5 Orioles prospects standing out in Delmarva
It hasn't been a pretty season in Low-A, but these five Orioles prospects are standing out.
Written by: Nick Stevens
Since the birth of On The Verge five years ago, my favorite level of the minor leagues to watch and discuss on the show has always been Delmarva. It can be a tough watch some nights, but it’s an opportunity to get eyes on rising international prospects for the first time and see if the hype is real surrounding players who stood out in the Florida Complex League.
It’s also an opportunity to try and identify the next breakout prospect in the system among the younger, lesser-known prospects. That’s the real fun in watching Delmarva.
This year’s roster hasn’t been as exciting as previous years and injuries to two of the better prospects in RHP Keeler Morfe (finger/zero control) and catcher Miguel Rodriguez (ankle fracture) haven’t helped, but there are a few players standing out and impressing through the first two months of the year.
**It was announced on Saturday that IF Luis Almeyda, OF Nate George, and 3B Joshua Liranzo have been promoted from the FCL to Delmarva. Inject this infusion of talent directly into my veins**
Catcher Yasmil Bucce has been the clear standout. I just recently wrote about him a little and we’ve discussed his season in more detail on recent podcast episodes, so I won’t go on too long. The 20-year-old left-handed hitting backstop has a 165 wRC+ in 209 plate appearances, with 17 total extra-base hits (5 HR), an 18% walk rate, 22% strikeout rate, and a .295 batting average.
The breakout appears to be very real. Per Baseball America, Bucce has posted a max EV north of 113 mph with very impressive swing and miss and chase rates. He regularly hits the ball hard, just not so much in the air. Once he’s able to start trading in some of his groundballs for flyballs, the power numbers should begin flowing.
OF Raylin Ramos was one of my favorite signings of the 2022 international signing class, mainly because of his beautiful swing. From the Dominican Republic, Ramos signed for $197,500 and had a very solid debut in the DSL, but missed the vast majority of the 2023 and 2024 seasons in the FCL due to an injury.
He’s fully healthy again and in Delmarva as a 20-year-old. Through April, Ramos was hitting .257 with a 27% K/8% BB, an 86 wRC+, an .043 ISO, and one stolen base.
In the month of May, Ramos hit .274 with a 23% K/12% BB, a 142 wRC+, and a .167 ISO, while going 6-6 in stolen base attempts. The improvements at the plate have been notable and his hot/cold streaks have been smoothed out as the season has progressed.
The outfield defense and athleticism have been on display, as has his power with one of his home runs this season coming in at 110 mph. Settling in as quickly as he has after missing critical time at a young age is a very positive sign for the promising young outfielder.
On the mound, the standouts start with RHP Evan Yates. Yates was a 20th round pick out of Cal State Fullerton (Orioles also took his teammate RHP Christian Rodriguez in the 10th round) and began his 2025 campaign with a 4 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K performance.
His next two starts did not go as well: 3 IP (combined), 8 R, 9 BB, 5 K
Since then, Yates has logged 34.1 IP with a 2.36 ERA, a .163 average against, 29.2% strikeout rate, and an 8% walk rate. Overall, he’s done a good job of getting ahead early in counts and producing solid in-zone whiffs with a 30% called-strike plus whiff percentage and 14.2% swinging-strike rate.
Yates is 22 years old, but he did not pitch at Cal State Fullerton in 2024, so one of the primary developmental checkboxes in 2025 is going to be building back up toward a full season’s workload. He did pitch for the Frederick Keys in the MLB Draft League during the summer of 2024 where he posted a 1.27 ERA across 21 innings with 19 strikeouts.
Here’s what Evan Yates produced during that campaign with the Keys last summer:
I imagine it looks even better now that he’s further removed from whatever caused him to miss the 2024 college season.
When you watch enough Low-A baseball, a lot of times you can instantly watch a player and know whether or not they are a viable prospect. That was the case with RHP Yeiber Cartaya last year when I watched his very first outing.
The now 22-year-old stands 6’5” and has a much more refined delivery this year as he’s shown slow but steady improvements as the season has progressed.
After his first two years featured enormous ERAs and back-to-back 18% walk rates, Cartaya got to Delmarva last year and saw his strikeout spike to 30% with a 1.11 ERA and a .174 average against. The 10% walk rate was still high, but a massive improvement compared to his career rate.
It looked like was regressing to his early career form through his first three outings this year: 8.1 IP, 12.96 ERA, .343 average against, 22.9% strikeout AND walk rate. Oof.
In 33 innings since: 3.27 ERA, .147 average against, 24% strikeout rate, 15% walk rate. He’s allowed no earned runs with 4 walks and 13 strikeouts over his last two outings (10.1 IP). The walks are still a big issue (as is his tendency to hit batters), but there’s clearly been a big adjustment since the start of the season.
He was incredibly raw when he got to Delmarva last year, with arms and limbs flailing around from his 6-5 frame, so he’s a longer project type arm compared to some of his peers and seeing as he’s shown real improvements already this year, I think he’s still worth paying close attention. I like buying in on young international prospects with real stuff who may just need more time to grow into their frame. It’s a boom-or-bust profile, but he’s shown more than enough to remain intriguing.
Last but not least, RHP Luis Beltran. Listed at 6’4”, the 21 year old righty signed with the 2023 international class out of the Dominican Republic. I can’t say I knew anything about Beltran before this season, but there was a quick note on him in Eric Longenhagen’s 2024 top Orioles prospects list last year- “Beltrán is a 6-foot-4 20-year-old righty who has been sitting 95-96 in the DSL with a mid-80s slider and basically no strikes.”
No strikes is putting it nicely. Beltran struck out 27% of hitters with a 25.2% walk rate in his first DSL season, followed by repeating the level in 2024 with a 38% strikeout rate and another 25.2% walk rate.
Something clicked over the winter. Beltran started 2025 in the FCL, striking out 45% of hitters with a 10% walk rate in 9 innings before being moved up to Delmarva. It’s been just 2.1 innings since his promotion, but he has 4 strikeouts and 1 walk (oh no, but his ERA….it’s 2.1 innings).
Again, 2.1 innings is far from being able to look at his numbers and come to conclusions, but he’s off to a strong start with a 24% swinging-strike rate and a 42% called-strike plus whiff percentage.
He’s on the map now and by that I mean, I’m watching. I’ll be watching his outings closely from here on out and if the strong performance continues as he settles in, he could potentially force us to have a bigger conversation at the end of the year.
Subscribe to the Orioles On The Verge podcast here. Find us on YouTube here. Want extra perks including exclusive podcast episodes every week and monthly updates to our Top 50 list? Join our Patreon here for as little as $3/month (discounts available if you sign up for a full year).