This week in the Orioles minors: Irish, Dzierwa appear in Futures Game

By admin — In News — July 14, 2026

   ​This week marks the All-Star break for more than just the major league teams. The minor league affiliates are off for the next few days as well, never mind that the leagues themselves don’t put on All-Star Games any more, like they used to. For a variety of reasons, there probably wouldn’t be all that many Orioles prospect All-Stars this year anyway.These weekly updates focus on the team’s top prospects, particularly those on Camden Chat’s composite top 20 Orioles prospect list from before the season. They also include other guys who interest me who might develop into prospects over time. I do not tend to spend much time on non-prospect journeymen.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere’s how things went this week:Last week’s results: 3-2 vs. Syracuse (Mets)Second half record: 5-11, last place (8 GB) in International League EastNorfolk combines a bottom-half pitching staff with a worst-in-the-league offense in terms of runs scored per game. No wonder this team is a brutal 33-58. The roster is largely a collection of journeyman guys who ostensibly exist as depth for the MLB roster except, if this is how they’re playing at Triple-A, they barely even count for that.This is particularly relevant in the wake of the injury suffered by Blaze Alexander in the final game before the MLB break. Do the Orioles have an infielder they can bring up from the minors? Well, maybe. He’s the kind of no-longer-prospect I don’t usually talk about in these articles, but there is Christian Encarnacion-Strand, already on the 40-man roster and with most of his games this year played at third base. Encarnacion-Strand batted 5-15 across this week’s games, including two doubles and two homers. He’s OPSing .863 for Norfolk, though that does come with a suboptimal OBP (.309).AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith Creed Willems on the injured list, there’s one actual prospect getting at-bats for Norfolk. That is Enrique Bradfield Jr., who continues to put up batting numbers that are fine as long as you ignore what his lack of power portends against MLB pitching. He had three hits and two walks in five games, including one triple, plus a stolen base, giving him 16 steals in 39 games. No question the guy is fast. Big question whether a .670 OPS at Norfolk is enough.For the pitchers, Nestor German tossed seven shutout innings this week, while allowing just four hits and a walk. He sits at a 4.11 ERA for the season, which isn’t that exciting on its face, but it is .8 runs below the league average. That’s the equivalent of an MLB starting pitcher having a 3.41 ERA. German is at nearly a 10 K/9 and nearly a 3 K/BB. Don’t write him off just for his ERA starting with a 4.Others of interestOF Heston Kjerstad – I always want him to be something. He batted 5-13 over four games played, giving him a .766 OPS in 45 games with the Tides. Probably not enough for another MLB look unless there are big league injuries.LHP Andrew Magno – Two runs allowe  

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