In 2022 and 2023, the Orioles’ farm system was at the peak of its powers. 

Three consecutive No. 1 overall prospects, Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday, highlighted the best minor league pipeline in the game. They were complemented by a plethora of rising talents like Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg and Coby Mayo. 

What they lacked, though, were arms, and specifically pitching depth.

Entering the 2023 season, Grayson Rodriguez was the No. 7 overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. DL Hall cracked the Top 100 for the second consecutive year, too, just sneaking into the 90’s. 

They checked the box for high-end pitching potential. 

But, according to Pipeline, they were the only starters among the O’s top-12 prospects that year. The next-best cluster was highlighted by Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott, who were both seen as fringe-starters at the time. 

Things look a bit different down on the farm now. 

Seven of Baltimore’s top-12 prospects, according to Pipeline, are starting pitchers. Four of those players, counting former Orioles draft pick, Michael Forret, have been acquired via trade since 2025’s deadline. And according to Baseball America, three of the O’s top four minor leaguers are starters, leading the pack in a system that the outlet now ranks fifth-best in the game. 

Anthony Eyanson, Pipeline’s No. 49 prospect in baseball and BA’s No. 34, is out front as Baltimore’s No. 1 prospect. According to Pipeline, it’s the first time a pitcher has held that No. 1 spot for the Orioles since Hunter Harvey did so in 2016. 

The right-hander, who recently made his organizational debut with the Double-A Baysox, is Pipeline’s No. 7 overall right-handed pitching prospect. He’s got the kind of potential to be an ace in Birdland for years to come. 

Checking in at No. 4 on Pipeline and No. 3 on BA is Joseph Dzierwa, the O’s second-round pick out of Michigan State a year ago. The big lefty has made professional baseball look easy, with a 2.01 ERA in the first 22 games of his pro career. 

He’s actually lowered his ERA from High-A to Double-A, too, posting a 1.89 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 14 games for the Baysox. According to MLB’s research tool, entering last night’s game, Dzierwa had the seventh-best ERA among qualified arms in the minors this season.

Six more shutout innings only helps his standing. 

Joining Eyanson and Dzierwa in Chesapeake’s rotation is Caden Hunter, who has now vaulted up to the No. 4 prospect in the O’s system, according to Baseball America. Another left-hander, Hunter has just a 2.04 ERA with close to 14 strikeouts per nine innings between three different levels of the minors. 

He’s allowed an earned run in just 10 of his 19 appearances this season and has surrendered just five home runs in 19 games. 

Forret, back in the system as the Orioles’ No. 6 prospect, is about five years younger than the competition he’s facing in Triple-A. But the 22-year-old has more than held his own, posting a 3.58 ERA in his six starts dating back to July 1. 

He isn’t likely to overwhelm hitters with stuff, but between a deep arsenal and deceptive delivery, he figures to be a big league rotation piece sooner rather than later. In fact, he’s now the highest ranked Norfolk arm, headlining a group that includes Trey Gibson, Luis De León, Nestor German and Levi Wells, all potential starters in their own right. 

Pipeline notes that Kyson Witherspoon, ranked as their No. 7 prospect in Baltimore’s system, has “the look of a frontline starter” if he can get back to some of the things that made him the No. 15 pick in last year’s draft. They note that Boston Bateman, No. 10, will “look like a mid-rotation starter” with some improved command. 

They say the same about De León, who recently earned that promotion to Triple-A, Gibson, who was recently considered Baltimore’s best pitching prospect, and German, who has a 2.08 ERA for the Tides since July 1. 

By my count, that’s already eight arms thought to have starting-rotation potential, and that doesn’t even factor in Esteban Mejia, a bit of a wild card due to his age, and Braxton Bragg, who we have yet to see return from Tommy John surgery. But when he does, the O’s could still have “a legitimate starting pitcher on their hands,” according to Pipeline. 

One of last year’s second-round picks, JT Quinn, just earned a promotion to Double-A, too. 

Yes, the O’s last great batch of talent in the minors hasn’t produced the kind of success at the big league level that you’d like to see from them to this point. But this round of prospects is different: the pantry of arms is stuffed. 

And, perhaps, it’ll lead to different results.