Having the best farm system in the league is certainly never a bad thing, but with the surplus of young talent starting to knock on the door of Camden Yards, GM Mike Elias and the Orioles are finding themselves in a unique dilemma.
For the last five seasons, we’ve seen a pretty steady outfield of Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander. All three players have found ways to be productive and help the O’s to one of the better outfields in Major League Baseball.
However, 2024 has seemed to bring up some difficult conversations for Baltimore’s front office. While Cedric Mullins remains one of the best defenders in the game, he’s posted a .181/.225/.319/.544 slash line to this point. His counterparts, Hays and Santander, are slashing .209/.266/.337/.603 and .223/.300/.451/.751, respectively.
Obviously, an average outfield OPS of .586 is abysmal and going to have to change if the O’s plan to keep pace with the surging Yankees.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde seems adamant about letting the veterans of his team continue to work through their woes until they can find some level of offensive consistency. But in the eyes of many, the solution is giving those at-bats to some of Elias’ young, highly-touted draft picks.
Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers have all spent time in the bigs this season, but only Cowser has been given a true opportunity.
After Hays went down with a calf strain in April, Cowser took over as the full-time left fielder and has been everything Baltimore could have hoped for. Slashing .234/.330/.431/.761 on the season, Cowser has put himself in the thick of AL Rookie of the Year conversations, regardless of his recent slowdown.
While Cowser has taken full advantage of his playing time, Kjerstad and Stowers have not been as lucky. Down in Norfolk, Kjerstad has absolutely mashed to the tune of a .325/.412/.669/1.081 slash line with 14 long balls.
Stowers has since cooled down from his blazing hot start for Norfolk but still finds himself with an impressive .240/.315/.541/.856 slash line at the Triple-A level. He owns a .855 OPS and six RBIs in just 12 games with the O’s.
If Stowers and Cowser continue to produce the way they have, it’s very likely one of Hays, Mullins, Santander or even Kjerstad could be used as trade bait to help bolster the O’s pitching staff at this year’s trade deadline.
Until then, Hyde is seemingly going to play the “hot hands” on his roster. For example, Hays has gotten hot in recent games at the plate, so expect to see him in the lineup on a consistent basis.
Don’t forget that the Orioles have plenty of outfield prospects in their top 30, such as Dylan Beavers, Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Jud Fabian, who are all climbing the pipeline as well.
It’s going to be a very interesting month for the Orioles’ outfield, and with it is going to come tough decisions for both Hyde and Elias.
What are your thoughts on the future of the Orioles’ outfield? 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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