Heston Kjerstad 2023

[deward]

Looks like a major league quality swing to me...

[RVAOsFan]

 

[ShoelesJoe]

That's some serious oppo power.....

[sportsfan8703]

We’re set up for a real nice 6-8+ run. Kjerstad isn’t that far away and there is still half a season left. Mayo and Holliday right behind him. 

[Frobby]

That was quite a shot.  .322/.411/.611 at Norfolk after tonight’s game.  

[ArtVanDelay]

Pretty epic night on the farm between Kjerstad, Holliday and Stowers.

[now]

Next man up!

[TheWall]

Heston definitely looks like he wants to be the next guy to have that chat with Buck Britton. 

[Dunk35]

Pretty incredible what all of these minor leaguers are doing. 
 

Remember when we just had Jeff Fiorentino to look forward to?

Edited July 6, 2023 by Dunk35

[Gurgi]

7 minutes ago, Dunk35 said:

Pretty incredible what all of these minor leaguers are doing. 
 

Remember when we just had Jeff Fiorentino to look forward to?

Honestly I have 25 years of watching how Oriole prospects really hardly ever panned out.  And we never had a lot of prospects at any given time.  This whole Elias drafting such a great group of prospects is amazing.  Never seen nothing like it.

[Billy F-Face3]

I'm feeling a vibe that Kjerstad has the most consistent power of any player in our minor league system. 

[deward]

3 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

I'm feeling a vibe that Kjerstad has the most consistent power of any player in our minor league system. 

Light tower power was the attraction that got him drafted so high, it's great to see him healthy enough to show off all that power potential. 

[IPlayGM]

I keep shuffling between two questions:

How can he actually come up this year?

With his performance, how can he not?

Obviously things will settle in over the next month or so, and we will see how the young guys in Baltimore progress, but Heston seems like he could be the most impactful lineup guy that we could bring up. I’m just having a hard time figuring out how to bring him up without making a pretty significant trade, which I just have my doubts that Elias would do mid year.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Heston is going to be ready to debut on the Gunnar timeframe with <45 games remaining where he retains rookie status for next year. Question is will there be playing time for him? All of Mullins, Cowser, Hays and Santander will be getting regular ABs at OF/DH, with Hicks as the 5th OF and RH bat.

If everyone is healthy, it comes down to (1) are O’Hearn and/or Mountcastle hitting and (2) can Santander or Kjerstad play 1B. On (1), there’s a spot for Mountcastle to be a RH platoon bat in any case, but O’Hearn may not warrant losing his ABs vs RHP. On (2), I think we are going to need to see a lot more of Santander or Kjerstad at 1B to determine whether that is viable. Right now seems like Santander is very comfortable there but Kjerstad is not. 

Unless there are trades, all of these guys except Hicks are under control next year as well, but Santander will be in his last year before FA. Even if he’s ready, we may see Kjerstad hanging around in AAA until this time next year if trades/injuries don’t open up an opportunity for him.  

[deward]

39 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Heston is going to be ready to debut on the Gunnar timeframe with <45 games remaining where he retains rookie status for next year. Question is will there be playing time for him? All of Mullins, Cowser, Hays and Santander will be getting regular ABs at OF/DH, with Hicks as the 5th OF and RH bat.

If everyone is healthy, it comes down to (1) are O’Hearn and/or Mountcastle hitting and (2) can Santander or Kjerstad play 1B. On (1), there’s a spot for Mountcastle to be a RH platoon bat in any case, but O’Hearn may not warrant losing his ABs vs RHP. On (2), I think we are going to need to see a lot more of Santander or Kjerstad at 1B to determine whether that is viable. Right now seems like Santander is very comfortable there but Kjerstad is not. 

Unless there are trades, all of these guys except Hicks are under control next year as well, but Santander will be in his last year before FA. Even if he’s ready, we may see Kjerstad hanging around in AAA until this time next year if trades/injuries don’t open up an opportunity for him.  

I would argue that keeping Kjerstad down until this time next year, given that he's probably ready now, would be an incredible waste. It would make all the sense in the world to trade Santander before he hits FA in order to open up a spot. Kjerstad may very well be better than Santander right now.