Building a five-tool Orioles infield prospect — with the help of the Orioles’ infield prospects
Connor Norby knew how deep the Orioles’ infield is. Then, he got reassurance from Darell Hernaiz.
Traded from the Orioles to Oakland in January for starting pitcher Cole Irvin and a pitching prospect, Hernaiz was among Baltimore’s top 15 or so prospects at the time of the deal. But he ranked seventh among infielders, and each of the six in front of him have appeared in multiple publications’ offseason lists of baseball’s top 100 prospects.
“He’s like, ‘It’s completely different there,’” Norby said. “We were just talking about how loaded we are.
“You look around, and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ … You could build a pretty darn good starting nine with just infielders in this [organization].”
What if, instead, you took six of the top young infielders in baseball and tried to build the perfect Orioles infield prospect? Each has a case to be viewed as a five-tool player in his own right, but who do they view as the best at each of those traits?
On the infield alone, the Orioles’ farm system includes Gunnar Henderson, the near-unanimous No. 1 overall prospect and American League Rookie of the Year favorite; Jackson Holliday, the first overall pick in last year’s draft; Norby, Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz, all of whom ended last year at Triple-A; and Coby Mayo, a third baseman with prodigious power who reached Double-A as a 20-year-old.
The Baltimore Sun asked each of the six prospects to pick which of them they would choose to represent the group in each of baseball’s five tools: hitting, hitting for power, fielding, throwing and running. The players were allowed to vote for themselves if they felt they were truly the top player in that tool, and they were also able to name the same player to multiple tools.
“It should be hard,” Mayo said. “Any one of our guys would be in any other [organization’s] top three prospects.”
Hitting: Norby (3.5)
Also received votes: Henderson (2.5)
This tool’s two traits — contact and plate discipline — summed up the divide here, literally in one case. Holliday split his vote, picking Norby for his bat-to-ball skills while crediting Henderson for his eye. He gave Westburg some praise, too.
“The way the ball comes off Westburg’s bat and how it sounds, it’s pretty special,” Holliday said.
The others picked either Henderson or Norby. Mayo initially named Henderson, briefly settled on Westburg, then landed on Norby. Both Norby and Henderson voted for themselves.
“I think I’m the best all-around hitter,” Norby said.
Norby started slow at High-A Aberdeen, but in the uppers minors, he topped Henderson, Westburg and Ortiz in batting average (.306), slugging percentage (.591) and weighted runs created plus (161, where 100 is league average). Only Ortiz posted a lower strikeout rate in the upper minors, while only Henderson, showcasing his plate discipline, had a better strikeout-to-walk ratio than Norby.
“He never seems overmatched,” Westburg said. “It really does seem like that barrel is a lot larger than it looks.
“He just makes it look easy. It’s something that a lot of guys are searching for, if not everybody in the game of baseball is searching for. It comes to him pretty naturally, it seems, so it’s what makes him special.”
Holliday’s lack of time around the others likely counted against him here. Last year, he hit .685 with seven strikeouts in 40 games as a senior at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, then batted .297 with more than twice as many walks as strikeouts in his first 20 games as a professional.
“That’s just another guy that’s gonna be the animal as he grows and gets better,” Norby said.
Power: Mayo (4)
Also received votes: Henderson (1), Norby (0.5) and Westburg (0.5)
When Mayo first heard about this exercise, he asked whether he could include himself.
“Power, we know,” he said after confirmation. “Me.”
It’s been his calling card. After Baltimore drafted him in 2020′s fourth round, director of draft operations Brad Ciolek said Mayo had shown 70-grade raw power, meaning plus-plus on the 20-80 scouting scale.
“Him and Heston [Kjerstad], their mishits still go further than a lot of people’s squaring it up,” Norby said. “Coby hits the ball farther and harder than anyone I’ve seen consistently.”
Ortiz split his vote between Norby and Westburg, who led Orioles minor leaguers in home runs with 29 and 27, respectively. Westburg went with Henderson, Holliday’s initial choice before changing to Mayo to try to include everyone on his ballot.
“Gunnar’s got dumb juice,” Westburg said.
That vote prompted another question from Mayo.
“So I wasn’t unanimous?” he said with a laugh.
Fielding: Ortiz (6)
This sweep was seemingly the easiest category for all six.
“It’s self-explanatory,” Norby said.
Ortiz is “the magician,” Westburg said, and has long been viewed that way. Last year, he rounded out his game with offense, posting an OPS above 1.000 from July on. That output didn’t land him a vote in any other category, but those who have played alongside him — and Ortiz himself — didn’t hesitate to name him the best fielder of the group.
“Every [play] that you think that can’t be made, he’ll make,” Henderson said.
Ortiz said if he couldn’t pick himself, he would select Westburg or Henderson, giving baseball’s No. 1 prospect at least partial recognition in each of the five tools.
Throwing: Henderson and Mayo (3)
Henderson didn’t want to come off as egotistical. Having already self-voted in a couple tools and torn between himself and Mayo, he went with the latter.
“Coby by default,” Henderson said. “I don’t want to sit there and put my name on everything.”
Mayo’s choice came down to the definition of the tool. He asked whether it was a matter of throwing strength or throwing accuracy. He might have won out if the focus was the former.
“Gunnar, just for all around,” Mayo said.
Their fellow prospects were also split. Holliday and Norby considered Mayo but stuck with Henderson, with Norby describing the choice as “very close.” Westburg and Ortiz went with Mayo.
“He’s got an absolute weapon,” Westburg said.
Running: Henderson and Holliday (3)
This was the only category Holliday received votes. This spring marks the first time the Orioles’ other infield prospects have seen him play, and although they’ve come away impressed, the small sample size wasn’t enough to push him into the other four tools.
Along with his own, Holliday received votes from Norby and Westburg.
“He’s a fast guy,” Westburg said. “He’s only gonna get faster, too.”
Westburg’s choice rounded out a unique ballot: He was the only player not to pick himself in any category, naming each of the other five in one category. The organization’s 2022 minor league player of the year, Westburg was also the only prospect not to win a tool, speaking to the fact he’s regarded as solid but not spectacular in all of them.
In this one, Holliday tied the player he might one day follow as the game’s top prospect. Alongside Mayo and the man himself, Ortiz begrudgingly voted for Henderson.
“I hate to say Gunnar,” Ortiz said, “because we race all the time.”
A similar poll this time next year, after Holliday’s first full pro season, could elicit different results, though Henderson will no longer have prospect status and each of the other four could plausibly join him in that regard. Holliday, though, is appreciative of the chance to learn from them.
“It’s really neat to be part of and be surrounded with so many talented players and guys that are good at every part of the game,” he said. “It’s impossible to make a perfect player out of this group of guys because you don’t want leave anyone out. They can’t all just be good at one thing or else you wouldn’t be here, right? They’re all good at everything.”
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