Tony-OH

I don't believe anyone was allowed at the alternate camps last year so if "reporters" were getting information, they were coming from Orioles personnel or perhaps have a source with another team that fed them stat cast data collected at the sites. I had sources that are not the "Blood-kind" of source and they agreed that he looked really good after a slow start. Of course, he was seeing a lot of the same pitchers over and over.

I won't say who the top six are of course, but they are the cream of the crop. The next group has real good potential as well, but there are just more yellow flags with them.

Kjerstad is a huge unknown because we don't have any precedence for what he's gone through at this age and experience level to come back and perform. We know what skill sets he had, but we have no information on how he's looked since he's been back doing baseball activities. You are right though, it's hard to place him but again, I went with, what guy would I rather have in the system as of the day I set the list a few days ago. He could clearly be much higher or lower next year.

Let's look at Gunnar's Delmarva stats at 20 years old vs Coby Mayo at 19 years old. Name BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ Mayo 12.8% 20.8% .236 .373 .311 .416 .547 .437 159 in 125 PAs Gunnar 8.9% 29.3% .262 .404 .312 .369 .574 .417 147 in 157 PAs Pretty close overall but Mayo's better BB and K rates are much better while hitting for a little less power. We also have to remember Gunnar had the Alternate site PAs that certainly helped him coming into this season giving him more experience when he faced the same level of competition. Here's something else that is a yellow flag for me for Gunnar. He hit .195/.313/.341/.654 with 7 BB and 14 Ks in 41 PAs against left-handers in Delmarva and .190/.295/.352/.647 with 16 Bb and 46 Ks in 122 PAs overall against lefties at all three levels. More will be explained in his profile while also going into his defensive profile. I'll be honest, I may be in the minority here and I imagine no national publications will have Mayo this high or probably over Henderson, but let's remember, the hype train on Henderson started from the information coming out of the alternate camp by the ORIOLES. He did hit well at Delmarva though his K rate was high, but his defense was bad at both SS and 3B (more on that later).

Does he? I always remember one of the things Joe Jordan told me long ago while watching a game together, "The special ones just look different than everyone else on the field." Mayo just looks special when you watch him at bat.

Who is the Orioles 2021 #4 prospect?

https://www.orioleshangout.com/2021/10/27/coby-mayo/

Fangraphs will do all the math for you.. His K rate was 20.8% at Delmarva while be one of the youngest players in the league. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/coby-mayo/sa3014479/stats?position=DH

This sounds like the most logical and fair way, though that probably means they won't do it!

Lots of great conversation in this thread. Just goes to show how truly informed you guys are on the Orioles prospect scene. Great job. I won't give any clues about my choice in order to keep the conversation up and keep the voting genuine, but I'm just impressed by how knowledgeable you guys are on our prospects overall.

I don't think they care about balancing the fairness. Why do we have unbalanced schedules yet the AL East has big money spenders in Boston, New York and even Toronto. How is it fair that the Orioles have to compete 19 times against AL East team while the almost always weaker Al Central and West compete mostly against them but best record is what gets you into the Wild card if you don't win your Division. I don't they care that one team has a $250 million payroll while others have $50 million. I don't think they care that a star can earn $30 million dollars but a rookie makes under 600K and doesn't have real financial free agency usually until their late 20s or early 30s. I don't think they care that most fans don't even have meaningful baseball to watch from their teams after the All-star break, many long before.

How they handled COVID last year told me all I needed to know about the current leadership of both. I have little faith that they will not have some kind of work stoppage and if they do come to an agreement, it won't be good for the fans.

There's a lot of blame to go around between the owners and the Union leadership of the players. The problem is, neither side cares about the fans. They just assume they will always be there, but I think they are playing a very dangerous game this time. I would think they will understand and get a deal done, but as it was pointed out, never underestimate the greed and lack of self awareness by either side.

84.31% of Hangouters got this one right. The good news for those who picked Rodriguez, he's basically 1a.

Don't jump too far off since it sounds like a pretty minor injury and there's a lot of talent here.

With 94.87% of the vote, Hangouters were right on the mark on this one. Of course, this was kinda of a layup!

This was the first decision I had to really make as the first two were layups. As it's been pointed out, the good news here is there's a lot of talent in these five and they still may not be the next five prospects.

Depends on whether you want to be right or not! ? It's really up to you. You can vote for who you think is #3 then say who you think I will pick in the comments if they differ!

Yep, thanks for the catch.

Who is the Orioles 2021 #3 prospect?

https://www.orioleshangout.com/2021/10/25/grayson-rodriguez-rhp-2/

I'm doing all the write ups and the list by myself this year although I have spoken with many people to get additional takes on players. Kjerstad is an interesting case to put on the list, but the upside talent if he can ever recover it is there.

Man that was an awful draft year overall.

Hit tool for me is not just average for me, but plate discipline and strike zone awareness. While the holes in his left handed swing may cause his average to suffer a bit, he has top of the charts strike zone awareness. If Rutschman keeps the shorter swing that he used in AAA from the left side, I could see him hitting for a higher average and I know he's going to draw his share of walks because he gets in deep counts often.

He does have that kind of power potential, but if he does hit for that kind of power, he's probably going to end up a .250-.260 hitter though with the walks he'll still have an OBP around .340-.350. The power dropped off in AAA when he shortened his left-handed swing. We'll see what he uses next year in Baltimore. He might hit for less power early on as he makes adjustments but ultimately I can see him as a 30 homer guy with peak years higher.