When the Orioles made five trades in two July weeks, the influx of minor league players in their system, combined with a number of breakout seasons in their minor leagues, made for a jumbled set of prospect rankings when the entire system was examined.
Now that the minor league seasons are over, the hierarchy is coming into better focus. For the second year running, I've had the privilege of putting together the Orioles' prospect rankings for the Baseball America handbook. The top-10 is out today, and here's some background on how I arrived at them, what it all means, and where some of the expected names ended up.