP of 0.99, and has struck out 66 batters. The Orioles may need to call him up sooner than they want due to the hole left by Watkins.

DL Hall is someone who is in the same boat as Rodriguez … a pitcher the Orioles want to continue to build up innings, but he could also be someone that they use to plug the holes that have been left in the starting rotation due to injury. However, Hall will be someone the Orioles want to hold off on bringing up for a bit longer because he stayed in Florida at extended spring training. Also, he has just three starts in Triple-A and has somewhat struggled through those starts with a 6.52 ERA.

Offensively, the Orioles don’t have too many holes besides in their infield, specifically at second and third base. Rougned Odor was meant to be a filler until the Orioles called up one of their prospects, and that prospect that we could see soon is Terrin Vavra, the #14 prospect in the Orioles system. He is currently on the Triple-A injured list with a right hamstring injury, but is likely due for a promotion to the bigs when he finally gets healthy. He can fill in nicely for Odor at second as, before injury, Vavra was batting .327 through 13 games.

Baltimore has been playing decent baseball as of late, sitting at 18-26 through 44 games. The Orioles also have a much brighter future coming up, as seen with Rutschman being called up for last Saturday’s game.