Jordan Westburg believes ‘the sky’s the limit’ for fellow infield prospect Connor Norby – The Denver Post

Later this month, Jordan Westburg will no longer be a prospect.

The Orioles’ young infielder, who made his MLB debut June 26, will graduate from such status on Baseball America’s list once he takes his 130th big league at-bat — he’s 14 away. When he does, Westburg will be the Orioles’ third top-100 prospect to graduate this year, joining Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez.

Westburg is ranked as Baltimore’s No. 4 prospect in the sport’s top-ranked farm system that’s headlined by its infield stockpile. That list of infielders is about five names long, topped by No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday. The last name on the list, however, is a 23-year-old who is putting up good numbers in his first full season at Triple-A, yet has fallen significantly in prospect rankings.

Connor Norby entered the season as one of eight Baltimore prospects inside Baseball America’s top 100. At No. 93 overall, he was ranked ahead of infielders Joey Ortiz and Coby Mayo, catcher Samuel Basallo, left-handed pitcher Cade Povich and outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Jud Fabian — a group of players who all now rank higher than Norby. The second baseman is no longer a top-100 prospect and is currently No. 12 on Baltimore’s list.

Norby, who progressed from High-A to Triple-A in 2022 and led all Orioles minor leaguers with 29 home runs, got off to a slow start this spring with a .658 OPS in April and just three homers in his first 41 games. Westburg, who became teammates with Norby last season when the latter was promoted to Triple-A in September, said Norby has high expectations for himself — a result of being someone who “lives for baseball.”

“He puts a lot of pressure on himself to do well,” Westburg said of Norby. “It’s a double-edged sword. If things are going bad, he can get down on himself and struggle. But he’s going to continue to push through and grind and grind and grind until it gets right. And now he’s heating up and putting up good numbers.

“He loves baseball. He wants to be a big leaguer for a long time and he certainly has the talent to do so. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Since his early struggles, which aren’t uncommon for a player adjusting to a new level considering he played just nine games with Norfolk last season, Norby is putting up excellent offensive numbers similar to the ones Westburg, Henderson and Adley Rutschman compiled before their promotions. Since mid-May, Norby is slashing .302/.367/.528 — good for a .895 OPS — with 20 doubles and 12 home runs in 67 games.

For the season, Norby is hitting .286 with an .813 OPS — good numbers, but his slugging is down compared with last year. While the numbers are solid, his profile isn’t flawless. He’s not a plus defender and is mainly a second baseman, although he’s periodically played left field. And his 22.7% strikeout rate is about three times higher than his walk rate and two percentage points worse than in 2022.

Given the Orioles’ infield pileup — not just in the minors, but in the majors, too, with Westburg, Henderson, Adam Frazier, Jorge Mateo and Ramón Urías — it appears unlikely that Norby will make it to the show this season. The wait is something Westburg, who played 158 games in Triple-A before his call-up, is familiar with.

“Don’t focus on that. Focus on what you need to do every day to keep improving,” Westburg said his advice would be to players waiting in the wings. “There’s eyes on you at all times. People up here see everything that guys down there are doing. You’re never not being seen. As long as you’re going about your business in a professional manner and you’re really working to improve in every aspect daily, somebody’s going to see that, somebody’s going to want to use that. That would be my advice: Stick with it, and things will work out.

“If you have confidence in yourself and if you go about your work in a professional manner, people are going to notice that.”

Norby is far from the only prospect biding his time in the minors. That’s why each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down five of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for those who didn’t make that cut.

1. Double-A Bowie shortstop Jackson Holliday

For the third time this season, Holliday recorded five hits in a game. The 19-year-old went 5-for-6 on Friday with a triple and two RBIs. It was the latest in a long list of games this season that has earned the wunderkind the status of Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect. The 2022 No. 1 overall pick hit .396 with a 1.183 OPS in 14 games with Low-A Delmarva. He hit .314 with a .940 OPS in 57 games with High-A Aberdeen. In 19 games with the Baysox, he’s hitting .380 with a 1.026 OPS.

