As MLBPipeline.com’s No. 1 prospect, Jackson Holliday moved to Double-A Bowie on Friday for his first game at that level. It was the next challenge for the 19-year-old shortstop that was drafted No. 1 overall by the Orioles almost exactly a year ago today.

But Bowie manager Kyle Moore, while acknowledging the challenges the kid will face hitting Eastern League pitching, also looks at a steady stream of top prospects the last few years that found their way to Bowie and had their bats meet the challenge. In some cases more than meet it.

In 2021 for the Baysox, Adley Rutschman had a .900 OPS in 80 games and Kyle Stowers was at .938 in 66 games. In 2022 at Bowie, Colton Cowser was at 1.037 in 49 games, Gunnar Henderson 1.025 in 47 games, Connor Norby .960 in 64 games and Jordan Westburg had an .817 OPS in 47 games.

This year, on their way up to Triple-A Norfolk, Coby Mayo was at 1.027 in 78 games, Heston Kjerstad .959 in 46 games and César Prieto .882 in 58 games.

“It’s a long list over the last two to three years, and so I think we are all proud of that. I certainly am,” Moore said, throwing some props to his coaches. “It’s the third No. 1 prospect this organization has seen in three years, with Adley and Gunnar and now Jackson. And Grayson Rodriguez was the No. 1 overall pitching prospect, so there is a lot to be proud of. Jackson being on that list now, and a true shortstop and the No. 1 overall pick, we are ecstatic to have him. I just can’t wait to watch him play. Watch a kid that talented go about his business.”

As the season’s second half – the post-All-Star break portion of the schedule – begins tonight in Baltimore, the Orioles resume play at 54-35. They are two games behind Tampa Bay for the American League East lead and hold the No. 1 AL wild card spot, leading by five games for that over Houston and Toronto.

Their win percentage of .607 projects to 98 wins over a full season and is their eighth-best win percentage all-time at the All-Star break.

Here are a few questions that will be answered in the second half:

What will the trade deadline look like for the club?

Well, one guess is that the Orioles will be rumored to have their hand in several potential deals. But the Orioles hold some nice cards here. For one, they have the No. 1 farm in the game and several top 100 prospects at higher levels that are already in the majors, are major league-ready or are close. These are the types of players that are coveted around the sport. The Orioles are loaded in what you could call “prospect capital.”

It has become a barrier for starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. A pitch count that reaches 100. We don’t see it very often anymore. Commonplace back in the day, so to speak, not so much anymore.

In fact there are just six teams that average even 90 or more pitches per night from their starters among the 30 clubs in the major leagues right now.

94.1 - Chicago White Sox
92.1 - Houston
91.1 - Washington
91.0 - Toronto and St. Louis
90.6 - Los Angeles Angels

That is the list. No other team averages more than 90 pitches a game from their starters.

The team ranking last is a shocker. It’s Tampa Bay at 74.1. I imagine that's due in part to the Rays' frequent use of openers.

As the MLB Draft resumed today the Orioles selected University of Washington right-handed pitcher Kiefer Lord in the third round at No. 86 overall. He is the second pitcher the Orioles have taken among their first four picks to start this draft. 

The O’s have nine picks today in rounds three through 10. Their No. 100 overall pick is a compensation pick for not signing a third-round pick last year in pitcher Nolan McLean from Oklahoma State. He was today selected No. 91 overall by the Mets. 

Last night the Orioles selected Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. with their No. 17 overall pick. They added North Carolina third baseman/outfielder Mac Horvath in round two with pick No. 53. They drafted Florida State pitcher Jackson Baumeister with a competitive balance pick that was No. 63 overall. He becomes the highest-drafted pitcher by overall selection in the now five drafts under executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias.

Click here for more on the Day One picks.

Here are the O’s picks for today with listed slot amount for each.

MINNEAPOLIS – It was just last Tuesday, on the Fourth of July. The New York Yankees beat the Orioles 8-4 and had taken the first two games of a four-game series. After losing two of three last weekend and scoring just three runs in three games versus Minnesota, the Orioles had lost six of their past seven.

The Orioles had fallen six games behind Tampa Bay. Catch the Rays? How about try to hold on to a wild-card spot first. Was the season starting to slip away from the Orioles?

Some in Birdland posed such a question.

It looks like a foolish one this morning. Since that loss the Orioles have won five in a row by a 44-9 score. They hit a barrage of six homers yesterday and won 15-2 against a Minnesota pitching staff that began the weekend leading the majors in team ERA at 3.55 and in rotation ERA at 3.54.

Last weekend in Baltimore the Twins held the Orioles to three runs. This past weekend in Minneapolis they “held” the Orioles to 24.

