Entering the 2023 season, Baseball America ranked Chayce McDermott as the Orioles’ seventh-best pitching prospect and Samuel Basallo was nowhere near top-100 lists.
A year later, McDermott was rated as the best pitcher on Baltimore’s farm and Basallo was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball — designations both players still hold.
One year can make a massive difference for minor leaguers, and it’s not just the top prospects who matter.
For the first Orioles minor league report of the 2025 season, here’s a look at six under-the-radar prospects — players not ranked inside Baltimore’s organizational top 30 — who are worth keeping an eye on this year.
Low-A Delmarva infielder Edwin Amparo: In rookie ball last year, Amparo showed off a solid foundation with more walks than strikeouts to earn a promotion to Delmarva, where he ended the year hitting .284 with a .793 OPS. The switch-hitter features a smooth swing from both sides, a frame he can grow into and speed with 38 stolen bases last season. The Orioles signed Amparo for $650,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2022.
Low-A Delmarva right-hander Chase Allsup: As the Orioles’ first pitcher selected in the 2024 draft, the fourth-round pick has the potential to become one of the club’s best pitching prospects. Allsup entered the organization with a mid-to-high 90s mph fastball and a sharp slider, but there’s plenty of growth remaining for the soon-to-be 22-year-old. He made his professional debut this past weekend, allowing two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Low-A Delmarva catcher Miguel Rodriguez: Just what the Orioles need, another catching prospect. After crushing the Dominican Summer League in 2023, Rodriguez did the same in the Florida Complex League last year, showing off his hit tool with a .308 average and .840 OPS. The 19-year-old struggled in his first taste of Low-A last year, but he wasn’t overpowered as he walked more than he struck out. The Orioles signed Rodriguez out of Venezuela in 2023.
High-A Aberdeen right-hander Blake Money: The 2023 12th-round pick out of LSU was one of the minor league arms that impressed manager Brandon Hyde during Orioles spring training, especially after Money tossed three scoreless in a Grapefruit League game. In his first full year of professional ball, Money, 23, posted a 3.15 ERA in Delmarva with 119 strikeouts and only 25 walks in 103 innings.
High-A Aberdeen right-hander Braxton Bragg: Money was one of the top strikeout-to-walk pitchers in the Orioles’ farm system, but it was Bragg who posted the best ratio among Baltimore’s arms. In Delmarva, the 2023 eighth-round pick posted a 30.1% strikeout rate versus only a 5.4% walk rate. If Bragg, 24, can continue missing bats while not issuing free passes, he could take a leap in 2025.
Double-A Chesapeake outfielder Douglas Hodo: The 2022 sixth-round pick doesn’t have the same ceiling as the other outfielders in the Orioles’ farm system (Enrique Bradfield Jr., Vance Honeycutt and Dylan Beavers). But few Orioles prospects have a better combination of speed and on-base ability than 24-year-old Hodo. The only one to steal more bases than Hodo’s 51 was Bradfield, while Hodo’s 70 walks were bested by only Jackson Holliday. Hodo hit only .244 last season between High-A and Double-A, but he went deep nine times after going homerless in 2023 and walked 16.6% of the time. In the Arizona Fall League, Hodo put up a 24% walk rate and an .864 OPS.
(Editor’s note: Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down three of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out superlatives for those who didn’t make the cut.)
1. High-A Aberdeen right-hander Michael Forret
Forret kicked off 2025 the same way he pitched in 2024. The Orioles’ No. 2 pitching prospect behind McDermott, Forret struck out five batters in 4 2/3 innings in his first start of the season Saturday. The 2023 14th-round pick soared up Baltimore’s prospect ranks last year after he posted a 3.88 ERA and 28.8% strikeout rate between Delmarva and Aberdeen.
2. Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Jud Fabian
In the first full week of games for Norfolk, Fabian put together what might be end up being one of the best weeks from an Orioles minor leaguer this season. Fabian, the Orioles’ No. 9 prospect according to Baseball America, went 7-for-21 with three homers in five games. The 2022 second-round pick has plus power, but what type of big leaguer Fabian, 24, becomes depends on whether he’s able to improve his strikeout rate down from nearly 33% last year.
3. Triple-A Norfolk right-hander Brandon Young
If not for the Kyle Gibson signing late in spring, Young would currently be in a position to be the next man up for the Orioles’ rotation. That could still be the case later this year if Young keeps pitching the way he has so far this season. Young, 26, twirled 5 1/3 hitless and scoreless innings Saturday while striking out eight. He’s yet to allow an earned run through 11 1/3 frames this year.
The top prospect not featured so far
It wasn’t a good week for the Orioles’ top two prospects. Catcher Samuel Basallo suffered a hamstring injury Friday and was placed on Norfolk’s seven-day injured list Saturday. The Orioles haven’t given a timeline for Basallo, the top catching prospect in baseball. And corner infielder Coby Mayo, Baltimore’s No. 2 prospect, went 2-for-21 with nine strikeouts amid a slow start to begin the year in Triple-A.
International acquisition of the week
After an up-and-down season in Double-A last year, infielder Frederick Bencosme is back with the Baysox to begin his age-22 campaign — and got off on the right foot. Bencosme, who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2020, went 3-for-7 with a double and two walks in Chesapeake’s opening weekend. Bencosme has solid bat-to-ball and plate discipline skills, but whether he’ll ever generate enough power remains an unanswered question.
Time to get a shout-out to …
After missing time with an injury to begin last season, right-hander Peter Van Loon was stellar in Double-A with a 2.66 ERA and a 31% strikeout rate. Back in Chesapeake, the 6-foot-5 Van Loon opened his 2025 campaign with three hitless innings and four strikeouts.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.