The Orioles' top Minors performers so far

With the Orioles' Minor League system now ranked the fifth-best in baseball by MLB Pipeline, it's time to pay attention.

All summer at orioles.com, we’ll be keeping tabs on the top performers from each rung of the Minor League ladder with weekly roundups. Think of it as a way to track the rebuilding process in real time.

Here are the O’s top Minor League performers from the past week:

Triple-A Norfolk

Pitcher: RHP Konner Wade
Prospect ranking: Unranked

A 29-year-old righty, Wade pitched five innings of one-run ball against Jacksonville in his season debut, and he blanked Charlotte for six innings in his first start. He has struck out eight and walked four over his first 11 innings, pitching to a 0.82 ERA.

Position player: 1B Tyler Nevin
Prospect ranking: No. 23 on the club's Top 30 list

With four homers in his first 11 games, Nevin leads the Tides in home runs and is tied for third most in Triple-A East. He’s already nearly one-third of the way to his career high of 13 homers, set in 2018 and '19 in the Rockies' system. When the O’s acquired Nevin as part of the Mychal Givens trade at the 2020 Trade Deadline, his calling card was his hitting ability, not necessarily power. That’s why the recent uptick is notable. But it has come at a cost; Nevin is hitting just .190 with a .239 on-base percentage so far.

Double-A Bowie

Pitcher: LHP DL Hall
Prospect ranking: No. 58 overall, club No. 4

Has anyone in the Minors been more dominant in his first two 2021 starts than Hall? The electric lefty whiffed 10 in 4 1/3 innings at Altoona in his season debut, then struck out nine more in five shutout innings against Reading in his second start. It’s a small sample, but Hall may also be growing out of the command issues that plagued him as a younger prospect -- he has walked just two batters in 9 1/3 innings so far this season.

Position player: 2B Terrin Vavra
Prospect ranking: Club No. 11

Adley Rutschman has garnered most of the headlines from the first few weeks of Double-A Bowie’s season, but Vavra has been the Baysox’s most consistent performer. Acquired with Nevin from Colorado in the Givens deal, Vavra collected 11 hits, four doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in his first eight games in the Orioles' organization.

High-A Aberdeen

Pitcher: RHP Grayson Rodriguez
Prospect ranking: No. 22 overall, club No. 2

The O’s co-Minor League Pitcher of the Year from 2019 is off to another great start in '21. The latest example came Saturday, when Rodriguez struck out 11 in five innings of one-run ball against Hudson Valley in his third start at Aberdeen. In three outings this season, Rodriguez owns a 1.46 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings.

Position player: C Maverick Handley
Prospect ranking: Unranked

Baltimore’s sixth-round pick in 2019, Handley is that other catcher making noise in the O’s system. And not only with his bat and his glove -- also with his feet and his arm. The most impressive part of Handley’s hot start (.393 OBP) are his five stolen bases through seven games, more than double his total output from '19 at Low-A. He has also cut down at least two would-be basestealers behind the plate.

Low-A Delmarva

Pitcher: RHP Brandon Young
Prospect ranking: Unranked

Signed as an undrafted free agent after the shortened 2020 MLB Draft, Young struck out 10 over his first 6 2/3 innings at Delmarva, allowing just one earned run across two starts. Opponents are hitting just .091 against the righty in the early going.

Position player: INF Gunnar Henderson
Prospect ranking: Club No. 5

No position player turned more heads at the Orioles' alternate training site and instructional camp than Henderson, their second-round Draft pick in 2019. The 19-year-old picked up where he left off in his first taste of affiliated ball, homering in his first at-bat and thrice in his first week-plus with the Shorebirds. Henderson is hitting .341 with three homers, 16 RBIs and a .404 OBP in his first 10 games at the level.