Will the Orioles bunt more in 2026? | MAILBAG

Question: Do you think the Orioles will add bunting to their arsenal this winter for a team that is situationally challenged? From: Les Diver

Answer: Les, the Orioles should bunt more. They had just four sacrifice bunts in 2025, fewest in baseball and rarely attempted to bunt for hits.

If Tony Mansolino is the fulltime manager, it would be a priority. I know he’s keenly aware of the issue and would stress it in spring training.

A problem is that many of their young hitters didn’t need to bunt in high school, college or in the minor leagues.

Interestingly, three of the final four teams remaining in the postseason were among the league leaders in sacrifices. Toronto was third with 35. Milwaukee was sixth with 26 and Seattle was eighth with 28. The Dodgers had just 13.

Question: Luis De Leon tore up Double-A to round off the year and has gotten off to a strong start in the Arizona Fall League. Any idea what his timeline to Baltimore might look like? From: Oscar Dutton

Answer: Oscar, for fans who don’t closely follow the minors, De Leon is the Orioles’ 21^st-ranked prospect, a 22-year-old left-hander who finished the season with a 1.69 ERA in three starts at Bowie. He’s in the AFL because he missed time during the season because of an injury.

I saw De Leon pitch twice during spring training, once during a Grapefruit League game and in the Spring Breakout game.

The Orioles seem to be more conservative with their pitching prospects than with their position player prospects, so I would think they’ll start him at Chesapeake in 2026 and assuming he pitches well, move him to Norfolk later in the season.

They have some interesting prospects in Double-A and Triple-A. De Leon, Michael Forret and Jauron Watts-Brown ended the year with the Baysox. Trey Gibson, Nestor German and Levi Wells ended the season with the Tides.

I’d guess the Triple-A group could get their first shot at the majors sometime in 2026, and perhaps the Double-A group could follow late in the season or in 2027.

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.