SARASOTA, Fla. – Enrique Bradfield Jr. joined in the raucous celebration last night after Leandro Arias’ walk-off single in the Spring Breakout game. He embraced teammates as the crowd erupted in a way normally sparked by major league comebacks, and he was one of the last Orioles prospects to leave the field.

He was euphoric and destroyed. Overcome with joy and overwhelmed by sadness. Somehow, the young man held it together as these emotions collided.

Bradfield opened up to the media afterward about his childhood friend, 25-year-old Isaiah Hood, who died last week in a motorcycle accident. They grew up together, played travel ball, became more like brothers.

Asked to imagine how Isaiah would have reacted to last night’s dramatic win, Bradfield said, “I hope he’s happy. I hope he’s happy.”

“You know,” Bradfield continued, “I tried to be focused out there and my energy in that moment sliding across home plate specifically, it’s just, maybe some emotion comes out of me and that’s normal, you know? That’s life. Bad things happen. You have to pick yourself up and keep moving forward.

SARASOTA, Fla. – He’s listed at 5 feet 8 and his 19^th birthday is three months away. The Orioles promoted him from the Dominican Summer League to the Class A level last season. Height and age didn’t factor into how they treated him.

Results and a 70-grade fastball got Venezuelan right-hander Keeler Morfe moving faster than expected.

Morfe has grown into the No. 9 prospect in the organization according to MLB Pipeline rankings and the Orioles chose him to start tonight’s Spring Breakout game against the Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium.

The kid announced his presence with seven pitches to leadoff hitter George Lombard Jr. at 98-99 mph. The last, clocked at 99, struck him out.

The bingo card was filled – two runs, two hits, two walks, one strikeout, one wild pitch, one hit batter in two-thirds of an inning. Morfe threw 32 pitches and they kept catcher Samuel Basallo busy. But there’s no denying the stuff. It’s real impressive.

Ah, the first week of spring training games. 

The perfect time to toss out wild takes about the upcoming season based on an incredibly small sample size of games that hold minimal weight. 

What takeaways are overreactions? Which far-too-early conclusions could actually come to fruition? 

On this week’s edition of “The Bird’s Nest” (which you can watch here), Annie Klaff and I took a deep dive into some early storylines. On the way up, we’ll see which ones hold any water. 

Heston Kjerstad will have a 20-plus home run season

As a rookie in 2019, Eloy Jiménez hit 31 homers, had an .828 OPS and finished fourth in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year. In the 2023 season he hit 18 longballs.

But this year he has just five in 275 plate appearances. His homer percentage of 1.8 – the percentage of all plate appearances that end in a homer is the lowest of his career. That percentage was 6.2 for him in 2019 and 2020.

The task for the O’s coaches could not be more obvious. Try to get this guy back to lifting the baseball. Even though he is currently hitting the ball hard often and driving some grounders through infields around baseball.

Coming into the Nats series Jiménez was 12-for-24 with the Orioles, but with two doubles and 10 singles. He struck out as a pinch-hitter last night.

O’s skipper Brandon Hyde said the process to try and get Jiménez to drive baseballs is well underway.

The Orioles announced today that they signed first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper to a minor league contract. He’ll report to Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday.

Cooper, 33, appeared in a combined 36 games with the Cubs and Red Sox and batted .206/.267/.299 with five doubles, one triple, one home run and 11 RBIs. He’s played for five teams in the majors beginning in 2017 with the Yankees and hit .265/.333/.427 in 517 games.

Cooper was an All-Star with the Marlins in 2022. Three years earlier, he batted .281 with 16 doubles, 15 home runs, 50 RBIs and a .791 OPS in 107 games.

Last season, Cooper hit a combined 17 home runs with 61 RBIs in 123 games between the Marlins and Padres.

The Red Sox acquired Cooper from the Cubs in April for cash considerations and released him 11 days ago.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles’ No. 1 ranked farm system has been on display pretty much every day this spring training in Florida with young players and prospects excelling in the Birds’ Grapefruit League games - helping the club to an 11-2 record.

