SARASOTA, Fla. – Trey Gibson didn’t notice much difference in the atmosphere between tonight’s Spring Breakout and a typical exhibition game.

There was an exception. Actually, more like 10 to 12 – the family members who cheered him from the stands at Ed Smith Stadium. Their voices cut through an announced crowd of 4,497.

“I heard them really loud,” he said with a smile.

“It’s awesome. My parents have done so much for me in my baseball career. To have them continue to follow me and help guide me through this journey, it’s awesome.”

Gibson started for the Orioles prospects – MLB Pipeline ranks him No. 5 – and tossed three scoreless innings against the Red Sox with one hit, no walks and two strikeouts. Twenty-four of his 30 pitches were strikes. And he had batters beating the ball into the ground, recording six outs that way.

Gibson retired the side in order on nine pitches, eight for strikes, in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Franklin Arias, the Red Sox’s No. 2 prospect, lined to left field, and Gibson induced ground balls from the next two hitters. Enddy Azocar (No. 12 prospect) singled with one out in the second, but Gibson put away the next five Red Sox.

Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall ranged into the outfield grass to backhand Arias’ grounder and throw him out. Ike Irish came off the bag to make the sweeping tag.

“Pretty happy,” Gibson said. “You can’t really get much better than that 30 pitches in three innings, a ton of ground balls. I think it was a pretty decent clip of first-pitch strikes. Just get ahead of batters, letting them get themselves out.”

Gibson also enjoyed doing all of it in front of Orioles fans.

“Let them see what the future can hold,” he said.

“I hope it was good. I hope they thought it was a pretty good performance out there. I hope that they feel good about what’s to come.”

Next for Gibson, the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2025, should be another stint with Triple-A Norfolk and an eventual major league debut over the summer.

“I’m waiting for that day,” he said. “I’d be super excited. It’s gonna be a lot of great things I’m gonna take from that experience and remember really well.”

Henry Godbout, the Red Sox’s No. 11 prospect, hit a long home run to left field off Nestor German with two outs in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie. German, ranked No. 12, threw a 93.7 mph fastball that Godbout barreled.  

German allowed one run and two hits with no walks and four strikeouts over three innings.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. is the No. 10 prospect in the system and a three-time participant in Spring Breakout. He started in left field last year in Sarasota and went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs scored. Leading off again tonight and playing center, he singled in the bottom of the first inning at 106.6 mph and drew a walk in the third before coming off the bag on a stolen base attempt.

Up again with two on and no outs in the fifth, Bradfield nearly hit pitcher Kyson Witherspoon with a 99.1 mph bouncer that turned into a 6-3 double play.

“Yeah, this is three. I guess I’m a veteran of some sort,” Bradfield said earlier today in the auxiliary clubhouse that housed the prospects.

“It’s always a good opportunity to be over here and represent the club. It’s a cool opportunity to take the field with guys I haven’t played with, a chance to do it again with those who I have. And obviously, we’re the best prospects that the org is putting out there, so we want to come out there, compete and see what we can do.”

Bradfield was in major league camp before leaving for Team Panama in the World Baseball Classic and being reassigned to the minor league side. He could make his Orioles debut for real later in the summer after reaching Triple-A in 2025. He hit .179/.226/.286 in 15 games with Norfolk after posting a .393 on-base percentage in 50 games with Double-A Chesapeake, and he finished with 36 steals in 40 attempts at three levels.

“I want to play good,” he said, listing it as his first goal. “I want to find myself in Baltimore. I think I have the skill set, the ability, to help the team win. Whenever that time comes, I’m just hoping I’m ready for it. I’m gonna be ready for it. Just continue to keep building, keep working. Go out there and compete.

“Last year was a weird year. Put it behind me and move forward and have a good one this year.”

Bradfield was the 17th overall selection in the 2023 draft. Irish was the 19th in 2025 and hit .230/.296/.297 with two doubles, a home run and 12 RBIs in 20 games with Single-A Delmarva. He played first base tonight, where he made six starts with the Shorebirds, along with five at catcher and five in right field.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Irish, who doubled and scored in the sixth. “You get to learn and do new things almost every single day. And I think it just grows you as a player. You get to see things from different perspectives, whether that be in the outfield, first base, catching. You have totally different perspectives on the game moving around so much.

“I think it’s a blessing to be moving around and having fun with it.”

