The days of Mike Elias being able to fill fans heads with folly about the next wave of overhyped prospects on the way to save the day and salvage the second-half of the season are long gone.
The top 100-ish prospects he does have are either missing most of the Hi-A season in Frederick with an "undisclosed illness" or just got promoted to AA. And there are some other interesting prospects or quasi-prospects who are worthy of a looksee, probably, but we are taking fringe contributors who could hopefully develop a smidge this season in hopes of them having more to offer in the future.
But we should see some new faces - especially if Elias does the right thing and sells in a big way before the deadline . And at least one youngster who is already familiar from an earlier stint will probably be back, too, hopefully with a better idea of where the ball is going this time.
The first stint was really tough. He was so wild he ended up getting Gunnar Henderson hit in retaliation, and flashed some wipeout stuff but mostly couldn't find the strike zone nearly often enough. But if Elias does close to the right thing - and deals at least one starting pitcher and maybe two - then it's a pretty safe assumption that Gibson is the next guy back up.
Manager Craig Albernaz went out of his way to praise him, at length, during a very rough outing before his demotion. He's coming back. He's an undrafted rookie free agent from 2023 - the kind of thing that Elias thinks will make him look extra smart - and there just ain't anything else in the AAA level that is as far along as he is. He hasn't pitched since his demotion, so the plan for him getting ramped back up will be interesting.
He has a 3.55 ERA in AAA but 19 walks in 38 innings. This might be more of a relief arm, but at 6-foot-5 with a projectable frame Elias won't give up on the dream of finding an MLB starter after the draft easily.
The Orioles leaned big into pitching in the 2023 draft, after hearing for years how they had ignored it. We'll see what that brings and German might be the best chance of dining a real innings eater in a rotation with German. The 11th-round pick has a shot.
He's, for me, the best shot of finding someone to stick in a rotation for a while from the AAA options. The command is better than Gibson and the swing-and-miss is better and the entire profile is not as prone to extremes. His 4.11 ERA isn't going to blow anyone away but he has been fairly dominant at home , and he is holding right-handed bats to a .649 OPS and the 94 strikeouts in 85 innings pitched is hard to ignore.
At 24, this feels like the perfect summer to give the righty his first taste of MLB.
The Orioles best trade Taylor Ward and open up room in this outfield with his contract expiring. And getting Tyler O'Neill out of the way would be a big deal , too - HYPER. Either way, as stunted as Bradfield's development might have been to this point and as much as his swing will remain a perpetual project, this is also a franchise not close to competing that could use a jolt of energy and speed and aggression and Bradfield brings all of the above.
The Orioles are prone to scoring slumps in part because they stink in the run game - 22nd in stolen bases and 26th in stolen-base percentage - and Bradfield is an expert in that department and could bring true gold glove type defense to centerfield. They don't have anyone on the bench close to what he can do from an explosion and twitch department.
He missed seven weeks earlier this season due to injury and staying healthy has been a problem. But the first-round pick, despite only playing 64 games at the AAA level, has parts of his toolkit that are MLB quality. He has 159 steals, while caught just 22 times, in 258 minor league games.
So you wish he had more than 12 walks in 39 games this season? Sure. But the .324 on-base percentage isn't terrible. And if he is able to start finding his way in a season that is essentially lost and begin with a focus on the niches he has pretty much mastered - running and defense, sounds like a plan.
He is probably a fourth outfielder and probably on the bench quite a bit for a good team and that bat isn't likely to be a big part of why he sticks in MLB if he sticks in MLB.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/orioles/onsi as Three Most Likely Orioles Prospects to Be Called Up After the All-Star Break .