The O’s farm will have another chance to shine, this one on national television on March 14 at 7:05 p.m. when MLB Network televises their Spring Breakout game in Bradenton against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The first annual four-day event, from March 14-17 in Florida and Arizona, features teams playing each other in seven-inning games featuring each organization’s top prospects.

The O’s have a roster of 24 for that game featuring 16 of their top 30 prospects via MLBPipeline.com, seven of their top 10 and three that get top 100 recognition.

They are infielder Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, catcher Samuel Basallo ranked as the O’s No. 2 prospect and No. 17 in the MLBPipeline top 100 and infielder Coby Mayo, rated as the O’s No. 4 and No. 30 in the top 100.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are playing their fifth exhibition game this afternoon, hosting the Tigers with Grayson Rodriguez making his first start.

Among my camp observations prior to the opener were Jackson Holliday prepping to play second base, teammates being excited to have Dillon Tate back, Cedric Mullins resembling the pre-injury version of himself, players being angry about the Division Series sweep but moving past it, no one worrying about Gunnar Henderson’s oblique or John Means being a month behind, no one showing panic over Kyle Bradish’s elbow injury, Yennier Cano’s stuff remaining filthy, roster composition remaining a mystery, hard-throwing reliever Wandisson Charles being a popular camp dark horse pick, former Orioles infielders in camp loving Holliday and Henderson, and my lame confusion over Albert and Andrew Suárez.

Also, I didn’t get to meet Peyton Burdick before the White Sox claimed him on waivers. I’m sure he’s equally bummed.

Henderson keeps improving from the left oblique soreness that’s kept him out of games. He worked out again yesterday and said he’s feeling much better. His 2024 spring debut is drawing near, though the Orioles aren’t rushing him.

Bradish is long-tossing and saying that his elbow recovers nicely the following day. It’s the ol’ so far, so good.

When a baseball player is said to have an 80-grade tool by a scout that is as good as it gets. That is like getting a 100 on a test. There is no better score.

On the 20-80 scouting scale, Baseball America recently described 80-grade this way: “ Top of the scale. Some scouts consider only one player’s tool in all of the major leagues to be an 80. Think of Shohei Ohtani's power, Corbin Carroll's speed or Devin Williams' changeup.”

In the Orioles' farm system, they have a center fielder that Baseball America provides not one, two 80-grade tools. He was their first-round draft pick last July, taken No. 17 out of Vanderbilt and Enrique Bradfield Jr. gets 80-grades for both his defense and speed.

Both were on display last season when, after the draft, he played three games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League, 17 at Low-A Delmarva and five at High-A Aberdeen where he will likely begin this season.

In a loaded O’s farm, he was ranked as the club’s No. 7 prospect by Baseball America and he missed their top 100. But he was ranked No. 64 by The Athletic and No. 94 by ESPN, making those top 100 lists.

The media crowd around Jackson Holliday’s locker will have more layers than an onion on his first day of availability in camp. Must be his appeal.

(You see what I did there.)

Holliday was a good story last spring. The first-overall draft pick with the youthful face and famous father. Everyone wanted to see him play, and he stuck around much longer than anticipated.

It turned out to be more than a courtesy look and a chance to soak in the environment. Holliday wasn’t reassigned to the minor league side until March 14, after batting .385 with a .991 OPS.

The Orioles announced 30 non-roster invites on Feb. 2 and expanded the list later that day after outrighting reliever Darwinzon Hernández. The camp roster held 71 players, with an overflow in the auxiliary clubhouse.

They will be playing in a game that doesn’t count, and it won’t even be a nine-inning game. But in mid-March at spring training in one game, we will be able to see many, maybe even just about all, of the Orioles' top young prospects on the field at one time.

