Two players who are expected to play significant roles in the Orioles’ rebuild will begin the minor league season away from the organization’s affiliates.
Neither outfielder Heston Kjerstad, Baltimore’s No. 4 prospect according to Baseball America, nor right-hander Michael Baumann, its eighth-ranked prospect, were included on a roster of one of the Orioles’ four minor league teams. Instead, as the members of those affiliates start their seasons Tuesday, that pair will begin at extended spring training in Sarasota, Florida.
Since the Orioles selected him second overall in the 2020 draft, Kjerstad has had limited participation in team activities because he was diagnosed with myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart.