This story was excerpted from Zachary Silver’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DL Hall’s walk into the visitor’s clubhouse at Progressive Field on Wednesday afternoon was a new one, back in a big league environment for the first time since his Aug. 13 debut. But it was also a familiar one.

Directly across the way, he could see Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, their lockers next to each other. On the other side of the clubhouse, where the majority of the pitchers were situated, sat Kyle Bradish and Nick Vespi. Tucked near that corner were Kyle Stowers and Terrin Vavra.

Triple-A Norfolk has infiltrated Baltimore for good.

“It's unreal,” Hall said this week. “I was talking to the guys about it earlier, just seeing some of the younger faces in here that I've been around for a while now. It's awesome to see. It's exciting.”

That the Orioles are competitive and in the fight for the final American League Wild Card spot as late as September is a revelation. That the roster is bolstered and made up of their top prospects, many bred in the system on the backs of years of losing, is vindicating -- a sign of the sea change en route.

When one receives a callup, you can expect the Instagram stories from their teammates to be lighting up with congratulatory shoutouts. When each steps into the clubhouse, they’re greeted by friendly faces they’ve been toiling away with for years. Now, they’re playing in unison at the highest level.

When Henderson homered in his debut on Wednesday in Cleveland, Rutschman was at the top step of the dugout, waiting to put the Home Run Chain around his neck.

“Just having them around is unbelievable,” Rutschman said this week. “Obviously, they're talented players, players that can help the team, but just great clubhouse guys as well. On all spectrums, it's great to have.”

This is the club the Orioles have long envisioned. For Saturday’s tilt against Oakland, Baltimore’s starting lineup featured the top three picks of Mike Elias’ first Draft in 2019 -- Rutschman, Henderson and Stowers. And that was the first time in club history it has started three picks from one Draft in a game, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

But it’s not just the front office that has envisioned this. It's the players, too.

“I remember, beginning of the year last year, we were up to a pretty good start at [Double-A] Bowie, and that was a conversation -- we can't wait to be able to help the team in Baltimore,” Vavra said this week. “That’s where we’re at now. And I think there’s more coming.”

Of the O’s Top 10 prospects, six are either at the Triple-A level or in the big leagues, and that doesn’t include Rutschman and Bradish. It does, however, include Grayson Rodriguez, who is soon on his way back to Triple-A with another rehab from his right lat strain coming this week.

Among those at Triple-A are two more of the top five, with No. 4 Colton Cowser and No. 5 Jordan Westburg fully expected to make the big leagues next season. A couple more -- No. 16 Mike Baumann and No. 19 Joey Ortiz -- are also just a call away.

The kids are playing.

“It just shows you the depth and what we've [got],” manager Brandon Hyde said this week. “These guys have done a great job of building this organization with the talent that we have down there. It's fun to see these guys graduate to the big leagues, and what a great experience for them to be playing in their first year.”