Top Orioles Prospects Who Could Make An Impact in 2026

It wasn’t so long ago that the Baltimore Orioles were one of the top dogs in the American League East division. In fact, they took the top spot in 2023 thanks to a 101-win showing, only to follow that up with a 91-win campaign in 2024 that resulted in a Wild Card berth.

Then this past season hit, and the organization is back in reset mode. The 2025 Orioles finished with a 75-87 record, good for last place in the division. With such a talented roster, at least on paper, this much of a fall from grace was and still is a bit surprising.

Most of the team’s top contributors are homegrown talents that came from the organization’s last multi-year dark period. Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, and multiple other offensive pieces were drafted between 2019 and 2022.

Now, they’re the faces of the franchise. Nearly every single pitcher on the team’s projected Opening Day roster was acquired externally, but the good news is that there are some homegrown ones climbing the ladder rapidly.

In fact, we may just see some of them make MLB impacts in the coming campaign. Let’s check out the Orioles’ top prospects and determine which ones could be impactful at the game’s highest level soon.

C/1B Samuel Basallo – Just Baseball No. 8

Originally signed as an international free agent back in 2021, Samuel Basallo torched minor league pitching every year before debuting in the big leagues last season. He draws walks, is good for 20 home runs a year (a number that is sure to climb as he continues to develop), and can even swipe a base here and there. Getting this type of production from your catcher is not something many teams get.

That’s just the thing, though. With Rutschman penciled in as the Orioles’ top option behind the dish for at least two more years, Basallo may not get an extended look at the position for a while now. Throughout his professional career, he’s been consistently hit with questions regarding his long-term defensive home, but he could carve out a role as a part-time catcher while getting regular reps at first base and designated hitter as well.

Unlike others on this list (except for our next entrant), Basallo has already made his big league debut. In a 31-game sample size, he hit the first four home runs of his career but sported an OPS of just .559 while striking out in 25% of his plate appearances. History has shown that swing-and-miss is a part of Basallo’s profile, but it has also shown that he hits both righties and lefties well and that he demolished Triple-A at just 20 years of age.

The concern level should remain very, very low for this young gun. It’s only a matter of time before he adjusts to big league pitching, and he should remain an offensive force in Baltimore for quite some time.

OF Dylan Beavers – Just Baseball No. 63

Another homegrown player (first-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft), Dylan Beavers also saw MLB action for the first time last season. The 24-year-old fared a whole lot better than Basallo, posting a 125 wRC+ with a .775 OPS, four home runs, and 14 RBI. Beavers also turned heads a bit by walking at a 19% clip, which is higher than it’s ever been previously.

Yes, the 35-game sample size is small, but there’s a reason Beavers has rapidly climbed the Orioles’ depth charts. All throughout his minor league career, the outfielder has done nothing but hit. This past year, in what could be his last extended stint in Triple-A, he hit 18 home runs while sporting a .304 average and 152 wRC+ through just 94 games.

What stuck out even further was his walk and strikeout rates. Beavers walked at a 16.3% clip while striking out in just 18.2% of his plate appearances. That kind of high-walk, low-strikeout stuff isn’t seen much in today’s game, yet alone from a player as young as he is.

The Orioles have a ton of options to play outfield for them in the coming season, but Beavers should get first crack at landing a spot in the grass come Opening Day over the likes of veterans Tyler O’Neill and Leody Taveras.

RHP Trey Gibson – Just Baseball No. 96

Baltimore has remained extremely aggressive in rounding out their pitching staff this offseason, so making room for Trey Gibson, our No. 2 Orioles prospect in the latest update, on the staff might be difficult at first.

Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt are the two brand new faces in the rotation, while veteran righty Zach Eflin was also brought back on a single-year pact. As of right now, it looks like the club could deploy a six-man rotation entering the new season, but we all know these things work. Depth can fall apart rapidly once spring training games start and injuries begin to pile up.

That’s where Gibson, 23, fits in. The right-hander has yet to make his MLB debut, but he could not possibly be closer to doing so. This past year, he made 25 starts (and one relief appearance) across three minor league levels, posting a 4.26 ERA and 3.34 FIP while striking out over 12 batters per nine innings.

Where he really stood out was in a 10-game stint in Double-A this past year. In 52.1 innings of work, the former undrafted free agent had a sterling 1.55 ERA while punching tickets left and right, posting his lowest single-level walk rate of the year, and allowing just one home run.

Gibson’s always been a strikeout artist, and that isn’t going to go away as he nears his big league debut. He’s got an expansive pitch mix that consists of five offerings, highlighted by what Aram Leighton calls a 60-grade curveball. He’s already flashing the makings of becoming a reliable mid-rotation arm for the Orioles.

Gibson is a big man (6-foot-5, 240lbs.) who has a highly fluid and repeatable delivery that should help him find and sustain success at the game’s highest level. Like I said, one injury and he’s the first man in line for starts.

RHP Tyson Neighbors – JB No. 15 Orioles Prospect

Relief pitching prospects are so fun, because all it takes is one standout season for them to land firmly on people’s radars. Tyson Neighbors, whom the Orioles acquired from the San Diego Padres for Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn, just so happened to put together one of those season in his second as a professional.

Neighbors, 23, is a pure reliever who wound up making a combined 44 appearances between the Orioles and Padres systems. In 59 innings, the right-hander surrendered just 11 runs (10 earned), which resulted in a dazzling 1.53 ERA.

Along the way, he also struck out 83 batters (12.7 K/9) and allowed just four home runs all season (0.6 HR/9). He utilizes a four-seam fastball and a pair of breaking balls, all of which he mixes perfectly to keep hitters off balance. Depending on who you ask, his curveball might be his best offering, or it could be his slider. Either way, Neighbors has already shown immense promise and shouldn’t be kept down very long if he continues this level of run prevention in Triple-A to start this season.

Other Names to Watch

OF Enrique Bradfield Jr. (JB No. 6 Orioles) – Bradfield is so much more than simply an “honorable mention”, as he’s our sixth-ranked Orioles prospect and regularly earns high praises from prospect evaluators around the industry. As of right at this moment, my only concern is how he finds playing time in the coming year.

The 24-year-old has basically no power to speak of, but he is so fast on the bases and in center field that it’s borderline unfair. Last year, he hit just three home runs in 76 games, but he went 36-for-40 in steals and drew a ton of walks. Oh, and it also helps that he’s what Aram calls “one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball at any level.”

Bradfield should be a valuable player for this Orioles team at some point, but it remains to be seen just when that’ll be. He’s going to have a hard time leapfrogging any of Taylor Ward, Cowser, or Beavers on the depth chart in 2026.

RHP Nestor German (JB No. 14 Orioles) – Armed with a disgusting splitter, German is likely right behind Gibson on the depth chart at starting pitcher for the Orioles. The former is an 11th-round pick by Baltimore (2023) that has all the makings of being a sturdy, reliable, and consistent mid-rotation arm at the game’s highest level.

In what was his first full year of starts as a pro, German went 6-7 with a 3.93 ERA and 3.54 FIP across 26 outings and 123.2 innings. He struck out 10.41 batters per nine innings and had eight starts of seven or more punchouts last year, with four of them coming in the final two months of the year.

German is going to be a solid starter in the majors, but it’s either going to take an otherworldly Triple-A breakout in 2026 or an uncomfortable amount of injuries to Baltimore’s big league staff for him to get an extended look. 2027 may be a bit more realistic for him to be a consistent presence in their starting-five.