This week in minor league baseball was weird for the Orioles’ affiliated teams.
Between position players pitching shutout innings, amazing comebacks and never quit games and our very own Jason Benowitz in the booth, it was an exciting, yet interesting week on the farm.
With that being said, we’re going to be formatting our weekly minor league recaps a bit differently. From now on, we’re going to highlight one position player and one pitcher who stood out above the rest for each affiliate. After all, down on the farm, the final score doesn’t matter as much as production from your organizational prospects.
These weekly articles will be collaborative, with I, Zack Bucklew, covering the prospects from Delmarva and Bowie, with Justin Sutphin and Stephen Heckman taking care of Aberdeen and Norfolk, respectively.
Let’s look at the best hitting and pitching prospects per affiliate from this past week.
Low-A Delmarva: Thomas Sosa – OF & Michael Forret – RHP
A top 30 prospect in the Orioles organization, Thomas Sosa put a great week together during Delmarva’s series with the Columbia Fireflies.
Sosa slashed .421/.500/.789 with a 1.289 OPS in five games. He collected eight hits, two doubles, one home run and three RBIs, while walking three times and stealing two bases.
The 19-year-old has started to go on a roll these last few weeks in Delmarva. He is now slashing .243/.335/.392 with a .727 OPS in 39 games this season, posting 36 hits, three home runs and 14 stolen bases. He also has 11 doubles and has walked 19 times on the season.
It’s not very often that a pitcher can have two really solid starts in the same week, but Michael Forret did just that.
In his two starts against Columbia, the 20-year-old right-hander pitched 8.2 innings, gave up seven hits and one earned run, walked three batters and struck out 12.
The State College of Florida product has continued his early season success thus far in May. Forret currently has a 3.44 ERA in nine games and seven starts and has collected 47 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched, has a 1.18 WHIP and has only walked 14 batters.
High-A Aberdeen: Enrique Bradfield Jr. – OF & Edgar Portes – RHP
Edgar Portes continues to dominate from a starting role this season, and his most recent appearance lived up to the hype.
In his six-inning start on May 25 against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Portes recorded six strikeouts for the third straight outing. He gave up just two hits, lowering his season WHIP to 0.95. The six innings pitched in this game were also a season-high for the Dominican native.
Portes, 21, now has 43 strikeouts through 36.2 innings this season in High-A to go along with a stunning 1.96 ERA.
https://x.com/TheVergePod/status/1794696878430564504?t=mogNYNl2za0IbZyywvnPlA&s=19
Enrique Bradfield Jr. has been on a tear since his return from the injured list, and this week was no different.
The 22-year-old notched eight hits with four RBIs in his six games played this week, including a three-hit effort in game four.
Bradfield Jr. also stole four bases while only striking out four times this week. He also shined defensively in center field.
https://x.com/IronBirds/status/1794448636333744571?t=eC_4e5H_U3X7QfQFkb7LlQ&s=19
Double-A Bowie: Samuel Basallo – C & Ryan Long – RHP
The highly-rated catching prospect really showed out this week offensively.
In five games, Basallo slashed .400/.455/.750 with a 1.205 OPS, collecting eight hits, two home runs, six RBIs and two walks.
Basallo has really turned his season around after the start that he had. With a .749 OPS this season and 44 total hits with seven home runs, the 19-year-old is starting to come back to the unstoppable version of himself that we saw in 2023.
After Cameron Weston’s start on Saturday, the Baysox turned to Ryan Long, and he straight up dominated with his performance on the mound, tossing five shutout innings of two-hit baseball, striking out five.
Long has been up and down all season. In nine games and seven starts, the Pomona-Pitzer product has a 0-3 record with a 5.03 ERA in 34 total innings pitched.
Long, 24, has only struck out 31, has a 1.44 WHIP and has walked 16 batters. He is starting to turn it around for the better, which is a good sign moving forward for the right-hander.
Triple-A Norfolk: Heston Kjerstad – OF & Luis González – LHP
González, a journey man releiver, was one of the few bright spots in the pitching staff this series for the Tides.
Appearing in two games, González would pitch a combined 3.1 innings, allowing three hits and no runs to pick up two victories while striking out four.
The veteran lefty, González improves to 3-0 across 16 games with 3.15 ERA this season. He’s earned one hold and one save while totaling 20 innings and compiling a WHIP of 0.95, striking out 29 to just three walks.
https://x.com/MLBPipeline/status/1793736475118551305?t=kh-4Jif4FeUcctO5qqEUBA&s=19
Kjerstad’s bat is on fire, as he has a nine-game on-base streak as well as an eight-game hitting streak.
Against the Worcester Red Sox, Kjerstad continued his tear by going a combined 11-for-21 (.524) with a home run, five doubles, six runs, five RBIs and five walks. During the series, Kjerstad saw his batting average go from .327 to .352.
For the season, Kjerstad is now slashing .352/.432/.734/1.166, totaling 45 hits in 33 games. The young left-handed slugger has 13 home runs, 44 RBIs and had scored 36 runs.
Kjerstad has committed only two errors in 29 games while playing first base (eight games), left field (nine games) and right field (12 games), showing his versatility and that he isn’t just an offensive player.
Which prospects stood out to you this week down on the farm? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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