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As Minor League players have ascended the ranks of the Orioles’ farm system in recent years, Anthony Villa has been earning promotions of his own alongside them. For the 2024 season, Villa will have another new title as the 29-year-old was named Baltimore’s director of player development earlier this offseason.

Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting, previously served as director of player development. Together, Blood and Villa have been instrumental in the growth of the talented prospects coming through the club’s pipeline of late.

A native of Danville, Calif., Villa attended Saint Mary’s College of California and was selected by the White Sox in the 19th round of the 2016 MLB Draft, playing three seasons in Chicago’s Minor League system from ‘16 to ‘18.

In 2019, Villa landed his first full-time coaching job, hired to be the hitting coach for the Aberdeen IronBirds, Baltimore’s then Class A short-season affiliate (the '20 Minor League season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Villa served as a hitting coach for the O’s Rookie-level Florida Complex League team in ‘21, became the club’s Minor League lower-level hitting coordinator in ‘22, then worked as the overall Minor League hitting coordinator in ‘23.

Last week, I caught up with Villa during the 2023 Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., where we chatted about his latest promotion, the talent in the Orioles’ system and more.

MLB.com: First off, how much are you looking forward to your new job for 2024?

Villa: I’m very excited for this new role. It’s been a lot of fun being in the organization over the years and I’ve enjoyed the people that I have gotten to work with. So in the new role, I’m hoping to work even more closely with them and really excited to support our people.

MLB.com: How impressive is the group of talent in Baltimore’s farm system at the moment?

Villa: Very impressive. It’s been an amazing group. Not just impressive talent, but impressive character out of our players. They’ve been tremendous to work with, they carry themselves very well and obviously the on-field talent speaks for itself.

MLB.com: You were the Minor League hitting coordinator in 2023. What did that role entail?

Villa: I traveled from the lowest level, which would be the Dominican Summer League, all the way up to the Major Leagues and really just made sure that our systems were uniform across all platforms, our coaches were working well with each other and with the players and we had a really unified bunch.

Something that we were really proud of was the engagement across levels. It wasn’t unfamiliar for our coaches in the Dominican Summer League to be in contact with our Major League hitting coaches. That led to really a clear and consistent message across the organization. We felt like our transitions as players moved on up the affiliate ranks were really smooth, and we’re really proud of our coaches. We think they do a great job and they put a lot of effort in.

MLB.com: As you traveled around, which hitting prospects stood out to you the most?

Villa: There are so many names. I mean, obviously Jackson Holliday is the one that is on everyone’s mind. I love to reference Samuel Basallo, just because he played at the complexes in 2021 and 2022, so people maybe didn’t get to watch him as much as a player at a full-season affiliate. So to see the breakout year that he had, going from [Single-A] Delmarva and finishing in [Double-A] Bowie, was really amazing, especially being so young.

MLB.com: Did you see that type of breakout coming from the 19-year-old Basallo (the O’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline)?

Villa: We had the belief that he was capable of doing this. Obviously, that jump from the complex to a full-season affiliate is really challenging. But he carries himself really well, works really hard, and as he continues to mature, he’s going to be a really good player.

MLB.com: You mentioned Holliday before -- what’s it been like to watch the progress made by baseball’s No. 1 overall prospect?

Villa: It’s been super fun to see Jackson continue to develop. Being as young as he is, he’s still continuing to grow into his potential. I’m really excited for him to be in the big leagues at some point in the future. He carries himself extremely well and works really hard, and the skill set is really impressive.