MLB execs survey was a real positive for the Orioles

We already knew that the Orioles produce young talent about as well as any team in baseball and that the club's farm system is No. 1 in the sport. But it's nice when the industry provides further confirmation of all this.

And this week, the Orioles got further confirmation in a four-part series of articles on MLB.com and MLBPipeline.com. The outlet surveyed from office execs, members of scouting and analytics and player development.

And just about everywhere you looked, the Orioles were doing pretty well.

In the first part of this series the execs were asked who will win the AL and NL Rookie of the Year awards? Last year they tabbed Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles and Arizona's Corbin Carroll to win, and both did in 2023.

This time the execs provided 36 percent of their AL votes for outfielder Evan Carter of Texas and 30 percent to O's prospect Jackson Holliday. The Orioles Heston Kjerstad was listed in the also getting votes category.

It was during the Winter Meetings when the O's Mike Elias stated Holliday has a strong chance to make the 2024 Opening Day roster.

"It's definitely a very strong possibility,” Elias said during an interview session in Nashville last month. "I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but he had a historic first full season in the minors. Probably you have to go back into like the 80s or 90s to find something similar to that in my opinion for an American kid out of high school. Got to Triple-A. Wasn’t there a huge amount of time, didn’t tear the cover off the ball, but he more than held his own and did well.”

Holliday rose four levels, from Low Single-A to Triple-A, batting .323/.442/.499/.941 while rising to become the No. 1 prospect in the sport and he also played in the All-Star Futures Game in July. He was both the Orioles' Minor League Player of the Year and the Baseball America's National Player of the Year.

Holliday was also easily the No. 1 vote getter in the category, "Who is baseball's best hitting prospect?" He got 70 percent of the vote and next was Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio at just eight percent. Holliday finished first with 28 percent of the vote for "top baseball IQ."

O's catching prospect Samuel Basallo tied for third in the vote for "most underrated prospect." He was second in voting for "breakout prospect of the year."

Other O's prospects scored well in best tools categories with Enrique Bradfield Jr. getting mention for his defense and speed and Coby Mayo for his power. 

I mentioned in this space yesterday that the Orioles were voted with the No. 1 farm system by the execs in an overwhelming fashion. They got 79 percent of the votes with the Dodgers and Pirates each getting four percent of the vote. All the other clubs combined to get 13 percent of the vote.

The MLBPipeline series was basically continued validation for the Orioles and their farm and player development operation.

Adley is No. 1: MLBPipeline was not the only outlet heaping some praise on the Orioles this week. MLB Network got in on the act.

Catcher Adley Rutschman was ranked as the third-best catcher in MLB last year and is No. 1 now. He was named as baseball’s best catcher via MLB Network as part of the network’s "top 10 right now" series.

Rutschman finished one spot ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers Will Smith. Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto, after three years being ranked No. 1, dropped to No. 4 this time. Sean Murphy of Atlanta was rated third.

Rutschman, who turns 26 Feb. 6, batted .277/374/.435/.809 with 31 doubles, a triple, 20 homers, 84 runs, 92 walks and 80 RBIs. He made his first All-Star team, won a Silver Slugger award and finished ninth in the AL MVP voting after finishing 12^th in 2022.  He had a season where he dropped his K rate from 18.3 to 14.7 while his walk-rate held steady at 13.4 from 13.8 in 2022.

Rutschman became the first O’s catcher with 20-plus homers in a season since Wellington Castillo (20) in 2017. He drew multiple walks in 20 games, the most multi-walk efforts in a season by an Oriole since Albert Belle (21) in 1999. His six intentional walks were the most by an O's batter since Manny Machado (12) in 2018 and his 66 doubles in his first two seasons are the second-most two-baggers in a player's first two years behind Nick Markakis (68) from 2006-07.

On the broadcast where MLB Network unveiled the list, former All-Star catcher and network analyst Alex Avila said of Rutschman, “You can’t go wrong with Adley being number one here. What he brings to the Orioles and what we’ve seen once he came up as far as changing the entire mentality and dynamic of this organization. [There’s] very few times where you see a guy as hyped as far as their talent come in and right from the get-go is able to make an impact the way Adley has, not just from an offensive perspective but from a defensive perspective.”