Identifying the deep sleepers from minor league roster projections
Will any of these five prospects break out in 2025?
Written by: Nick Stevens
On last week’s podcast, we did a fun deep dive into the 2025 projected Orioles minor league rosters, an annual January tradition for us. It always serves as a fun springboard into a brand new year.
If you have yet to listen to last week’s episode or combed through the projected rosters article (Norfolk through the FCL), you can listen here and read the article referenced here.
*Support the show by becoming a paid subscriber! Receive 25% off an annual membership using this link.*
Talking through the rosters brought an opportunity to highlight a few intriguing, lesser known players in the organization, so I thought I would build on that conversation and put a full list together to discuss here.
Using the projected rosters, let’s look at one deep sleeper from each level I’m going to be watching closely in 2025. None of these players are on any national top 30 list, they are not on our top 50 list (currently being rolled out on Patreon), and some of these names may be players you have never heard of. That’s what makes this fun.
Triple-A Norfolk-
LHP Raul Alcantara
No, he’s not former Oakland/KBO/NBP Raul Alcantara.
There’s a real chance Alcantara begins the year in Double-A, but after moving to the bullpen full-time last season and logging 70 innings at the AA level last season, starting in Norfolk’s bullpen is also likely, unless the Orioles want to make some tweaks to his game and let him get comfortable with those changes in AA first.
Alcantara signed a minor league deal with the Orioles this winter after spending the last six seasons in the Mariners system. He originally signed with Seattle as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2017.
In the hitter-friendly Texas League last season (Double-A Modesto Nuts), Alcantara pitched to a career-low 3.44 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 70 innings. His 21% strikeout rate was paired with a 13% walk rate, a number consistent with his career norm.
The 6’0” left-handed pitcher can touch 98 mph with his fastball and has maintained a groundball rate of around 50% each of his last three seasons as he’s moved from Low-A to High-A and then Double-A.
I’m very intrigued to see what the Orioles have him throw in 2025 and in what sort of role he’s used in while with Norfolk.
(98.4 mph in video below)
Double-A Chesapeake-
RHP Yaqui Rivera
Rivera is a name I’ve been throwing out as a must-watch for a few years now. It’s been a slow but steady climb up through the system, but he’s continued to be an explosive relief arm deserving of more attention.
He was acquired from the Marlins in 2022 after being the player to be named later in the Tanner Scott/Cole Sulser trade.
He spent all of 2024 in Aberdeen’s bullpen, logging 54 innings with a 1.99 ERA and .161 batting average against. His strikeout rate dipped to 26%, but his walk rate also took a big dip down to 11.8%. Rivera ended the season with 19 strikeouts to 6 walks across 13.2 innings, allowing just one earned run. Hopefully, he can parlay that strong finish into a hot start with the Baysox.
Rivera throws a fastball that runs into the mid-90s with a slider and changeup, with his two secondaries being his best offerings. Listed at 6’2”, 150 pounds, Rivera oozes confidence out of every pore in his body and has thrived in high-leverage situations throughout Low and High-A ball. My favorite story told about him came from his time in Delmarva, when he took the ball against Salem, on the road, and fed off the energy of a loud, heckling crowd.
He should start 2025 in Double-A where it would be nice to see him unleashed a bit. It’s seemed as if the organization has kept very protective kid gloves on him since he came into the org.
High-A Aberdeen-
RHP Preston Johnson
Going into the 2024 season, I tagged Preston Johnson as one of my rebound picks in a “rebound episode” we did before the start of the year. Will this year go from rebound to breakout?
Nicknamed “Beef” while at Mississippi State, Johnson is listed at 6’4” and 250 pounds. He was a 7th round pick of the Orioles back in 2022, but lasted just 8 pitches into his first FCL outing right after the draft before going down with an injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery. He would miss the entire 2023 season.
Johnson returned to the mound in 2024, beginning the year in High-A, logging 55 innings with a 4.72 ERA (3.50 FIP), and a near 31% strikeout rate. The walk rate in his first pro season nearly reached 16%, but his late-season performance was eye-opening.
Over his final 19 innings, Johnson pitched to a 2.33 ERA, .188 average against, with 32 K/11 BB. He was clearly beginning to settle in.
If we go back to 2022 and this post-draft report on Johnson, you see the low-90s fastball with 21 inches of IVB when he was at Mississippi State, with the ability to throw it at the top of the zone for swing and miss. The clay is there for Johnson. A swing-and-miss slider that can be cleaned up, a metrically pleasing curveball and changeup as well. As Tieran points out, Johnson is a candidate to see his stock boost in a pro organization with good pitching development, which the Orioles have.
(Johnson’s secondaries on display in the video below)
Low-A Delmarva-
OF Raylin Ramos
A 6’1” right-handed hitting corner-outfielder, Ramos signed for $200,000 out of the DR as part of the 2022 international signing class, bringing with him one of the more aesthetically pleasing swings in the class.
He had a solid debut in the DSL in 2022, hitting .288 with 13 total extra-base hits (2 home runs), an 11% strikeout rate, and an 8% walk rate. He was hitting .343 the following year in the FCL before going down with an injury. I’ve searched for my note on what happened but can’t find it anywhere. I believe it was a significant lower body injury. Regardless, it wiped out essentially the 2023 and 2024 seasons for Ramos.
He’s an athletic outfielder with power potential in the bat and just turned 20 years old in December. The significant amount of missed time very early on in his career will be a lot to overcome, but he’s very much worth paying attention to in 2025 to see what he can do with regular playing time.
(that bat flip, though)
Florida Complex League-
SS Jemone Nuel
The list of Jamaican-born MLB players is very small, which automatically makes Nuel one of the more intriguing international players in the system. What an awesome story that would be, if he could eventually crack the big leagues with the Orioles.
We’re many years away from that, but he’s still worth paying attention to now. The 18-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop (just turned 18 one week ago), appeared in 50 games with the DSL Orioles last season, hitting just .208 but posting a .371 OBP with 3 home runs and 14 total extra-base hits, with 20 stolen bases (caught just four times). He did strike out 30% of the time, but walked more than 19% of the time.
Nuel received a $500,000 signing bonus last year and should start the year in the FCL. All the raw tools are there, he’s shown opposite field power, he’s a threat on the basepaths, and internally the O’s believe he’s a candidate to stick at shortstop. We’ll see where his development path goes in 2025. Ideally, he’s in Delmarva at some point so we can a closer look.
(oppo-taco power)
Bonus-
LHP Carson Dorsey
One last bonus player to include here because as I’ve gone back and done more looking into the 2024 draft class (Christian Rodriguez article here), LHP Carson Dorsey continues to stand out. A 7th round pick out of Florida State, Dorsey was originally drafted by the Rangers in 2022 out of the JUCO ranks, but one season at FSU significantly rose his stock. He started games, relieved games, closed games, whatever was asked of him.
He’s a starting pitching prospect now that he’s in the Orioles system and should see significant innings in High-A. As Joe Doyle pointed out before the draft, Dorsey throws in the mid-90s with two secondary offerings with double-plus potential. “The metrics on his stuff really sing.” Hopefully, the music is good.
Subscribe to the Orioles On The Verge podcast here. Find us on YouTube here. Want extra perks including exclusive podcast episodes and access to a private Discord with a large group of diehard O’s fans? Join our Patreon here for as little as $3/month (discounts available if you sign up for a full year).