The delayed gratification of building up an elite farm system has started to pay dividends for the Orioles over the last year and some change. Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson debuted in 2022, and now both are crucial contributors to one of the AL’s top teams. Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser earned big league call-ups just recently and have already looked like everyday options. This is what the “pipeline” that Mike Elias so often referenced during the organization’s rebuild looks like in action.
The average age of an Orioles hitter this season is 27.4, the fourth-youngest in the AL and eighth-youngest overall, per Baseball Reference.