How well do Orioles develop players? | MAILBAG

Question: Do you think the Orioles develop players in the lower level minors as well as other teams? From: Rick Little

Answer: Rick, I think the Orioles have done a good job at developing players in the lower level. Take Félix Bautista, who was in Delmarva in 2019, the first  year of the Mike Elias’ administration. He certainly developed well.

I think they did an excellent job with Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg and seem to have done well with Coby Mayo, whom I think is going to be an excellent player. They may have found something in Jeremiah Jackson, who floundered in other organizations, but has shown a live bat since he debuted a few weeks ago.

I’ve questioned the Orioles’ lack of drafting pitchers with high draft picks, but overall, I think they’ve done well. I’m eager to see how the recently drafted players perform in the next several years.

Question: With Aberdeen no longer going to be its High-A affiliate for the Orioles’ system, will they be content with having a draft league team or attempt to strike a deal with some other MLB team? Your opinion? From: John Hall

Answer: John, Attain Sports owns both the IronBirds and the Frederick Keys, who are going to be the Orioles’ new High-A affiliate, as well as the Double-A Chesapeake Baysox.

The guess here is that Aberdeen will have to be content having a draft league team because much of the draw to having minor league teams in Maryland is that fans can watch future Orioles.

Perhaps if there’s expansion in the major leagues in future years and eight new minor league teams are required, they could think again, but I think that’s a number of years down the road.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.