It is a cool concept called “Spring Breakout,” a four-day event from March 14-17 in which each big league club’s top prospects will play another team's top group as part of a spring training doubleheader. Major League Baseball announced the event on Wednesday afternoon.

The Orioles' prospects will play the Pittsburgh Pirates' prospects on March 14 at Lecom Park in Bradenton, Fla. The schedule lists the clubs playing the major league spring game at 3:05 p.m., with the second part of a doubleheader being the prospects match starting their seven-inning game at 7:05 p.m.

No broadcasts for spring have been announced yet, but MLB Network was promoting a broadcast of the O’s and Pirates on the airwaves on Wednesday when this event was announced.

One of the neat things every year in spring training is seeing the prospects play in major league spring games. Whether they are there for just a short time or for longer, it has to be thrilling for the young players and also cool for the fans to see this young talent taking the field wearing the orange and black and representing the Orioles.

With the release of a new top 10 O’s prospects list this week by Baseball America comes confirmation of what we already knew: the O’s system remains loaded. They currently hold the title of top farm system in all of baseball.

The new top-100 prospects lists are likely to come out sometime in January and February. But on the latest lists from Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com, the Orioles have six top-100 prospects.

Here is how Baseball America ranked them this week on its new team top 10.

1) Shortstop Jackson Holliday: Did we expect anyone else? The player drafted No. 1 overall by the Orioles on July 17, 2022 has lived up to the hype and then some. He played at four levels last summer – ending the year at Triple-A Norfolk – and hit .323 with a .941 OPS and led all minor league players in runs scored, with 113. He played above-average defense and has 60-grade speed. He was the O’s Minor League Player of the Year and Baseball America’s National Player of the Year after a season in which he played in the All-Star Futures Game. Speaking of the future, his day in Baltimore could be close. Holliday will celebrate his 20^th birthday tomorrow.

2) Catcher Samuel Basallo: He turned 19 in August. He is a super-fast riser that has become the shining star of the O’s international program. He rose three levels last year, producing 20 homers and a .953 OPS. He played four games at the end of 2023 at Double-A Bowie, where he will likely start the 2024 season. It could end for him at Triple-A. The tools and production are loud for this guy. While Holliday is the third straight O’s farm player to be No. 1 in prospect rankings, Basallo could be the fourth. Yes, impressive by the Orioles. 

With the promotion Sunday of infielder Max Wagner from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie, the Orioles now have their first four picks from the 2022 MLB Draft all together at the Double-A level with Jackson Holliday, Dylan Beavers, Wagner and Jud Fabian. 

Holliday was the No. 1 overall pick in that draft with Beavers at No. 33, Wagner No. 42 and Fabian No. 67. The last three are all college draft picks but Holliday, who is baseball's No. 1 prospect, is the 19-year-old phenom having a sensational season. 

Beavers has put up some very solid numbers in his own right and just got to Bowie last week, going 8-for-20 in his first five Double-A games. His bat is hot now, but it wasn’t always that way in 2023. He began the year with Aberdeen and after 45 games was batting just .214 with a .664 OPS.  But then in his next 40 games with the IronBirds he had this line - .343/.443/.580/1.023 with 29 walks and 21 extra-base hits.  

Now ranked as the No. 10 O’s prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 22 by Baseball America, his bat was smoking. He is a player that gets some 60 grades from scouts for his power, running and arm.  

Beavers told me over the weekend in Bowie that when his bat was slow to get going this year, he tried not to overly stress about it and instead draw on experience from college ball at the University of California. There he began his career as a two-way player and later as a power-hitting outfielder was good enough to be the No. 33 overall selection. 

When a top draft pick is officially signed and introduced by his new team, as Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. was yesterday by the Orioles, it is a big day for a lot of people. The player of course and his family, the organization and also the signing scout.

Orioles' area scout Trent Friedrich was at the podium yesterday with Bradfield and O’s executive Mike Elias on the big day for the highest draft pick Friedrich has had as an O’s scout. He joined the organization after the 2019 season.

