Where O's Top 30 prospects are starting season

By Mike Rosenbaum | April 4, 2018

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With the 2018 season getting started, here's a look at where the O's Top 30 prospects are starting the season:
1. Austin Hays (MLB No. 23), OF -- Bowie Baysox (AA)

  1. Ryan Mountcastle (MLB No. 98), 3B -- Bowie Baysox (AA) -- DL
  2. Chance Sisco, C -- Baltimore Orioles (MLB)
  3. Hunter Harvey, RHP -- Bowie Baysox (AA)
  4. DL Hall, LHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  5. Tanner Scott, LHP -- Norfolk Tides (AAA)
  6. Cedric Mullins, OF -- Bowie Baysox (AA)
  7. Anthony Santander, OF/1B -- Baltimore Orioles (MLB)
  8. Keegan Akin, LHP -- Bowie Baysox (AA)
  9. Brenan Hanifee, RHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  10. Alex Wells, LHP -- Frederick Keys (A Adv)
  11. Cody Sedlock, RHP -- Frederick Keys (A Adv)
  12. D.J. Stewart, OF -- Norfolk Tides (AAA)
  13. Chris Lee, LHP -- Norfolk Tides (AAA) -- DL
  14. Mike Baumann, RHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  15. Cameron Bishop, RHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  16. Zac Lowther, LHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  17. David Hess, RHP -- Norfolk Tides (AAA)
  18. Yefry Ramirez, RHP -- Norfolk Tides (AAA)
  19. Adam Hall, SS -- Extended Spring Training
  20. Jomar Reyes, 3B -- Frederick Keys (A Adv)
  21. Lamar Sparks, OF -- Extended Spring Training
  22. Gray Fenter, RHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  23. Austin Wynns, C -- Norfolk Tides (AAA)
  24. Nestor Cortes, LHP -- Baltimore Orioles (MLB)
  25. Pedro Araujo, RHP -- Baltimore Orioles (MLB)
  26. Luis Gonzalez, LHP -- Bowie Baysox (AA)
  27. Ademar Rifaela, OF -- Bowie Baysox (AA)
  28. Mason McCoy, SS -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
  29. Matthias Dietz, RHP -- Delmarva Shorebirds (A)
    • O's prospect coverage | O's Top 30 prospects stats
    Team to watch
    Hays and Harvey, the Orioles' top position and pitching prospects, headline a talented Double-A Bowie Baysox roster that features four players ranked inside Baltimore's Top 10 prospects, including the aforementioned duo as well as Cedric Mullins and Keegan Akin. They'll gain another top prospect when Mountcastle, MLB Pipeline's No. 98 overall prospect, returns from a hand injury, too.
    The Class A Delmarva Shorebirds also should be plenty interesting thanks to a starting rotation that, on paper, ranks among the best in the South Atlantic League. Featuring Top 30 prospects Hall, Hanifee, Wells, Baumann, Bishop and Lowther, it's largely the same rotation that made Class A Short-Season Aberdeen such a force in 2017.
    Where baseball's top prospects are starting the 2018 season
    Teams on MiLB.TV
    Norfolk Tides (AAA)
    Bowie Baysox (AA)
    Aberdeen IronBirds (A Short Season)
    New faces
    The Orioles selected three pitchers in the Major League phase of December's Rule 5 Draft, two of which, Cortes Jr. and Araujo, cracked the club's Opening Day bullpen. While Cortes profiles as a left-handed swingman who should log most of his innings in a long-relief role, Araujo already has proved capable of missing bats with his breaking ball in high-leverage situations.
    On the shelf
    Mountcastle will be sidelined for four to six weeks with a non-displaced fracture at the base of the fifth metacarpal in his right hand that he suffered on a hit-by-pitch during a Minor League game in mid-March. Lee, after missing much of the spring with a right oblique strain, has resumed throwing off flat ground, with pitching off a mound marking the next step in his recovery.

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