A few power arms plus more catchers as international prospect rankings list concludes

It’s not necessarily the trade that keeps giving, but a deal where the Orioles seemingly did very well and that might be getting even better.

On Aug. 2, 2022, the O’s dealt righty Jorge López, their closer having a big year, to Minnesota for four pitchers. So far right-hander Yennier Cano has become a late-inning bullpen weapon while lefty Cade Povich is one of their top pitching prospects. Lefty Juan Rojas pitched in the lower minors last year and right-hander Juan Nuñez has a big fastball and leads the third day of the MASNSports.com O’s top 20 international prospect rankings.

He checks in at No. 11 after throwing in 13 games each in 2023 for Low-A Delmarva and High-A Aberdeen.

While he did not win a game – going 0-6 with a 3.96 ERA – Nuñez has shown a good strikeout rate and enough potential to rank 14th on this list and to currently rank No. 22 by Baseball America on the O’s team top 30 list.

Nuñez pitched a combined 104 2/3 innings in 2023 with 58 walks, 125 strikeouts, a .220 average against and 1.36 WHIP. He posted a 10.75 K rate last year and that number is 11.18 for his career, spanning 201 innings.

Basallo, Hernández lead O's international class (updated)

Basallo, Hernández lead O's international class (updated)
The Orioles today announced a signing class of 17 international amateurs, including the club's first two players signed for seven figures. Per industry sources, the club has contract agreements with catcher Samuel Basallo from the Dominican Republic for $1.3 million and with Venezuelan shortstop Maikol Hernández for $1.2 million. The Orioles announced that 11 more from this group are six-figure agreements. Of the 17 agreements, 13 are from the Dominican Republic and four are from...

O's international efforts will soon take another big step

O's international efforts will soon take another big step
The Orioles continue to make some huge strides in their pursuit of international amateur talent. A class of what would eventually be 44 players was added in the signing period that began July 2, 2019 and ended in October. The Orioles will sign fewer players in the coming class, but were involved with many more players commanding bigger signing bonuses. This is the latest sign that the club is serious about becoming a player on the international front and the club will be making history when it...