DOMINANT!

The Orioles place eight prospects in the Top 100. What's next?

- MATT FRRY

If there’s one thing that three decades of ranking the Top 100 Prospects in baseball makes clear, it’s that there is safety in numbers.

Prospects are volatile by nature. That’s why an organization with a high quantity of top minor league talent is more likely to produce high-quality big leaguers.

And no organization has a higher quantity of quality prospects this year than the Orioles, who have eight of the Top 100 Prospects. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson tops the list. Righthander Grayson Rodriguez ranks No. 6 and is the second-best pitching prospect in baseball. Shortstop Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, checks in at No. 15.

That trio alone provides substantial future value to the Orioles, in addition to the contributions of franchise catcher Adley Rutschman, who was the No. 1 overall prospect in 2022 and shined as a rookie.

But Baltimore has five other Top 100 Prospects to go with its elite trio of Henderson, Rodriguez and Holliday, albeit not in the range where future stardom is assured or necessarily likely. Prospects are volatile by nature, after all.

Outfielder Colton Cowser checks in No. 41. Lefthander DL Hall and third baseman Jordan Westburg rank at Nos. 75 and 76. Second baseman Connor Norby and shortstop Joey Ortiz appear in the 90s.

Every one of Baltimore’s prospects in the Top 100, with the exception of the 19-year-old Holliday, has reached at least