The Baltimore Orioles have one of the best farm systems in baseball. When it comes to top-tier talent, no organization comes close to them.
The Orioles had three top-100 prospects when MLB Pipeline released its new rankings on Tuesday. That was to be expected.
But the trio – infielder Jackson Holliday, infielder Coby Mayo and catcher Samuel Basallo – weren’t just top-100 players. They were three of the top 11 players in the rankings.
Holliday was the site’s top prospect for the third year in a row. This is the fifth time in the last seven rankings that the Orioles have had the top player in the rankings, along with catcher Adley Rutschman (mid-season 2021) and infielder Gunnar Henderson (preseason 2023).
Rutchman and Henderson were already All-Stars, Silver Sluggers, and Henderson was the American League Rookie of the Year last year.
Holliday is unlikely to follow in Henderson’s footsteps this year. He made his major league debut in April with a .059 batting average, but he struggled and was sent back to Triple-A Norfolk to continue working on his better hitting against left-handed pitchers.
Now he’s back with the Orioles and is putting on a performance that underscores why the Orioles made him the No. 1 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. His first MLB home run, right after his second call-up, landed on Eutaw Street at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
He’s playing enough to ensure he’s graduated when the preseason rankings are released in 2025, paving the way for a new top prospect.
Mayo is ranked No. 10, making the Orioles one of three teams with two players in the top 10. He’s also currently with Baltimore, but he had a great season at Triple-A Norfolk, hitting .305/.385/.628/1.013 with 22 home runs and 63 RBIs.
He was selected by the Orioles in the fourth round in 2020 and could be on his way to moving up the rankings next season.
Basallo is one of the youngest players in the rankings at just 19 years old. Baltimore signed him as an international free agent and he quickly worked his way through the system, earning him a promotion to Double-A Bowie at the start of this season.
He played so well that he was selected to play for the American League in the MLB Futures Game during All-Star weekend in Arlington, Texas last month.
Some of the Orioles’ many talented players have dropped down the order, including outfielder Colton Cowser, who is considered a candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, and outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who played enough in the major leagues to make the move but is now back at Triple-A Norfolk.
