What happens when college teammates collide? For Westburg, a homer
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It’s often said that the bond shared by teammates is sacred -- time spent on the road together, hours honing your craft and a mutual desire to best the opponent. But when No. 4 Orioles prospect Jordan Westburg and No. 13 Brewers prospect Ethan Small squared off Wednesday, all that came to a head.
Westburg and Small’s time wearing the same uniform dates back to Starkville, Miss., where the duo suited up for the 2018 and 2019 Mississippi State clubs that made the College World Series. They previously faced off twice last season with Westburg at Triple-A Norfolk and Small at Triple-A Nashville, with the O’s infield prospect enjoying a slight advantage by going 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a walk.
But Westburg, who is hot on the heels of his first taste of Camden Yards, swung the pendulum significantly with a booming two-run homer in the ninth inning of Nashville’s 8-6 win Wednesday.
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After working the count in his favor, Westburg went into battle mode against Small, whose unique delivery can be difficult for batters to pick up. The seventh pitch of the at-bat was just a touch above the strike zone, yet Westburg didn’t miss, rocketing the ball 108.4 mph off the bat, sending it 419 feet, far beyond the left-field fence for his third homer of the season.
Westburg, one of eight Orioles prospects to rank among MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 (the most of any club in the league), is picking up in the International League right where he left off in Spring Training, where he made a legitimate case to break camp with the club. The 24-year-old has notched RBIs in six of his nine games thus far and enjoys a .512 slugging percentage.
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The O’s youth movement has already borne its fruits at the big league level in waves via the likes of Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and others. While Small has already earned the vaunted first call to The Show, Westburg, MLB's No. 69 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, still awaits his first chance in Baltimore.
For two players so uniquely linked -- Westburg was taken with the 30th overall pick in the 2020 Draft, just two selections later than where Small came off the board just a year prior -- and skilled, a rematch on a big league diamond may not be far off.