Holliday, Basallo, Mayo among O's spring invites (Hays arbitration note)

The Orioles have a star-studded prospects list and the No. 1 farm in baseball, and their top three prospects are among their list of 20 spring training non-roster invitees announced today by the club.

The Orioles report on Feb. 14 to Sarasota, Fla., with their first workout for pitchers and catchers set for Feb. 15 and with the first full-squad workout to be held on Feb. 20.

Infielder Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, gets the expected NRI along with the club's No. 2 prospect, catcher Samuel Basallo, and their No. 3 (as ranked by Baseball America), infielder Coby Mayo.

The No. 4 and No. 5 prospects - outfielders Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad, who are already on the 40-man roster - will also report to Sarasota. All 40-man roster players join the club for spring training along with the NRIs.

The club recently dealt its No. 6 and No. 7 prospects, per Baseball America - DL Hall and Joey Ortiz - to Milwaukee for right-handed starter Corbin Burnes. The O's No. 8 prospect, infielder Connor Norby, is also among the non-roster invites. 

The organization's remaining top three-rated pitching prospects, again per Baseball America, will be in Sarasota, with Chayce McDermott (No. 10) and Cade Povich (No. 11) on the non-roster invite list and Seth Johnson (No. 12) on the 40-man.

Holliday, who turned 20 on Dec. 4, is expected to have a strong chance to break north on Opening Day. The Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year in 2023, he batted .323/.442/.499/.941 over four levels last year, beginning the season at Single-A Delmarva and ending it with Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles made him the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft on July 17, 2022.

Basallo, 19, hit .313/.402/.551/.953 last season, with 20 homers and 86 RBIs. He began his year at Delmarva and ended it with Double-A Bowie, where he is expected to begin this season. Baseball America ranks Basallo as the No. 10 player in the top 100, while MLBPipeline.com puts him at No. 17 and ESPN.com ranks him No. 27.

Mayo, 22, hit 29 homers with 99 RBIs and with a .973 OPS in 2023 between Bowie and Norfolk. He is ranked in the top 100, with ESPN slotting him at No. 19 by ESPN, Baseball America ranking him No. 25 and MLBPipeline putting him at No. 30.

Here is a look at the full list of NRIs:

Pitchers (11)

RHP Justin Armbruester
RHP Wandisson Charles
LHP Tucker Davidson
LHP Luis González
LHP Ronald Guzmán
RHP Chayce McDermott
LHP Cade Povich
RHP Garrett Stallings
RHP Albert Suarez
LHP Andrew Suárez
RHP Nathan Webb

Catchers (5)

Silas Ardoin
David Bañuelos
Samuel Basallo
Maverick Handley
Michael Pérez

Infielders (3) 

Jackson Holliday
Coby Mayo
Connor Norby

Outfielders (1)    

Daniel Johnson

The Orioles' first spring game is set for Saturday, Feb. 24 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. They'll take on the Red Sox at 1:05 p.m.

Hays wins arbitration: Outfielder Austin Hays won his arbitration case today and will play with a salary of $6.3 million this season. The club had countered at $5.85 million.

The result was reported first by MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

Hays batted .275/.325/.444/.769 in 2023 with 36 doubles, two triples, 16 homers and 67 RBIs. He made the All-Star team for the first time and was a Gold Glove finalist for left fielders. Hays ranked tied for ninth in the American League in doubles and his 36 marked a career high. He also set career highs in runs (76), extra-base hits (54), multi-hit games (40), walks (38) and steals (5). He went 3-for-11 with a double in the AL Division Series versus Texas.