Position Player Depth Chart for 2024 (Updated post Burnes trade)

[Greg Pappas]

Based on @Tony-OH's Top Prospect List reports, as well as our current Major League roster, I've laid out our possible positional depth chart for the coming season.  

Key: *=Lefty bat, #=Switch-hitter, and ages as of opening day are in parentheses
 

1B: Mountcastle (27.1), *O'Hearn (30.7), #Santander (29.4), *Kjerstad (25.1), Mayo (22.3) AAA

2B: Westburg (25.1), Urias (29.8), *Holliday (20.3) AAA

SS: *Henderson (22.7), Mateo (28.8), Westburg (25.1), *Holliday (20.3) AAA 

3B:  Urias (29.8), Westburg (25.1), *Henderson (22.7), Mayo (22.3) AAA

CA: #Rutschman (26.1), McCann (33.8), *Michael Perez (31.7) AAA, David Bañuelos (27.5) AAA, Maverick Handley (26.0) AAA

LF: Hays (28.7), *Cowser (24.0), *Kjerstad (25.1), *Hilliard (30.1), McKenna (27.1), *Stowers (26.2) AAA, Norby (23.8) AAA

CF: *Mullins (29.5), *Cowser (24.0), McKenna (27.1), Mateo (28.8), *Hilliard (30.1)

RF: #Santander (29.4), *Kjerstad (25.1),  *O'Hearn (30.7), *Cowser (24.0), *Stowers (26.2) AAA, Mayo (22.3) AAA

DH: *Kjerstad (25.1), #Santander (29.4), #Rutschman (26.1), Mountcastle (27.1), *O'Hearn (30.7), Norby (23.8) AAA

Notes:

• With Ortiz dealt, I believe Gunner will move forward as our SS. If Holliday improves at SS, Gunnar may eventually move to 3B. 
• Westburg looked better at 2B than 3B last year, but if Mayo and/or Holliday aren't ready he will likely split time at both.
• Urias is a better 3B than 2B, so I suspect we'll see Westburg at 2B more often, and Urias at 3B.  Again, pending the arrival(s) of Holliday/Mayo.
• I see Santander and Kjerstad splitting the bulk of the AB's in RF & DH, with Rutschman getting some there per usual. 
• Players like Samuel Basallo are not listed because I don't believe we'll see them in 2024.

I tried to be thorough, but may have missed something or someone. Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Edited February 2 by Greg Pappas
Post trade changes

[Greg Pappas]

I thought about Terrin Vavra, but unless some trades occur, he seems unlikely to be an option with the big league club.  Also, if anything happens to Rutschman or McCann, our catching depth at AAA is bad. And though I don't see Basallo playing in Baltimore this season, he may, in such an emergency, come up if they think his defense is good enough.  @Tony-OH could offer his insight on whether that's possible.

[btdart20]

Cowser and HK should be in the RF depth chart too.

With any benevolence from the baseball gods, Mayo and/Holliday will be on the OD roster messing with our guesses.

I hope to never see the day where Hilliard is our DH.

[emmett16]

50 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

Cowser and HK should be in the RF depth chart too.

With any benevolence from the baseball gods, Mayo and/Holliday will be on the OD roster messing with our guesses.

I hope to never see the day where Hilliard is our DH.

With Frazier finally off the roster, Mateo and Urias have to be traded to make room for Holliday, Ortiz, & Mayo.  Gunnar and Westburg should have 3B on lockdown, Ortiz & Gunnar at SS, and Westburg and Holliday at 2B.  Mayo getting time at 3B, RF, & DH.  Let’s go!   

[Tony-OH]

16 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

I thought about Terrin Vavra, but unless some trades occur, he seems unlikely to be an option with the big league club.  Also, if anything happens to Rutschman or McCann, our catching depth at AAA is bad. And though I don't see Basallo playing in Baltimore this season, he may, in such an emergency, come up if they think his defense is good enough.  @Tony-OH could offer his insight on whether that's possible.

First, nice job with the work on the depth chart.

I'd have a hard time seeing the Orioles start Basallo's clock in 2024 even if he shows up and continues to be impressive at AA and perhaps AAA at some point. Defensively he's pretty good back there and throws better than Adley, though his release is a little long and slow. His plus arm makes up for that though. 

Either way, the only possibility I see is if he's tearing it up in AAA, and God forbid something happens to Adley and he's going to be out for awhile and the Orioles are in playoff contention towards the end of the year. Even then I think it's probably too aggressive to see him in Baltimore in 2024.

[Greg Pappas]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

First, nice job with the work on the depth chart.

I'd have a hard time seeing the Orioles start Basallo's clock in 2024 even if he shows up and continues to be impressive at AA and perhaps AAA at some point. Defensively he's pretty good back there and throws better than Adley, though his release is a little long and slow. His plus arm makes up for that though. 

Either way, the only possibility I see is if he's tearing it up in AAA, and God forbid something happens to Adley and he's going to be out for awhile and the Orioles are in playoff contention towards the end of the year. Even then I think it's probably too aggressive to see him in Baltimore in 2024.

Thank you.  Much of it was based on your work.  

[Greg Pappas]

16 hours ago, btdart20 said:

Cowser and HK should be in the RF depth chart too.