Whether it is a well pitched game or a game where the offense breaks out or some combination, the Orioles could use it tonight to pick up a much-needed win at Yankee Stadium.

They entered this series at 49-33 and had gone 5-0-1 in their last six American League series, going 12-5 in those games. They were 3-3 this year against the Yankees.

But after losses in the Bronx by 6-3 and 8-4 scores, the Orioles are 49-35 and have now lost six of seven, eight of 12 and 10 of their past 16 games. Since May 26 they are 16-18 (.471) and have gone 4-6-1 their past 11 series.

They begin play tonight, in Game 3 of this four-game series, before they head to Minnesota, six games behind Tampa Bay for the division lead and two games ahead of New York for second place in the division. They hold the top AL wild card spot, leading Houston by 1 1/2 games and New York by two.

The Orioles have scored seven runs on 20 hits in this series in the Bronx, but they have been outhomered 5-2. Over the last five games the Orioles have scored just 10 runs. They have scored three or fewer runs in 14 of the last 25 games, going 3-11 in those 14.

The Orioles need a win this afternoon over the Minnesota Twins to avoid a three-game series sweep. They have not been swept in a series yet this year but have come close a few times.

On May 26-27 they lost the first two games of a home series with Texas but won 3-2 in the series finale to avoid that sweep. June 6-7 they lost two at Milwaukee, but won 6-3 in Game 3 of that series. On June 16-17 they lost two games at Wrigley Field but then beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 in the third game to avoid a sweep.

Now they have 8-1 and 1-0 losses to the Twins, a team that is 16-5 versus Baltimore since the 2019 season and is 27-8 since 2019.

The Orioles have just seven hits this series and only one for extra bases, and that is Adley Rutschman’s sixth-inning homer to right on Friday night. The Birds are 0-for-4 this series with runners in scoring position and have not scored in their last 12 innings.

The Orioles have not been swept three in a row since May 13-15, 2022 at Detroit.

After picking in the top five of the MLB Draft the last four years – and picking No. 2 or higher in three of those four years and selecting No. 1 twice  – the Orioles will find this coming draft very different.

They have the No. 17 pick in round one of the draft, which begins a week from tonight. It will take place over three days and 20 rounds beginning next Sunday evening. 

Along with picking No. 17, the Orioles will also select at No. 53, No. 63, No. 86 and No. 100, so five of the top 100 selections.

“It’s a very deep draft,” Orioles director of draft operations Brad Ciolek said Saturday at Camden Yards. “I would say, in terms of the composition, a lot of folks saw what the power arms did in Omaha (at the College World Series). Whether it’s Hurston Waldrep (of Florida), Paul Skenes (of LSU), Rhett Lowder (Wake Forest). There is a lot to like on that front. The college hitting board is also good as well. I know that’s been our flavor the last few years here. And then the high school infield demographic is very good. Lot of very polished high school hitters in terms of plate discipline.”

The draft prep for the Baltimore scouting staff has been intense as always in the buildup to draft day.

The Orioles reached the mathematical halfway point of the 2023 season this afternoon in frustrating fashion. They got a strong pitching performance from starter Kyle Bradish, but for the second day in a row, their offense was shut down.

Minnesota improved to 42-42, blanking the Orioles 1-0 in front of a crowd of 40,012 at Oriole Park that came to get O’s Hawaiian shirts and hoped to see the home team win. They had to settle for 1-for-2 today at the Yard.

The Orioles are 48-33 at the midpoint of the year. That’s a 96-win pace that would likely lead to a playoff berth. But in the short term, they now have their first four-game losing streak of this year.

The Orioles were held to three singles today, going 3-for-30. They were shutout 1-0 for the first time since Sept. 11, 2022 versus Boston. 

They are now 4-6-1 in their past 11 series since May 26, going 15-16 in that span.

After their 10-3 win over Cincinnati on Monday night, the Orioles had a three-game win streak and were 3-1 on this homestand. They were on their way, it looked like, to having a strong nine-game run at Oriole Park. But three losses later, by a combined 22-9 score, the Orioles are 3-4 on the homestand and need two wins the next two days to have a winning run in this stretch at home.

After Monday’s games the Orioles were 19 games over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2014 season. They begin play today at 48-32 (.600) and are 6 1/2 games back of American League East-leading Tampa Bay.

The Birds have lost three in a row, five of eight and seven of their past 12 games. Over a longer stretch, they are 11-8 the past 19 games and finished June with an 8-1 loss to Minnesota last night, completing a record of 13-11 for the month.

Earlier, the Orioles went 1-0 in March, 18-9 in April and 16-12 in May.

The O’s offense over the last six games has scored six, three, 10, one, seven and one run.

