Is a possible Santander replacement already on the O's roster?

If the Orioles felt strongly enough about outfielder Heston Kjerstad to put him on their playoff rosters the last two Octobers – and they did do that – could he be in their starting outfield on Opening Day 2025?

If the O’s lose free agent slugger Anthony Santander to another team, could Kjerstad take his spot in right field?

One argument against or making that more challenging is the club’s stated desire to add a right-handed bat. That doesn’t mean that bat will be Santander’s replacement necessarily, should he leave, but finding a right-handed hitting corner outfielder could be done perhaps more easily than at some other defensive spots.

If Santander left and the starters in the outfield are Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins and Kjerstad that is three lefty hitters.

But on the other hand, when will the O’s truly know or see what they have with Kjerstad? They liked him enough to draft him No. 2 overall in 2020 out of Arkansas. We know his injury history and the bout of myocarditis which set him back early in his career, but that is in his rear-view now and again, he’s been on two playoff rosters in two chances to be on one.

Kjerstad is 25 now and on the farm was a two-time top 100 player with big bat potential. Baseball America ranked him No. 62 heading into 2021 and No. 41 heading into last season.

Then in 39 games and 99 at-bats in two stints for the 2024 O’s, he hit .253/.351/.394/.745 with two doubles, four homers and 14 RBIs. In that small sample, which was interrupted by a concussion, Kjerstad produced a respectable 119 OPS+.

Kjerstad was drilled by an 0-2 pitch at 97 mph in the helmet on July 12 by the Yankees' Clay Holmes. It left him with a concussion and caused a benches-clearing incident.

Kjerstad would go on the seven-day concussion IL and returned to play from July 20-29, but he went just 2-for-18 with seven strikeouts in that span. He was optioned back to Triple-A, but the option was later voided as he went on the 10-day IL instead with lingering concussion symptoms. He would not play for the Orioles again until Sept. 15 at Detroit. He went 7-for-30 with a homer the rest of the way. He was 0-for-2 in the Wild Card series with Kansas City. 

Kjerstad has had 814 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Before you say that’s enough and he needs to not go back to the minors, you could be right. But keep in mind that Jordan Westburg had 923 plate appearances at Double-A and Triple-A and Coby Mayo is working on 1,149 and counting.

Minor league reps can always be helpful but does Kjerstad really need anymore?

I don’t think so.

But is the team ready to hand him a full-time job to begin next season. I have my doubts.

But at some point he needs to play regularly. He seems to be working his way closer to that.