Conway on Stallings, Peek and Brnovich

When the Orioles acquired pitcher Garrett Stallings from the Angels in the José Iglesias trade on Dec. 2, 2020, there were no professional starts to sift through. No professional data to digest.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias knew Stallings from the University of Tennessee, targeting him in the previous year's draft before the Angels selected him in the fifth round. Elias kept tabs on the right-hander while Los Angeles shut him down that summer and COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season.

The Orioles picked up Iglesias' $3.5 million option a month before the trade, the second deal between the teams around the non-tender deadline. They sent pitcher Dylan Bundy to the Angels in December 2019 for four minor league pitchers.

MLBPipeline.com rated Stallings, a native of Chesapeake, Va., as the Angels' No. 21 prospect and he represented only half of the return for Iglesias. The Orioles also acquired young pitcher Jean Pinto, who just turned 21 years old after posting a combined 2.30 ERA and 0.855 WHIP, with 84 strikeouts in 66 2/3 innings between Rookie-level Florida Complex League Black team and low Single-A Delmarva.

Stallings, 24, can't crack the Orioles' top 30 prospects list, a reflection of the improved level of talent in the system and his inability to force the issue. Pinto isn't there, either.

The best of Stallings came at high Single-A Aberdeen, where he was 8-3 with 4.39 ERA and 1.200 WHIP in 14 games (13 starts). He walked only 12 batters in 80 innings.

"He's a gamer," said Josh Conway, the IronBirds' pitching coach last summer.

"As far as the stuff goes, he's not going to blow up the radar gun, but he knows how to use what he's got. He throws, like, four pitches for strikes, he competes really well, he's always in the zone, which is really nice to see. I think he had one game where it was through seven at, like, 72 pitches, so a very efficient guy pounding the zone, coming right after you and basically daring you to hit him, which is nice. And he takes his strikeouts as needed.

"He found himself in a ton of 0-2, 1-2 counts this year, just being ahead of hitters, attacking guys in four pitches or less. Really had that mentality of, 'I'm just going to go right after you.' It was intriguing to see. He did a great job."

Conway is moving up to Double-A Bowie this season and should be reunited with Stallings, who appeared in six games with the Baysox, including three starts, and went 2-3 with a 5.54 ERA and 1.346 WHIP in 26 innings.

Stallings' fastball routinely sat at 90-92 mph last year, "and we saw a couple bumps there to 93," Conway said.

"He's more of a sinker guy, so at times this season he paced himself a little bit for starts and then started figuring out that, 'You know, I can go right after guys from the get-go.' He started really attacking and we started to see a little bit more of a jump there in the average velocity. He figured out how to use that really well."

The Bundy trade netted pitchers Kyle Bradish, Isaac Mattson, Zach Peek and Kyle Brnovich. Mattson made his major league debut last summer and Bradish is poised to arrive later this year.

Peek, 23, averaged 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings in 13 games (nine starts) with Delmarva and 11.7 in 10 games (seven starts) with Aberdeen in his first professional season. Armed with a high-spin curveball and changeup that can be a weapon, Peek improved his ERA from 4.37 to 3.22 and WHIP from 1.412 to 1.321 following his promotion.

Nice gains from a pitcher whose weight is listed at 190 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame.

"Peek's great," Conway said. "His demeanor on the mound is, he's a big-time presence guy. He's tall and skinny, a little beanpole, but he goes out there and really battles and has a lot of heart on the mound. Wears his emotions on his sleeve. All that kind of stuff. But with that, he doesn't back down from guys, either. If things aren't going well, he stays right with the attack plan.

"He's got good stuff, not afraid to blow the fastball in on guys, which was really nice to see coming up from the low A level. Right from the beginning he wasn't afraid to use the fastball inside to righties and inside to lefties, which obviously opens up a ton of opportunities for his other stuff. He's a big mentality guy who knows how to get himself going."

Brnovich, 24, spent his first professional season with Aberdeen and Bowie. He made 23 appearances, including 19 starts, and was 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.032 WHIP over 95 innings.

The former eighth-round pick out of Elon University walked 26 batters and struck out 123. His ERA ranked third in the system among pitchers with a minimum of 80 innings.

"He's just like Stallings," Conway said. "He knows how to attack the zone, uses a three-pitch mix there. He has a really, really sharp breaking ball that he loves. Sometimes, he loves it a little too much, but he did a really good job of figuring out how to use the changeup this season to lefties especially. But he also used it to right-handed hitters, which was really nice to see, and get those guys off balance to open up the curveball to be in play.

"He's one of those guys who can use the top of the zone with his fastball and locate really well as needed. And again, likes to pound the zone, likes to be ahead of guys, and figures out a way to put them away, which is awesome."

Note: Baseball America released its first top 100 prospects list for 2022 and five Orioles are represented, led by catcher Adley Rutschman at No. 1.

Grayson Rodriguez moves up to No. 6, the highest ranking for any pitcher. Left-hander DL Hall is No. 52, shortstop Gunnar Henderson is No. 57 and outfielder Colton Cowser is No. 98.

Hall is the only one on the 40-man roster.