It was quite interesting and maybe even a little controversial this week when MLBPipeline.com released an updated top 100 prospects list that elevated O’s prospect Jackson Holliday from No. 2 to the No. 1 prospect in the game.

Holliday leapfrogged Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz to get the top spot, with De La Cruz moving from No. 1 to No. 2. And this was not because De La Cruz, now in the big leagues, could soon lose his prospect eligibility. He still has it. So even while De La Cruz was making a name for himself at the big league level and recently hit for the cycle, the 19-year-old kid playing for the Orioles at High-A Aberdeen is now No. 1.

Baseball America's listing has De La Cruz No. 1 and Holliday No. 2.

This week I talked to MLBPipeline.com senior writer Jim Callis on several topics, including Holliday's ascension to No. 1 on their list.

“We took, as you might suspect, a lot of abuse," Callis said. "'Elly De La Cruz, what are you doing? He’s playing great, the Reds are playing great. His tools are amazing and you see him on a nightly basis.' We did take some abuse on that.

It sure took a while – the game itself lasted two hours and 57 minutes and there were two rain delays totaling an hour and 59 minutes – but the Orioles won another series opener Monday night. On the occasion of Jordan Westburg’s major league debut they beat Cincinnati 10-3. They are now 18-8 in series-opening games and 8-5 when the opener is at home. 

Westburg went 1-for-4, and his bloop single in the fifth was his first big league hit. He also scored his first run and produced his first RBI and played solid defense at second base.

The Orioles had scored just 10 runs over the weekend in taking two of three from Seattle, and then got 10 in one night. They have scored 10 runs or more in a game six times this year.

Because they trailed 1-0 in the first inning, this was technically their 28^th comeback win of the year. When the game began the O’s and Reds were both at 27 comeback victories to tie for the major league lead. Even though the O’s were leading by the second inning and never trailed after that, last night's game is another comeback win officially on their record.

At 48-29 (.623) the Orioles moved to within four games of idle Tampa Bay for the American League East lead. They have the third best record in the majors, behind only Tampa Bay (54-27, .667) and Atlanta (51-27, .654).

Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg will play together in the same infield tonight as Orioles for the first time, with Henderson starting at third base and Westburg at second. But it won’t be nearly the first time they have shared an infield as pro players.

Not even close.

It has happened and often on the Baltimore farm. So, for Henderson to experience Westburg’s big league debut last night and see his good friend go through that was also special for the soon-to-be-22-year-old O’s infielder.

Henderson did not play in the O’s 10-3 win over Cincinnati, but had a pretty good view of Westburg’s night as he went 1-for-4 and got his first major league hit, run and RBI, all in the same game.

“That was really cool. And a pretty eventful night in a sense, yeah his debut, but also the rain delay and wait through all that. Sure, that was eventful in itself. But he went out there and just did what he always does and showed you that it’s more than enough. Let him keep doing that and he’ll continue to flourish,” Henderson said this afternoon.

He has essentially played a full big league season’s worth of games at the Triple-A level. And now, after 158 games with the Norfolk Tides and having spent more than a calendar year with that club, Jordan Westburg’s big league debut is finally at hand.

He is expected to join the Orioles roster today and play in the game tonight when they open a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds. As it turns out, 21-year-old Elly De La Cruz of the Reds will not be the only big-name prospect getting attention in this series.

Westburg is ready, probably more than ready, and maybe among the most impressive aspects of his game is that while fans and media bantered about him and speculated about when his time would finally come, he just kept taking great at-bats and hammering baseballs.

The focus is strong.

In what would turn out to be his last two games in Norfolk’s series at Nashville, he went 5-for-9 with a homer. One last reminder to the organization – still here, still raking, still ready.

With a walk-off win yesterday on Ryan McKenna’s two-run homer to right in the last of the 10^th, the Orioles moved a game closer to first place, strengthened their hold on a wild card playoff spot and set themselves up to try to win another series.

The Orioles (46-29) are 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay, which lost Saturday. They have won three of their past five games and nine of the last 14. They are now 4-4 in extra innings, 11-8 in June and 23-14 at Oriole Park.

They have split the first two games of this series and are 7-4 in rubber match games.

They came up with their fourth walk-off win of the year, and they have had five such losses. They have walk-off wins on April 13 against Oakland and April 21 and April 23 against Detroit. Adley Rutschman’s homer ended the Oakland game and Adam Frazier was the batter for the other two previous walk-off wins.

McKenna, who drilled a 95 mph fastball 393 feet to right, produced his first career walk-off hit.

Continuing to make the most of his second chance with the Orioles, outfielder Aaron Hicks found himself back in the O’s starting lineup on Saturday afternoon against Seattle. That was big for him because, on the day Cedric Mullins returned to the team, he was both still on the roster and still getting at-bats.

