With the Orioles in a full-blown rebuild, it makes sense to ask the question “Which players on the 40-man can be part of a winning future here in Baltimore?”
Of course, some of the Orioles top prospects in Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, Ryan Mountcastle, Yusniel Diaz, Dean Kremer, Zach Lowther and of course Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson are all hopefully part of that future, but we will look at when these prospects could be ready to contribute in a future piece.
Grading System:
Grade Hitters Starters Relievers
80 HOFer HOFer #1
75 Top 1-2 Top 1-2 #1
70 Top 5 Top 5 #1
65 All-Star All-Star #1-#2
60 Plus #2-#3 Elite Closer All-Star
55 Above AVG #3-#4 Mid-Closer
50 AVG Regular #4-#5 Low-Closer/Elite Setup
45 Platoon/Utility #5-Swingman Setup
40 Bench Up/Down Middle/Long relief
35 Up/Down Emergency Up/Down
30 Org (AA/AAA) Org (AA/AAA) Org (AA/AAA)
25 Org (AA) Org (AA) Org (AA)
20 Org (A Ball ) Org (A Ball) Org (A Ball)
The percentages are my assessment of the chances that a player has of being a significant contributor to that season for the Orioles. By 2022, when the Orioles could realistically have a chance to start competing, I only see seven players as having a 50% chance or more of being a significant contributor with only John Means, Trey Mancini, Hunter Harvey, and Austin Hays as having a 70% or better of a chance.
Although a quick exercise, this goes to show that most of the talent that will be on a competing Orioles team is not currently on the 40-man roster. Probably not a big surprise to most, but an interesting exercise nonetheless.