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The Orioles have three players in MLB Pipeline’s latest Top 100 prospects list, including two who debuted a day apart in 2025 and a 16th-round draft pick who earned the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year award.
Outfielder Nate George, 19, is the newcomer, ranking 93rd after playing at three levels in his first professional season and batting .337/.413/.483 with 14 doubles, nine triples, five home runs, 42 RBIs and 50 stolen bases in 87 games. He topped out at High-A Aberdeen.
Catcher Samuel Basallo is eighth and outfielder Dylan Beavers is 69th after they joined the Orioles in August.
Here’s why it matters:
Because both players rank in the Top 100 by multiple outlets, they become eligible for baseball’s Prospect Promotion Incentive program. They must begin the season on the Opening Day roster, which they will, and be chosen the American League’s Rookie of the Year, which gives the Orioles an extra draft pick between the first and second rounds.
The PPI is supposed to dissuade teams from manipulating service time and gain an extra year of control.
Basallo is the top Orioles’ prospect and the backup catcher behind Adley Rutschman after appearing in 31 games and batting .165/.229/.330 with six doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs in 118 plate appearances. The Orioles gave him an unprecedented eight-year extension after only five major league games. That’s how highly he’s viewed in the industry at age 21.
Camp isn’t going to be the same for Basallo, who had no shot at making the club in 2025 but is counted on as a key contributor this season.
“I don’t know how different it’s going to feel yet, but I’m looking forward to going out there every day, working hard to earn my spot and doing what I can to help the team,” he said yesterday via interpreter Brandon Quinones.
Getting that taste of the majors last summer, which included a pair of walk-off RBIs, influenced how he approached the offseason.
“It helped me learn the things that I wanted to attack, the things I wanted to get better at,” he said. “So I do think that the time I spent up here helped me going into the offseason.
“Some things I was failing at offensively that I wanted to work on. Also working on my body, getting into good shape going into this next year. So a little bit of everything.”
Pete Alonso has started 162 games in each of the past two seasons, which isn’t going to leave many innings for Basallo and others at first base. That’s his second position and, until Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million contract, how the Orioles figured to keep his bat in the lineup when he wasn’t catching.
“I’m prepared to play wherever they want to put me at, even if that means time in the outfield,” he said, smiling. “Honestly, wherever they want me to go and be able to play, I’m ready for it. Whether it’s catcher or DH, wherever, I’m ready to go out there and help the team.”
Manager Craig Albernaz seems almost in awe of Basallo’s 6-foot-4 frame, an imposing figure behind the plate or just when he's participating in yesterday’s Birdland Caravan events.
“He’s a big dude. All of those guys are big. Well, to me, everyone’s big,” quipped the 5-foot-8 Albernaz.
“He’s an impactful player, and for us, there’s gonna be at-bats to go around. And also, performance is gonna dictate a lot. And for him, all my conversations with him and the background on him, he’s a competitor and he wants to get better and he’s a team-first guy. So when you have that makeup, he’s going to be just fine and there’s gonna be plenty of at-bats for him.”
Beavers could share right field with Tyler O’Neill, but he also can play the other two spots. He said yesterday that his position hasn’t come up in conversations with Albernaz or anyone else in the organization.
The mindset for Beavers in camp won’t include the assumption that he has a job waiting for him after he also produced two walk-off RBIs last summer and posted a .375 on-base percentage to go with five doubles, a triple, four home runs, 14 RBIs and 26 walks in 35 games.
“I try not to look too far into that and just control what I can control,” he said. “I think if I show up prepared and play well and compete in spring, the chips will fall where I like them.”
Beavers wasn't going to head north with the team last spring, though he didn’t necessarily believe it at the time.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “Like last year, I know now, but then I thought I was trying to get a spot, too, but I mean, I think it wouldn’t have mattered. I would have been back in the minor leagues to start the year anyway. But it’s exciting. This year, I feel like I have more of a chance to break with the team than I may have last year. So I’m gonna try to do well in spring and get ready for the season.”
Beavers didn’t assign himself a grade when asked about his first exposure to the majors, but he said that he was happy with the overall experience.
“I think there’s stuff I learned and I think there’s things I did well,” he said.
“I definitely want to continue to get stronger, hit the ball harder, do more damage in the gaps and handle left-handed pitching. That’s kind of something I’ve worked a ton on this offseason, so I’m excited to get live at-bats off lefties this spring and try to continue to build on that.”
