Stowers and Diaz headline Orioles entries in Arizona Fall League

The Orioles will have eight players representing the organization with the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League.

Pitchers Cameron Bishop, Logan Gillaspie, Conner Loeprich and Nick Vespi, catcher Ramon Rodriguez, infielder Greg Cullen, and outfielders Yusniel Diaz and Kyle Stowers will play for Mesa. Rodriguez is on the taxi squad.

Triple-A Norfolk hitting coach Tim Gibbons will serve in the same capacity with the Solar Sox.

The first game is Wednesday, Oct. 13. The annual Fall Stars Game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 13 and the AFL Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 20. The Fall Stars and championship games will air at 7 p.m. on MLB Network.

Mesa's roster is stocked with players from the Orioles, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cubs and Marlins. Diaz is the only one on a 40-man roster.

Stowers, a second-round pick in 2019 out of Stanford University, led the farm system with 27 home runs and slashed .278/.383/.514 with 23 doubles and 85 RBIs at three levels. His final 22 games were played at Triple-A Norfolk and he's expected to make his major league debut next summer. He turns 24 in January.

Stowers and catcher Adley Rutschman were chosen as the organization's co-Minor League Players of the Year. MLBPipeline.com ranks Stowers as the Orioles' No. 11 prospect and Baseball America places him 17th.

Diaz, who turns 25 on Thursday, had another injury-plagued season at Norfolk and slashed .157/.225/.251 with four doubles and four home runs in 54 games with the Tides. He was regarded as the jewel of the Manny Machado trade with the Dodgers, but has slipped to 12th in MLBPipeline.com's organizational prospect rankings and 19th in those of Baseball America.

Cullen, 24, was acquired from the Braves in the Tommy Milone trade in July 2020. He appeared in 24 games with Double-A Bowie, 10 with Single-A Delmarva and four with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League orange team and slashed .259/.429/.398 with six doubles and three home runs.

The at-bats are needed with Cullen twice going on the injured list with Bowie.

Bishop, 25, was selected in the 26th round of the 2017 draft out of UC Irvine, but received a third-round bonus of $605,000. He appeared in 12 games with Bowie, making three starts, and allowed 17 earned runs (19 total) and 41 hits in 48 1/3 innings. He struck out 54 batters and surrendered only four home runs.

Bishop also pitched in four games with Delmarva, including two starts, and allowed 10 runs and 13 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

The Orioles chose Bishop as their minor league Pitcher of the Month for June.

Gillaspie, 24, was signed as a minor league free agent on June 9. He made 26 relief appearances between Bowie and Single-A Aberdeen and allowed 23 runs and 44 hits in 41 2/3 innings. He walked 11 batters and struck out 52.

Loeprich, 24, was a 20th-round pick of the Pirates in 2018 who came to the Orioles in a Sept. 20, 2020 trade for international signing bonus slots. He missed about two months of the season with an injury and went 2-5 with a 5.63 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 14 games (12 starts) totaling 56 innings.

Loeprich had a 7.16 ERA and 1.59 WHIP with 44 strikeouts in 44 innings over 11 games with Aberdeen. He tossed 12 scoreless innings during an injury rehab assignment in the FCL.

The Orioles drafted Vespi, who turns 26 on Saturday, in the 18th round in 2015 out of Palm Beach State College. He posted a 4.19 ERA and 1.241 WHIP with 51 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings over 30 relief appearances between Norfolk and Bowie.

Vespi allowed only three earned runs in 19 innings with the Baysox.

Rodriguez, 22, was the Dodgers' 30th-round pick in 2016 who signed with the Orioles in March. He played at Delmarva, Aberdeen and Bowie, totaling 54 games and batting .253/.304/.384 with 10 doubles and five home runs.

Gibbons completed his second year in the organization and first as Norfolk's hitting coach.

The AFL is implementing the following new rules: A pitch timer, restriction on defensive positioning, larger bases and the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS).

The defensive team must have a minimum of four players on the infield, with each required to have both feet completely in front of the outer boundary of the infield, and two infielders must be positioned entirely on each side of second base.

Pitchers and catchers also will be permitted to use the communication device PitchCom.