That scout puts in a massive amount of time compiling volumes of information on a player that his club may not even draft. But in this case, they did. Friedrich’s guy was the No. 17 overall selection by the Orioles and this week signed an exact slot bonus amount of $4,169,700.

Bradfield and the O’s second-round pick, UNC outfielder Mac Horvath, who has now also signed, will report to Sarasota, Fla. for orientation and then likely play some games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League. They could advance to join Low Single-A Delmarva before this season ends.

“It’s gratifying,” Friedrich said to put in so much time scouting a player that his club then actually does select and sign. “And to get a special kid like that. To know where our team is now and where it can go with a guy like him with it, it just makes me really excited for the future.”

Orioles scout Trent Friedrich used the word multiple times today when describing outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Different.

Friedrich watched Bradfield play at American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla. in 2018. He tracked Bradfield at Vanderbilt University, with Tennessee part of his territory. And he knew.

“He impacted the game in so many ways,” Friedrich said. “It’s been really fun ever since he was a sophomore in high school, following him through high school, and then coming into my area at Vanderbilt and being able to watch him the last three years.

“He’s just been different every step of the way.”

The first three pitches from Grayson Rodriguez tonight were clocked at 98.9, 99.2 and 99.8 mph, resulting in a fly ball from Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts.

That’s when he decided to turn up the heat.

Rodriguez concluded an eight-pitch at-bat against Freddie Freeman by getting him to ground a 101-mph fastball to third baseman Ramón Urías. Six of his pitches exceeded 100 mph in the inning. He didn’t top 99.3 during his first stint with the club.

This wasn’t the same version of Rodriguez. Not until he came back out for the sixth.

Twice handed three-run leads, Rodriguez couldn’t record an out in the sixth and watched from the dugout as Chris Taylor hit a grand slam off Bryan Baker in the Dodgers’ 6-4 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 21,956 at Camden Yards.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. received Mike Elias’ cell phone number last night from his agent and decided to show the same aggression that he does on the basepaths.

Bradfield wasn’t going to wait to hear from Elias, who made the Vanderbilt outfielder the 17^th overall pick in the draft. He took control of the situation, much to Elias’ amusement.

“I took that as, ‘Hey, let me give him a call,”’ Bradfield said this morning on a video chat with the media. “So, I went ahead and dialed the phone and gave him a call.”

Elias noted last night how a deep pool of collegiate position players delayed Bradfield’s selection and kept him on the board for the Orioles.

“It was a lot of emotions, especially for my family, just being there, kind of just waiting, getting phone calls, trying to see what was going to be the best decision for me,” Bradfield said.

The amateur draft resumes this afternoon with the third through 10^th rounds. The Orioles have nine selections, including a Round 3 compensation pick, the 100^th overall, for failing to sign Oklahoma State pitcher Nolan McLean last summer.

The Orioles are choosing 86^th overall, 100^th, 118^th, 154^th, 181^st, 211^th, 241^st, 271^st and 301^st.

They are thrilled with the results at Nos. 17, 53 and 63.

Picking later than ever under executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, the Orioles grabbed Vanderbilt center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., North Carolina outfielder Mac Horvath and Florida State strikeout machine Jackson Baumeister – a good nickname when you’re a pitcher.

“Ecstatic,” director of draft operations Brad Ciolek said on a video call.

The Orioles apparently had a need for speed in the first round of the draft.

They used the No. 17 overall selection on Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., 21, a left-handed hitter who Baseball America grades an 80 runner and fielder.

Bradfield stole 130 bases at a 90.9 percent success rate in 191 games. He batted .311/.426/.447 with 31 doubles, 11 triples, 15 home runs and 108 RBIs.

Also appealing to the Orioles is the 14.7 percent walk rate, compared to a 13.5 percent strikeout rate. He made contact at an 87 percent rate this season.

The power is lacking, with Bradfield given a 30 grade as more of a line drive hitter.