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For the Orioles in recent years, seeing a highly-ranked prospect come up and produce right away has been a challenge. Frankly, it’s a challenge for a lot of players and teams.

Any move up the minor league ladder can be a challenge for a young player but the move to the majors is the hardest. Hard to get there, sometimes harder to stay there.

The O’s can go back to Cal Ripken Jr. to see his rough start in the majors. More recently, then No. 1 ranked prospect Adley Rutschman came up in May of 2022. After his first 20 big league games, he was batting .176 with no homers or RBIs. Colton Cowser hit .115 in 2023, and Grayson Rodriguez had an ERA of 7.35 his first 10 MLB starts. Now he’s a top of the rotation type pitcher.

In 2024, elite prospects like Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo had some big-time MLB struggles.

During the Winter Meetings, O’s director of player development Anthony Villa was asked about how the organization can try to help their top prospects get off to better starts when they arrive in the big leagues?

“That is certainly the challenge, and I think it’s the challenge that every organization is looking into,” said Villa. “How can we get our guys to go up and be impact players right away? It’s tough and the majority of prospects don’t fulfill that right away. Some come up and have to make adjustments.

“We are looking to see what each players’ individual weaknesses are and how they can be exploited? And how we can try to get ahead of that in the minors, before they go up to the big leagues? But that projection-game can be pretty hard to play.”

Villa was asked specifically about Heston Kjerstad and Mayo. Can big league struggles and sporadic playing time hurt their confidence?

“As far as confidence goes, they are confident kids,” he said. “And they should be. They’re really good baseball players. I think this young core that we have going up to the major leagues, sometimes there is not that instant success. They do a good job of leaning on each other, learning from each other and going through growth experiences.

“Where improvements can be made, every player has their profile. Why the major leagues is so hard – you are going up against the best players in the world trying to exploit your weaknesses. But I know they are working hard at it and with more time and repetition, we are very confident in those players.”