Kjerstad tries hand at first base in Double-A

BALTIMORE -- During Spring Training, outfielder Heston Kjerstad put in some work at first base on the back fields, but manager Brandon Hyde didn’t anticipate placing him there in game action.

“As long as he’s with us [in big league camp], probably not. I have nine first basemen,” Hyde said in mid-March, when the Orioles were sorting through bench candidates.

So Kjerstad didn’t play at first in a Grapefruit League contest. But he’s getting time there now.

Through Double-A Bowie’s first three games of the 2023 season, Kjerstad made two starts at first base and one at designated hitter. The 24-year-old -- who is Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 77 overall prospect -- has committed one error in 16 chances at first while recording 14 putouts and one assist in 18 2/3 innings.

The O’s strive to be as flexible as possible, so having Kjerstad as an option to play first (in addition to all three outfield spots) could be beneficial down the line, especially if he forces his way into the big leagues before the end of the year. He hadn’t played first since 2020, when he appeared in three games there as a junior at the University of Arkansas.

A less surprising occurrence was Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, homering in his first game with the Baysox. He went deep in his Double-A debut on Thursday, belting a solo home run in Bowie’s season-opening 8-0 win at Hartford. Kjerstad was coming off a huge spring in which he hit four Grapefruit homers (tied for the team lead) and slashed .381/.409/.810 in 23 games.

Kjerstad entered the season with only 65 games of Minor League experience after missing all of 2021 due to myocarditis as well as early ‘22 with a left hamstring strain. So far with the Baysox, he is 3-for-12 with two RBIs and five runs scored.

Triple-A: Westburg gets taste of outfield in Norfolk’s rout
Jordan Westburg, Baltimore’s No. 4 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 71 overall prospect, started in left field in Norfolk’s 21-2 home win over Gwinnett on Saturday. It was the first time the 24-year-old infielder patrolled the outfield in three professional seasons. He hadn’t appeared there in a game since playing left in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League in the summer of 2017, before he went to Mississippi State.

Westburg, the No. 30 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, had a fairly uneventful night defensively, but he went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. One of those RBIs came via a fielder’s choice during the Tides’ 11-run sixth inning, which tied an all-time franchise record.

Through six games, Westburg was 7-for-27 (.259) with a homer, six RBIs and four runs scored.

High-A: Fabian hits first home run for Aberdeen
After getting selected by Baltimore with the No. 67 overall pick in last year’s Draft, Jud Fabian went from the Florida Complex League to Single-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen. But he struggled a bit in eight games with the IronBirds, going 4-for-24.

Fabian, the Orioles’ No. 16 prospect, is off to a much better start this time. In three games for Aberdeen this year, the 22-year-old outfielder is 3-for-10 with four RBIs and four runs scored. On Saturday, he hit his first High-A homer, belting a two-run shot in the IronBirds’ 8-2 win over Wilmington, the opener of a doubleheader that the teams split.

Single-A: Holliday, Basallo off to strong starts with Delmarva
Jackson Holliday (Baltimore’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 10 overall prospect) and Samuel Basallo (the O’s No. 11 prospect) are both swinging hot bats to open the season.

Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s Draft, is 6-for-13 with three doubles, four RBIs, two walks and three runs scored through his first three games of the year for the Shorebirds. It’s the 19-year-old shortstop’s first full professional season after he played eight games in the FCL and 12 for Delmarva in 2022.

Basallo hit a home run in each of the Shorebirds’ first two games and is 4-for-14 with five RBIs and three runs scored in three contests. The 18-year-old catcher, who signed with the Orioles as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in January 2021, is playing at Single-A for the first time.