Several Baltimore Orioles Prospects Shuffle in New Top 100 Prospects List

The Baltimore Orioles saw one of its top prospects graduate from Baseball America’s Top 100 and the top shelf talent thinned out a bit.

Aug 7, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday (7) hits a two run home run and celebrates with third baseman Coby Mayo (16) against the Toronto Blue Jays during the seventh inning at Rogers Centre. / Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Just like MLB Pipeline, Baseball America no longer has Baltimore Orioles rookie Jackson Holliday among its Top 100 prospects as it adjusted its rankings for September.

Holliday’s service time required him to graduate from both overall rankings. While Pipeline had Holliday as the game’s top prospect in its August ranking, he fell to No. 2 in Baseball America’s August update.

The game’s new No. 1 prospect is Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero, who is currently in the Majors and is closing in on his own graduation from the rankings.

But, Baltimore still has a Top 10 player in third baseman Coby Mayo. The infielder is now No. 9 after he was No. 12 in the August update.

Mayo was promoted to the Majors when rosters expanded on Sunday. He has 19 Major League at-bats and may or may not have the service time to graduate from the rankings before season’s end.

He’s had a great season in the minors, as he slashed .299/.377/.604/.981 with 25 home runs and 73 RBI, most recently with Triple-A Norfolk. Mayo was the Orioles’ fourth-round pick in 2020.

The other Top 100 prospect is catcher Samuel Basallo, who moved up from No. 17 to No. 14.

Basallo is one of the game’s youngest top prospects. Like Holliday, he’s been rocketing through the Orioles’ system this year and was promoted to Norfolk last week.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, he is a left-handed hitting catcher that can also play first base.

He was selected to play for the American League in the MLB Futures Game during All-Star weekend in Arlington, Texas, earlier this month.

In the minors he’s slashed .283/.348/.456/.804 with 17 home runs and 58 RBI. He hasn’t made his Major League debut yet, but he could make it as soon as next season, especially if he acclimates quickly to Triple-A pitching.

He’s batting .174 with a home run and three RBI in his first five games with the Tides.

Baltimore had a fourth Top 100 prospect in August, but he dropped from his previous perch. Outfielder Heston Kjerstad was No. 28 and is No. 42.

Kjerstad is on the injured list right now dealing with concussion symptoms. With the Orioles this season he’s slashed .261/.370/.420/.790 with three home runs and 12 RBI. But at Triple-A Norfolk he put up huge numbers, as he slashed .300/.397/.601/.998 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI in 56 games with the Tides.

Baseball America had discussions with MLB scouts, coaches, analysts and front office officials, along with its own player observations to create not only its Top 100 prospects and its Top 30 team prospect lists.