Some O's international players will be moving on up this season

A little over a month ago, I wrote in this space taking a look ahead at some of the projected roster for the 2022 low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds and how they are expected to feature a club with a strong international flavor.

This is yet another big step for the Orioles in their emerging international program, which added 24 signees on Saturday and three more were reported by Baseball America on Monday for a class of 27 to this point.

Keep it coming, the fans might say.

With major league clubhouses featuring about 30 percent international players, it's a marketplace the Orioles cannot afford to miss out on, and they are no longer. It's also a marketplace producing stars at young ages like Ronald Acuña Jr., Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis. These players can sign at 16 and 17 and be in the majors at 19 or 20, and some emerge as stars almost right away.

Also there are examples of players signing for not the huge dollar amounts that do become huge talents. The Braves signed Acuña for $100,000 on July 2, 2014. At 20 in 2018 he produced a .917 OPS on his way to the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

This market is the one place where you can sign a player that could be a star at such a young age. You can sign an American high school kid at 18 but it could take at least two or three years for them to develop. Manny Machado moved quickly for the Orioles, drafted in 2010, was in the big leagues by his third pro year in 2012 and got MVP votes the next year at 20. An American college player could be 21 or 22 before being selected in the draft.

When it comes to building up the club's international program, the O's Mike Elias has also traded for players to help the cause and a couple could be key players for Delmarva later this year.

That club could feature Isaac De León, who turned 20 in November, at shortstop. In 45 Rookie-level Florida Complex League games in 2021, De Leon batted .276/.367/.372/.740 with nine doubles, a triple, a homer, five steals and 23 RBIs. He was acquired by the club from Miami on Aug. 1, 2020 as a player to be named later in the trade for lefty reliever Richard Bleier. Miami signed him in July 2018 for $275,000.

The Shorebirds center fielder on opening day could very well be 19-year-old right-handed batter Mishael Deson. From La Romana, Dominican Republic, Deson was an Elias acquisition as part of the trade of reliever Mychal Givens to Colorado on Sept, 18, 2020. In that deal, the Orioles got Terrin Vavra, Tyler Nevin and a player to be named that became Deson.

In 38 games last season, including six when he moved up at the end of the year to Delmarva, Deson batted .333/.370/.452/.822 with two doubles, two triples, three homers, 12 steals and 18 RBIs. He went 4-for-23 (.174) with Delmarva.

This article listed a host of other players from the international program that are expected to play for Delmarva this coming season. While it does take time for a player signed at 16 or 17 to make it all the way to Baltimore for those that do, the Orioles have to be excited that their international program is now producing players advancing to full season minor league ball.

On Monday, Baseball America listed three more players the O's have signed in this international class. They are outfielder Juan Martinez from the Dominican Republic. According to my colleague, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, he got a $125,000 bonus. Baseball America also reported the O's have signed right-handed pitchers Ronal Herrera and Miguel Mesa, both from the Dominican.

* Outfielder Doran Torchin announced his retirement from pro baseball on Monday. He played three seasons on the O's farm after they selected him in round 14 of the 2018 draft out of the University of Illinois.

He advanced as high as Double-A and played in 49 games for the Baysox last season, batting .186/.289/.379. Over 180 games on the O's farm in his career, Turchin, 24, batted .209/.313/.366/.679.

* Lefty pitching prospect DL Hall, according to his Twitter account, was back on a mound for the first time in eight months yesterday. That is pretty great news for the club's No. 3 prospect coming back from a stress reaction in his left elbow.

Hall was shut down after seven starts last year at Double-A Bowie where he went 2-0 with a 3.13 ERA. He walked 16 and fanned 56 in 31 2/3 innings for a 15.92 strikeout rate.

Ranked No. 43 in the top 100 by Baseball America, we'll see if the lefty falls a bit after making just seven starts when a new BA top 100 is expected out tomorrow. Baseball America gives Hall 70 a grade for a fastball that touched 100 mph last summer. He is rated No. 72 by MLBPipeline.com.

Here is the clean copy of his text pic.twitter.com/TtLbQnDc28

-- Bowie Baysox (@BowieBaysox) January 17, 2022

Toeing the rubber for the first time in about 8 months today. Excited to say the least. Blessings🙏🏼 Let's get to it!!

-- D.L. Hall (@dl_hall33) January 17, 2022