With any benevolence from the baseball gods, Mayo and/Holliday will be on the OD roster messing with our guesses.

I hope to never see the day where Hilliard is our DH.

I added Cowser to RF, thank you, and after some more consideration, Kjerstad as well. I could be wrong, but I suspect we'll see Kjerstad as our primary DH, with Rutschman getting his normal AB's there when not catching.

[interloper]

20 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

Based on @Tony-OH's Top Prospect List reports, as well as our current Major League roster, I've laid out our possible positional depth chart for the coming season.  

After reading through the prospect reports, certain guys don't seem as a fit for defensive positions that I'd come to believe, so the depth chart should be revamped with that in mind.  Examples of this are Kjerstad below average in RF and more of a 1B/DH, Holliday better suited at 2B than SS, Norby below average at 2B and looking like a LF/DH, and Mayo still an option at 3B but perhaps better served in RF than 1B (though I did keep him in the 1B depth chart in case). 

Key: *=Lefty bat, #=Switch-hitter, and ages as of opening day are in parentheses
 

1B: Mountcastle (27.1), *O'Hearn (30.7), #Santander (29.4), *Kjerstad (25.1), Mayo (22.3) AAA

2B: Westburg (25.1), Ortiz (25.7), Urias (29.8), *Holliday (20.3) AAA

SS: *Henderson (22.7), Ortiz (25.7), Mateo (28.8), Westburg (25.1) 

3B: *Henderson (22.7), Westburg (25.1), Urias (29.8), Mayo (22.3) AAA

CA: #Rutschman (26.1), McCann (33.8), *Michael Perez (31.7) AAA, David Bañuelos (27.5) AAA, Maverick Handley (26.0) AAA

LF: Hays (28.7), *Cowser (24.0), *Hilliard (30.1), McKenna (27.1), *Stowers (26.2) AAA, Norby (23.8) AAA

CF: *Mullins (29.5), *Cowser (24.0), McKenna (27.1), Mateo (28.8), *Hilliard (30.1)

RF: #Santander (29.4), *O'Hearn (30.7), *Cowser (24.0), *Kjerstad (25.1), *Stowers (26.2) AAA, Mayo (22.3) AAA

DH: *Kjerstad (25.1), #Santander (29.4), #Rutschman (26.1), Mountcastle (27.1), *O'Hearn (30.7), *Hilliard (30.1), Norby (23.8) AAA

Notes:

• I recognize that I have Gunnar starting at SS and 3B, but that's because I can't put Ortiz above him at SS until the O's show that as a strong possibility this Spring. 
• Anyone can DH, but those are the guys that have done it and/or may be destined for AB's there in the future.
• Players like Samuel Basallo are not listed because I don't believe we'll see them in 2024.

 

I tried to be thorough, but may have missed something or someone. Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Nice list! Only thing that jumped out for me was I could see Ortiz somewhere in the chart for 3B since he did play a tiny bit there last year in his MLB cup of coffee.

[btdart20]

2 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

I added Cowser to RF, thank you, and after some more consideration, Kjerstad as well. I could be wrong, but I suspect we'll see Kjerstad as our primary DH, with Rutschman getting his normal AB's there when not catching.

Agreed.  Corner OF and DH are deep with a bunch of questions.

[UMDTerrapins]

Weird thought while reading this thread….Kyle Stowers is a left handed Nolan Reimold……true or false?

[Greg Pappas]

1 hour ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Weird thought while reading this thread….Kyle Stowers is a left handed Nolan Reimold……true or false?

If Stowers were able to get regular playing time, perhaps so.  Physically, they are similar sizes.  Reimold's best season was as a 25-year old rookie in 2009, posting an .831 OPS and 116 OPS+ in 411 PA's.  His career line, with the vast majority coming in Baltimore, was a .745 OPS and 99 OPS+ in 1,556 PA's.  Stowers most likely will get his AB's in another city, and if he can be a league average OF, there's money in that.  Though being above average at the ML level is not the likeliest result, he has the upside, as Reimold once did, to get there.  I'm pulling for him, as I'm sure most are here.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 hour ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Weird thought while reading this thread….Kyle Stowers is a left handed Nolan Reimold……true or false?

Isn't Stowers a LOT slower than Reimold was?

[emmett16]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Isn't Stowers a LOT slower than Reimold was?

Wow.  Stowers was really slow last year.  Guess I didn’t realize that. 25.8 sprint speed vs. 27.9 (Reimold).  Interestingly he was 27.0 in 2022.  1.2 ft/sec seems like a pretty big drop in one year.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, emmett16 said:

Wow.  Stowers was really slow last year.  Guess I didn’t realize that. 25.8 sprint speed vs. 27.9 (Reimold).  Interestingly he was 27.0 in 2022.  1.2 ft/sec seems like a pretty big drop in one year.  

And that's post broken neck age 31-32 Reimold.

Pretty safe bet he was faster when he broke in.

[Frobby]

28 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Wow.  Stowers was really slow last year.  Guess I didn’t realize that. 25.8 sprint speed vs. 27.9 (Reimold).  Interestingly he was 27.0 in 2022.  1.2 ft/sec seems like a pretty big drop in one year.  

Probably not enough measurements to be truly meaningful.