Orioles minors recap 4/18: Bradfield, Honeycutt homer, pitchers struggle

Double-A: New Hampshire (Blue Jays) 7, Chesapeake Baysox 6 – 10 innings

My guy Aron Estrada got two hits, including a double, to raise his season OPS to .626. There wasn’t much worth mentioning for the other hitting prospects on this roster. Hopefully it’s just an off day for guys like Thomas Sosa (1-5) and Ethan Anderson (0-5), who do have good season numbers, rather than the start of a trend. This was also not a great day for starting pitching prospect Luis De León, with the lefty being tagged for seven hits while allowing four walks in four innings. That resulted in the Fisher Cats putting four runs on the board against him. Despite this, the Baysox took a 5-4 lead into the eighth inning, but then New Hampshire tied it up and won it in extras, eventually getting a walkoff wild pitch after an intentional walk and a bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out. Box score.

High-A: Frederick Keys 7, Hudson Valley (Yankees) 1

In contrast to the previous two entries, and the one below it, there is actually some fun stuff to report from this game. Starting pitcher JT Quinn, an early draft pick last year, added a third excellent start to begin his first full pro season, posting five shutout innings with just three hits and one walk allowed. Quinn struck out seven Renegades batters. He has a 0.64 ERA and has struck out 23 batters in 14 innings this year. Pretty good. Batting out of the leadoff spot, Ike Irish did an excellent job of setting the table. He reached base with two hits and a walk and also stole a pair of bases – though he still only scored one run since the guys after him, Nate George and Wehiwa Aloy, each took an 0-for. Things picked up from lower in the lineup, including the spring training sensation Vance Honeycutt, who hit his second home run of the season in the fourth inning. He’s only hitting .229 but is OPSing .814 on the young season. This includes reaching base in all nine games where he was in the starting lineup. His problems aren’t guaranteed to have been fixed, but it’s an interesting beginning. Outfielder Braylin Tavera (3-4 including a two-run homer) and big man Victor Figueroa – one of the six players from the Padres trade last year – added multi-hit games as well. This continues to be the affiliate with the most excitement going on so far in 2026. Not that this is wholly reflected by their 5-7 record so far. Box score.

Low-A: Fredericksburg (Nationals) 10, Delmarva Shorebirds 3

I have seen a lot of “the starting pitcher was bad, the defense was also bad, and so was the offense” games from the Shorebirds in recent years. Here’s another one. They committed three errors, although none of these led to unearned runs. But the real ugliness comes from starting pitcher Esteban Mejia, a hard-thrower who is battling command problems like many young hard-throwers do. What kind of command problems? How about, eight walks out of 13 batters faced in a 2.1 inning start? Yeah. 19-year-old DJ Layton, a sixth round overslot pick from two years ago, doubled and drew a walk out of the leadoff spot. The infielder has a 1.028 OPS across his first 12 games of the season. I’ll sign up for some more of that. Box score.

Saturday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Durham, 6:45. Starter: Brandon Young
• Chesapeake: at New Hampshire, 1:05. Starter: Sebastian Gongora
• Frederick: vs. Hudson Valley, 6:00. Starter: Juaron Watts-Brown
• Delmarva: at Fredericksburg, 6:35. Starter: Christian Rodriguez Jackson Holliday is supposed to start a new minor league rehab assignment with Frederick this weekend, possibly as soon as today.