In 28 games this year with the Yankees, Hicks’ OPS was .524. In 20 games with the Orioles through yesterday, it is .984. He had three multi-hit games with New York and has six with Baltimore.

And Hicks came up big again for the Orioles in the last of the sixth, hitting a go-ahead homer 426 feet to center for a 4-3 lead. That lead would not hold up, but on Ryan McKenna's two-run walk-off homer in the 10th the Orioles would beat the Mariners 6-4. 

The Orioles improved to 46-29 and moved to 4 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay, which lost. 

So Mullins was back, but Hicks was still in the starting nine. 

After their second off day of this week, the rested Orioles are home tonight to begin a nine-game homestand. The last time they were home they went 5-1 against Kansas City and Toronto. Tonight they welcome Seattle for the first of three and then also host Cincinnati and Minnesota.

The Orioles (45-28, .616) are 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay after the Rays lost last night to Kansas City. The Orioles are 22-13 at home and 23-15 on the road.

Starting May 26, the Orioles have gone 3-4-1 in series, going 1-2 versus both Texas and Cleveland, 2-1 at San Francisco and 1-2 at Milwaukee. They then went 3-0 versus Kansas City, 2-1 against Toronto, 1-2 at the Chicago Cubs and 1-1 against Tampa Bay. That is a 12-11 record in that span.

Seattle was a playoff team last year, going 90-72. In the wild card round they beat Toronto two games to none before losing 3-0 at Houston in the American League Division Series. Now the Mariners are 36-37 and in fourth in the AL West and 9 1/2 games behind Texas.

The Mariners got off to a poor start and were 4-8, and later 11-16 through 27 games. By May 28 they had moved three games over .500 at 28-25, but are 8-12 since that point.

He might be the American League’s leading hitter for yet another day today with his .323 batting average. And that is six points ahead of Bo Bichette of Toronto, next at .317. But the Orioles' Austin Hays is not even ready to ponder being in contention for a batting title.

“We are not even at the All-Star break yet. So, we have a long way to go before I can say that,” he told reporters today at Oriole Park, echoing comments he made during the recent road trip.

Hays' most recent batting tear – he had five straight multi-hit games, going 12-for-21 – was slowed Wednesday when he took an 0-for-3 at Tampa Bay.

But his 67-game numbers for the year are still pretty special. His batting line shows a .323/.362/.520/.882 to go with 21 doubles, two triples, eight homers and 31 RBIs. A player that hit .256 and .250 the past two years is now well, well above that.

His OPS+ was 107 in 2021 and 104 in 2022, slightly above league average. Now it is 144, or 44 percent above the league.

When the Triple-A Norfolk Tides won 8-3 at Nashville on Wednesday night, they became first-half champions of the 20-team International League. The first half ends this Sunday and by already winning it, Norfolk clinched its first playoff spot since 2015.

There was no big on-field celebration for a few good reasons. For one, not wanting a host of top prospects to dogpile or jump on top of each other when a clubhouse celebration was already planned.

It was a job well done by the Tides - from the season’s first day through the clincher.

“I think first and foremost, dogpiling at this point in the season, I would hate for someone to get hurt at the bottom of one of those piles,” manager Buck Britton told me in a phone interview yesterday. “And also, I don’t think the guys were interested in dogpiling. They knew we would have a celebration in the clubhouse. So, I was glad it turned out the way it did. All I need is someone getting hurt on the bottom. Not a call I would want to make.”

But a celebration was had, and Norfolk’s players and staff could enjoy a job well done.

The Orioles lost the first game they played this season against the Tampa Bay Rays, but have since won three in a row. They won the last two games of a series at Camden Yards from May 8-10 and they won 8-6 last night at Tropicana Field.

So they took the opener of a two-game series, meaning they can sweep this series with a win this afternoon. By winning last night the Orioles ended a couple of streaks. Tampa Bay had been 12-0 this year in opening games of home series. The Rays had won seven straight home series, and the best they can do in this one is tie it.

The loss marked Tampa Bay’s third straight defeat, giving the Rays their first losing streak of more than two games since a five-game skid to conclude the 2022 season.

The Orioles' win last night ended this stat: The Orioles had lost their past 15 series at Tropicana Field dating to July 2017. According to Stats Perform, the 15-series-loss streak tied for the longest in club history. The O's also lost 15 straight road series at Boston between 2005 and 2010. While a loss today would mean they don't win this series, the Tuesday win also means they cannot lose it, so that stat is done now. 

Tampa Bay (51-25) leads the Orioles (45-27) by four games atop the American League East but now leads by just two games in the loss column.