Gunnar/Westburg next year?

[Philip]

Any possibility we see Gunnar next season? He’s young but good. Westburg is a bit older so he might be closer?

They both have 2023 arrival dates but if either could make it next season it would solve a lot of problems.

BTW is it “Goo-nar” or “Guh-nar” or “Guh-ner” I guess is also a possibility.

[Paul in Virginia]

Sounds like "gunner" I believe.

[ChosenOne21]

I think if they have years next year like they did this year there's a good chance they have their MLB debuts in 2022

[Frobby]

Westburg is ahead of Gunnar, having had  130 PA in AA compared to Gunnar’s 17.   Westburg also had the stronger performance at all three levels.  

I think both players start next year back in AA, but Westburg could move quickly to AAA after 1-2 months if he has a good start at Bowie.  Henderson I think will spend most of the year in AA but could spend the last 1/3 season in AAA if things go well.    

Both Neustrom and Stowers got 60+ games and 260+ PA in AA before moving to AAA.   I think the same will apply to Westburg and Henderson, though the former already had 130 PA in AA this year.   

Needless to say, how well they perform will dictate how quickly they move.   Stowers (.938 OPS in AA) and Neustrom (.831) both showed they were ready for their promotions.

I don’t think either Westburg or Henderson reaches Baltimore next year, especially the latter.    But you never know.

 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

If they do, it would probably be in August. Like others said, they probably stay in Bowie to start and then get some Norfolk time if they keep doing good. They won’t have to be knocking down the door, but if the infield is still in the same turmoil it was this season and they are putting up very good numbers and the defense is good, I don’t see why not.

[Just Regular]

I hope in 2022 they'll play well enough to make us care about setting the window at 2023-2029.   You don't have to be a Secretariat-level thoroughbred ala Machado for it to matter.    My guess is the 2022 Orioles won't give that special magic context 2012 Machado got.

These two guys - on the great Shortstop or not question, both got ~36 games off position this year.

Of MLB's 30 primary shortstops in 2021, only about one-third had that many off position in their entire minor league careers.

MIXES - Niko Goodrum, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa (an amazing baseball life), Kyle Farmer and Paul DeJong

>40 - Gleyber, Nicky Lopez, Miguel Rojas, Didi, Baez, Story

I believe positioning wise these days you do often want Jonathan Schoop and his big brother going to the B and C zones of each opposing batters last 100 batted balls under 200 feet, and putting runs on the board for you, but SS/C/CF mostly stay as special as they've always been.

[yark14]

I think Westburg gets a mid to late season call up if he plays well.  The way he adjusted to AA pitching late this season shows he's not too far from being ready.  Gunnar will make his debut in 2023, unless he absolutely demolishes AA+AAA pitching April through August.

[sportsfan8703]

I keep saying this and people say it’s too early, but you have to give Elias and Co. big credit for their drafting. Don’t look at the first picks of their drafts. Look at Westburg, Gunnar, Stowers, and Mayo. AR was a slam dunk, but Cowser and Kjerstad weren’t. Cowser looks like everything we wanted. Kjerstad just had a non baseball injury. Just bad luck with Kjerstad. 
 

Back to the OP, I don’t think it would be rushing at all to see Westburg and Gunnar get a 1/2 season in AA, then get the 2nd half in AAA. 
 

Westburg already made somewhat of an adjustment in AA after he struggled early. Buck Britton said it was the inside hear. Gunnar struggled early in Aberdeen but took his walks. Both faced some adversity and still played at three levels.  Plus those guys being on the same team push each other and that is building chemistry. 

[LookinUp]

I think many of you are correct. If you're laying odds, they'll spend time in AA, then AAA, and the odds would say that Westburg's time there would be shorter with a more likely potential to be called up.

But those odds aren't strong, IMO. Would anyone here be shocked if Henderson lit the world on fire for the first couple of months next year and got promoted first? Would we be shocked if Westburg starts in AAA instead of Ortiz? What if the ML team is piecing together a decent rotation and hovers around .500? Would we be shocked if Elias did make an impact promotion to the majors from these two?

At some point I expect Elias to flip a switch where he goes from very slow to much more aggressive because the ML team needs the help and he actually wants to help them. I'm not saying it's next year - odds are that it won't be - but it's not out of the realm of possibility. 

[Frobby]

19 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I think many of you are correct. If you're laying odds, they'll spend time in AA, then AAA, and the odds would say that Westburg's time there would be shorter with a more likely potential to be called up.

But those odds aren't strong, IMO. Would anyone here be shocked if Henderson lit the world on fire for the first couple of months next year and got promoted first? Would we be shocked if Westburg starts in AAA instead of Ortiz? What if the ML team is piecing together a decent rotation and hovers around .500? Would we be shocked if Elias did make an impact promotion to the majors from these two?

At some point I expect Elias to flip a switch where he goes from very slow to much more aggressive because the ML team needs the help and he actually wants to help them. I'm not saying it's next year - odds are that it won't be - but it's not out of the realm of possibility. 

If the O’s are within 5 games of the wild card on August 1, I could envision some aggressive promotions.   At present, that scenario doesn’t seem very likely.   It didn’t seem very likely in the offseason preceding 2012, either, so you never know.   But this seems a lot more remote considering that the 2021 O’s were 17 games worse than the 2011 version.  

[LookinUp]

31 minutes ago, Frobby said:

If the O’s are within 5 games of the wild card on August 1, I could envision some aggressive promotions.   At present, that scenario doesn’t seem very likely.   It didn’t seem very likely in the offseason preceding 2012, either, so you never know.   But this seems a lot more remote considering that the 2021 O’s were 17 games worse than the 2011 version.  

That scenario is remote. It's also kinda remote for Gunnar to pass Westburg, but it could happen. 

I agree that status quo (e.g., slow, earn it at every level) is most likely, but we haven't even started the offseason yet. We know that we're promoting our top two guys either at the start of next year or soon thereafter. Payroll has been historically low, minus Davis. Trades/signings may happen. Lowther, Baumann, Zimmerman, Wells, Akin and Kremer might revert to something decent.

A lot could happen.