2. Triple-A Norfolk corner infielder Coby Mayo

Mayo opened the season outside Baseball America’s top 100 list and ranked as Baltimore’s 10th-best prospect. Four months later, he’s rated as the 27th-best prospect in the sport and third in the Orioles’ system. The 21-year-old went 5-for-17 with three doubles, one homer and four walks last week for the Tides. After posting a .307 average and a 1.026 OPS in Double-A, Mayo is hitting .205 with a .421 slugging percentage in 26 Triple-A games.

3. Low-A Delmarva outfielder Matthew Etzel

Etzel was among a handful of 2023 draftees who were promoted to Delmarva a week ago. The 10th-round pick out of Southern Miss didn’t need time to adjust to the new level, going 8-for-22 with two home runs, nine RBIs and six stolen bases. Jalen Vasquez, a shortstop taken in the 20th round, went 4-for-12 with seven walks. First-round pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. was 2-for-10 with an eye-popping nine walks and eight stolen bases in four games.

4. Triple-A Norfolk right-hander Chayce McDermott

McDermott was promoted to Triple-A after MLB’s All-Star break and has since perhaps pitched the best of his three-year career. The 6-foot-3 right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 24 innings with the Tides, allowing just nine hits while striking out 31 in 24 innings. On Wednesday, the Orioles’ No. 14 prospect gave up one run in five innings with six punchouts.

5. Double-A Bowie outfielder Jud Fabian

Holliday’s five-hit performance was the highlight on the farm last week, but Fabian actually put up the best numbers of any Bowie player. Fabian, ranked No. 10 in Baltimore’s system, went 5-for-15 with two home runs, three RBIs, three walks and a stolen base. After hitting .281 with a .882 OPS in High-A, Fabian has a .173 average and .699 OPS in 39 games with the Baysox.

The top prospect not featured so far

Technically, the player who fills this description is Colton Cowser, but the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect spent last week in the major leagues before being optioned back to Triple-A when Aaron Hicks was activated off the injured list. The next in line would be Westburg, who is starting the majority of the Orioles’ games. So that brings up Basallo, Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect who continued his excellent season last week with Aberdeen. Basallo, who turned 19 on Sunday, went 7-for-20 with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs. After hitting .299 with a .887 OPS with the Shorebirds, the catcher is hitting .214 with a .646 OPS in 11 games with the IronBirds.

International acquisition of the week

At 19 years old, Deivy Cruz is 2.6 years younger than the average player in Low-A’s Carolina League. The Delmarva Shorebirds left-hander isn’t pitching like it. On Friday, Cruz went five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out three. Since June 15, the Dominican Republic native, who the Orioles signed in January 2021, has a 1.55 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings. He’s 8-2 with a 3.36 ERA this season, allowing 6.7 hits per nine innings and striking out 9.7.

Time to give a shoutout to

Cole Irvin wasn’t the only starting pitcher the Orioles acquired from the Oakland Athletics to pitch well last week. Aberdeen right-hander Kyle Virbitsky, who Baltimore also got back in the Irvin trade in January for infield prospect Darell Hernaiz, pitched five shutout innings for the IronBirds on Thursday. He scattered three hits and one walk while striking out five. For the season, the 6-foot-7 24-year-old has a 4.25 ERA.

Short-season snippets

The Florida Complex League featured a few professional debuts from the Orioles’ 2023 draft class last week. Right-hander Kiefer Lord, a third-round pick who was part of Baltimore’s largest pitching investment in the draft since Mike Elias took over as general manager in November 2018, pitched two scoreless, hitless innings, striking out one and walking one. Right-hander Blake Money, who the Orioles took in the 12th round out of LSU, allowed three hits and one run in 1 2/3 innings with three punchouts. Undrafted free agents Jack Maruskin and Ty Weatherly also made their debuts. Maruskin, a right-hander out of Frostburg State, surrendered eight runs in one-third of an inning. Weatherly, a right-hander out of Ball State, tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames.

Orioles at Padres

Tuesday, 9:40 p.m.

TV: MASN2, MLB Network (out of market only)

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

Orioles at Padres

Wednesday, 8:40 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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