Irish was brought over to major league camp multiple times as an extra and went 4-for-5 with a double.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of learning,” he said. “Most of the games were just trying to soak in information, be a sponge. It’s a copycat league, so we’re trying to copy what the big leaguers are doing because they’re doing it at the highest level. But it’s been a lot of fun to be able to get in there sometimes. I mean, seeing Vance (Honeycutt) do what he did, that was pretty sick. But yeah, it’s been so much fun just hanging around with the guys and, you know, just being a ballplayer.”

Those 20 games with Delmarva reminded Irish that, as Orioles manager Craig Albernaz likes to say, “Baseball’s still hard.”

“And it doesn’t get any easier,” said Irish, the No. 6 prospect. “It’s just a daily grind. I think in Delmarva there was so much that I wanted to do and I knew our season was short, so for me, I tried to accomplish things there and I just did too much.

“That’s what I learned is, even though we only played 20 games, it was still a long month. So just taking it day-by-day and not putting too much on the body, not doing too much.”

Aron Estrada, 21, is ranked ninth among Orioles prospects. He started at second base last year and went 0-for-2, and he was back at the same position tonight. He grounded into a double play in the second after Reed Trimble reached on an error, but he had a game-tying RBI grounder in the sixth.

Estrada batted a combined .288/.366/.447 with 16 doubles, eight triples, 10 home runs, 53 RBIs, 44 walks and 34 walks in 40 attempts in 108 games between High-A Aberdeen and Chesapeake. He’s 2-for-7 with a double in Grapefruit League games, another player used as an extra on occasion.

“I felt like I’ve learned a lot,” he said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I’ve been working really hard on my defense these last few weeks, and just trying to improve and learn as much as possible.”

Estrada is another success story from the international department built by president of baseball operations Mike Elias. He signed for $175,000 out of Venezuela in 2022.

“It brings me a lot of joy and makes me feel really proud to be part of this organization with some the guys like (Samuel), Thomas Sosa, just to name a few,” Estrada said. “Makes me feel great about being here in this organization.”

Reaching the majors later this year is the stated goal for Estrada, just like a lot of players.

“Just want to continue working on my defense,” he said, “and doing what I can to help the team and try to make it up there.”

The lineup had players ranked as high as outfielder Nate George at No. 3. The top two, Basallo and outfielder Dylan Beavers, are busy with the Orioles.

Others tonight were ranked No. 6, 7, 9, 10, 19, 29 and 30.

George, 19, hit an opposite-field double in the third inning at 103.1 mph.

“It’s a very intense list,” said Florida Complex League manager Christian Frias, who was put in charge again of the Spring Breakout team. “We go from guys who have been on this list before and guys that are gonna be on the first year on this list, which is a very deep lineup.”

Trimble singled and stole second base in the fourth inning and reached on an infield hit and stole second base in the sixth.

Joseph Dzierwa struck out two and stranded a runner in a scoreless seventh.

*Over in Tampa, Zach Eflin didn’t allow a baserunner until the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled with two outs in the fifth. Eflin tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit, no walks and seven strikeouts. He was stretched to 70 pitches, 47 strikes.

Perhaps the Orioles really are going with a six-man rotation or considering a piggyback arrangement. Stay tuned.

Pete Alonso’s double is the only Orioles hit through six innings.

*Levi Wells starts Saturday afternoon against the Phillies in Sarasota in the final Grapefruit League game.

Update: Wilfri De La Cruz, the No. 22 prospect who came to the Orioles in the Andrew Kittredge deadline trade with the Cubs, delivered a tie-breaking, two-run single in the seventh inning in a 3-1 Spring Breakout win. He’s 18 years old.

“God has a plan and you never know what that really looks like,” De La Cruz said through an interpreter. “But knowing that I was joining this team, I was really excited, really happy, and just looking forward to putting in the work.”

This is De La Cruz’s first time in the U.S. He was born in the Dominican Republic and pitched for the Cubs and Orioles summer league teams.

“It feels great,” he said. “It feels like it’s that next step of my career being able to be here.”

Dzierwa, a second-round draft pick in 2025 out of Michigan State, registered three scoreless innings with one hit and eight strikeouts to earn the win. He’s the No. 14 prospect.

In Tampa, Rico Garcia notched another scoreless inning to keep his ERA at 0.00. He retired the side in order in the seventh and struck out one.