Shortly after the Orioles made the trade that rocked the baseball world, or at least shook it up a little bit, the jewel of the prospect haul for Adley Rutschman sat atop the organization’s rankings.

One, maybe two minutes passed.

Right-hander Anthony Eyanson was No. 2 with the Red Sox but displaced outfielder Nate George on the list published by MLB Pipeline. He’s a third-round draft pick who’s first among Orioles minor leaguers, and his debut with the club could come next summer.

Eyanson, 21, was assigned to Double-A Chesapeake, where he started last night and allowed two runs – both on homers – and four hits with nine strikeouts in five innings against Harrisburg.

The Baysox were Eyanson’s third team this year after High-A Greenville, where he allowed one run with three walks and 34 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings, and Double-A Portland, where he went 4-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 11 games with 60 strikeouts in 48 innings.

MLB Pipeline gives Eyanson a 65-grade slider and 60-grade fastball.

“He’s really, really good. I like him big-time,” said a National League scout.

“For me, he’s at least a three or four, maybe a two. His slider is more of a power downer than a slider, and he has really good curveball. He’s got command and pitchability. Good size, competes. That’s a guy who I think could be there next year. He’s that close.”

Former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald watched Eyanson at LSU and right-hander Kyson Witherspoon at Oklahoma while working for the SEC Network and ESPN. The Red Sox drafted Witherspoon 15th overall, and he’s the No. 7 prospect in the Orioles system after his inclusion in the Rutschman deal.

“I remember talking to some scouts and some crosscheckers at the time and they said, ‘Ben, there’s only three starting pitchers in all of the SEC that we feel like can be big league rotation pieces,’” McDonald said. “That was 2025 when LSU won the national championship. And it was Kade Anderson, who’s now the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball with Seattle, Anthony Eyanson and Witherspoon. They were the three guys mentioned. So in one trade, the Orioles get two out of the SEC who should be rotation pieces.

“What I remember about Eyanson the most are, big-time competitor, slow heartbeat, and I call it ‘Kyle Bradish breaking balls,’ because at LSU he threw firm. Like, it was 93 average. He’d show you a 4 and a 5. But he could spin his curveball and his slider just about in any count. And it was real pitches for him. He was third in the nation in strikeouts that year.

“Now, the reason why he shot up the prospect rankings a little bit is they’re telling me the fastball’s sitting at 95 and he’s showing 7s and 8s now. But what you’ve got to remember is, he was a 20-year-old junior, so he was a little bit young. He’s 21 right now, so he’s really just starting to come into his own.”

The Red Sox gave Witherspoon a $5 million bonus. His mid-90s fastball can climb to 97-98 mph and complements a plus-cutter that creeps into the low 90s. The slider and curveball also can miss bats.

Witherspoon joined High-A Frederick after posting a 4.78 ERA and 1.394 WHIP in 17 starts with Greenville. He struck out 78 in 75 1/3 innings but also walked 34.

MLB Pipeline ranked him as Boston’s No. 4 prospect.

Making his debut last night, Witherspoon allowed an unearned run and five hits with five walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings at Jersey Shore.

“Witherspoon was the guy who had the big arm when I saw him pitch and that’s the reason why he was a first-rounder by the Red Sox,” McDonald said. “It is a big arm. He was up to 97, 98 against LSU that night that I saw him. He could really pitch a little bit, too. So I’m pretty excited about these two guys.

“A lot of times we see these guys come in, you say, ‘OK, they probably project out as relievers,’ but when I look at these two guys, I see rotation pieces. Now, to say that they can be top of the rotation pieces, I think that’s yet to be seen, but for me, they certainly sit in there at three, four and five rotation pieces right now. So I think the depth in the system that the Orioles acquired and what they’ve gotten – (Joseph) Dzierwa coming and others coming – this is the strongest I’ve seen the minor league system from a pitching standpoint with the Orioles.”

You can really appreciate the dominance of LSU’s staff in 2025 that Eyanson was the Saturday night starter. Anderson was the No. 1 starter who took the ball on Friday.

“That’s the reason why LSU won the national title,” McDonald said. “You run out Anderson and Eyanson in back-to-back nights, you’re talking about a guy that led the nation in strikeouts, and Eyanson was third in the nation that year.”

McDonald isn’t exaggerating about the shift from position players to pitching in the organization’s prospect rankings. Eyanson is No. 1, Dzierwa 4, Michael Forret 6, Witherspoon 7, Boston Bateman 10, Luis De León 11, Trey Gibson 12, Esteban Mejia 13, Caden Hunter 15, Nestor German 17, Braxton Bragg 18, Levi Wells 19, JT Quinn 25, Andri Hidalgo 28 and Patrick Reilly 29.

Juaron Watts-Brown just fell out of the top 30.

MLP Pipeline has Eyanson 49th on its top 100 list. Dzierwa is 96th.