O's get three players on the Baseball America top 100 listing of MLB's best prospects

After trading numerous prospects over the last year or two and graduating others to the big leagues to help a team contend for the last two seasons, the O’s farm system has, predictably, taken a bit of a hit.

They no longer are the No. 1 ranked farm after a long run at the top and for now it seems, their days of populating top 100 lists up and down the rankings, may be limited for now.

In the latest initial release of the Baseball America top 100 prospects poll – the 2025 version of the ranking which first came out in 1990 – the Orioles have three players ranked in the top 100.

Catcher Samuel Basallo, who was No. 10 this time last year, is ranked No. 14. Coby Mayo, No. 25 this time last year, is ranked No. 29 and Heston Kjerstad, No. 41 on the list last January, is now No. 81. Basallo, age 20, is the highest-rated catcher on the BA top 100.

There was a time when three top 100 ranked players was an upgrade for the Orioles, who had two players ranked in 2015, none in 2016 and one in 2017.

So, getting three in 2018 (Austin Hays, Chance Sisco and Ryan Mountcastle) was triple the previous year. The O’s also had three in 2019 and 2020.

Then things got better in Birdland on the farm. They had five ranked in 2021 and 2022, a whopping eight in 2023 and six last year.

That is a pile of ranked prospects.

In 2023 it was Gunnar Henderson (No. 1), Grayson Rodriguez (No. 6), Jackson Holliday (No. 15), Colton Cowser (No. 41), DL Hall (No. 75), Jordan Westburg (No. 76), Connor Norby (No. 93) and Joey Ortiz (No. 95).

Five of those players have helped the club at the big league level while three others – Hall, Norby and Ortiz – have been traded.

In 2024, it was Holliday (No. 1), Basallo (No. 10), Mayo (No. 25), Cowser (No. 39), Kjerstad (No. 41) and Hall (No. 93).

Per Baseball America, the O’s had no players that just missed the list as they released a list of 15 names that were close, and no Orioles were there. But there were three other O’s getting top 100 consideration and votes from their writers and that included pitcher Chayce McDermott, outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. and outfielder Vance Honeycutt.

On the current BA top 10 O’s prospects list, it’s Basallo at No. 1 followed by Mayo, Kjerstad, Honeycutt, McDermott, Bradfield, Dylan Beavers, Michael Forret, Jud Fabian and Griff O’Ferrall.

Soon, MLBPipeline.com will release its new top 100. Currently the O’s have Mayo at No. 8 and Basallo at No. 13 on the MLBPipeline listing.

There is some confusion about Kjerstad being ranked. While he has just 129 career at-bats, he is no longer rookie eligible due to passing the service time allowed to stay a rookie. MLBPipeline.com does not rank him, but he is still eligible and obviously is ranked by BA.

The Orioles became the first team ever to have three players ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for three straight years with Adley Rutschman No. 1 in 2022, Henderson in 2023 and Holliday last year. Some speculated Basallo might make it a four-peat.

Every year since 2019, the O’s have had a player get votes for the AL Rookie of the Year award. John Means was second in 2019, Ryan Mountcastle eighth in 2020 and sixth in 2021, Rutschman second in 2022, Henderson won it in 2023 and Cowser was second in 2024.   

The Orioles were ranked as MLBPipeline.com's No. 1 farm team for six straight rankings, longer than any team since their organizational rankings began before the 2015 season. That run ended last August when Pipeline ranked the Orioles No. 3.

In just deadline trades last summer, the O's traded away Norby, Kyle Stowers, Seth Johnson, Moises Chace, Billy Cook, Jackson Baumeister, Matthew Etzel and Mac Horvath

Earlier this month, Baseball Prospectus released its top 101 with Basallo at No. 11, Mayo No. 14 and Bradfield No. 46. 

This tweet came out last August and showed the O's dominance for six consecutive rankings as the No. 1 farm in baseball.