We’re in the dog days of the off-season now, with just a handful of top free agents left unsigned.
We’re not seeing a ton in the way of real Orioles news at the moment, though the Jorge Mateo is about to enter an arbitration battle with the O’s front office and Mike Elias has said that they’re still thinking about ways to improve the roster ahead of spring training.
One thing we are seeing quite a bit of is talk about which prospects we might see hit their stride in 2025 and beyond.
Earlier this month, our own Hunter Mulholland dove into a group of Orioles prospects that fans should start to familiarize themselves with ahead of the upcoming season.
On top of that, Bleacher Report recently published their own extensive list, naming one potential breakout prospect candidate from each MLB organization.
For the Orioles, Bleacher Report tabbed left-hander Luis De León, who finished the 2024 season at High-A Aberdeen.
De León has had some strong success in Rookie ball and at Single-A, but the results weren’t quite there after reaching Aberdeen last year. If everything breaks right, he could make his debut in late 2026, though 2027 seems more realistic.
This young Orioles’ lefty is someone to keep an eye on in 2025
With the Iron Birds, De León pitched to a 5.73 ERA and a career-high 14.6% walk rate in 59.2 innings.
His 4.46 FIP suggests a bit of bad luck, but it’s his lower level performance that most scouts and writers are going back to right now.
At Delmarva in 2024, De León struck out over 35% of the batters he faced, and he did so with just a 6% walk rate.
He did that with an extremely effective 62.7% ground ball rate that led to a 2.25 ERA and a 2.08 FIP in 7 starts.
If De León can keep things on track, he’s a pretty strong choice for breakout candidate of the year.
There’s a lot that needs to go right in order for him to eventually make his way to Baltimore, but there’s a reason why MLB has him as the Orioles’ 8th ranked prospect right now.
When the fastball is on, De León looks impressive. He sits mid-90’s with the four-seamer and can ramp it up to 97-98 at times.
He throws a changeup that looks about good enough to play right now and if he can get the slider dialed in, which looks a bit uncontrolled at times, he could turn into a force to be reckoned with.
