Jaiden Lo Re and DJ Layton spent 2026 making themselves impossible to ignore.
For an Orioles organization that hasn’t exactly made a habit of mining the draft’s middle rounds for impact talent under Mike Elias, that matters. Of the Elias draftees currently on the 40-man roster, only Coby Mayo came from outside the top 100 picks, going 103rd in the fourth round in 2020. Lo Re and Layton, though, gave Baltimore a couple of early signs that there may be more value buried in those later selections than the club has usually found.
Lo Re was the bigger breakout. The Scottsdale, Arizona, high school shortstop wasn’t on MLB.com’s top 200 prospects for the 2025 draft, but Baltimore saw something and took him 154th overall. The Orioles went above slot with a $562,500 bonus to pull him away from a BYU commitment, and the 19-year-old wasted no time justifying the bet.
He didn’t reach a minor league field until the start of the 2026 season, then opened in rookie ball and debuted in early May. The stay in the Florida Complex League was brief - just 20 games - because he was raking. In 65 at-bats, Lo Re hit .354/.421/.462, walked nine times, struck out only six times and swiped seven bases.
That kind of start pushed him to Low-A Delmarva in early June, where the on-base skills kept rolling. Over his first 20 games with the Shorebirds, Lo Re hit .333 and posted a .471 on-base percentage, piling up 23 hits and 18 walks against only eight strikeouts. July brought a little cooling off, though he still managed a .299/.377/.433 line and put together a 12-game hitting streak.
August was his loudest month with Delmarva. He added six doubles and a triple, hit .343 and finished with a .926 OPS.
That stretch earned him a late-season move to High-A Frederick, where the adjustment showed up right away. In his first 19 at-bats, he hit just .158 with a .638 OPS.
Then he finished strong, going .387/.406/.484 over his last seven games to lock in his footing at the next level.
Lo Re’s first pro season also showed how much the Orioles value his versatility. He went from being a high school infielder to a true utility piece, logging 100-plus innings at second base, shortstop, third base and center field across his three stops. It’s still way too early to know where the path leads, but the early returns point to a Blaze Alexander-like player.
Layton followed a similar route. The 20-year-old was Baltimore’s sixth-round pick in 2024, going 189th overall, and the Orioles paid him over slot with a $715,800 bonus to keep him from heading to Southern Miss.
Like Lo Re, he was a high school shortstop at the time. Unlike Lo Re, his first full pro season didn’t start with fireworks.
In 2025, Layton hit .183 with a .597 OPS in 40 rookie-ball games. The Orioles still sent him to Delmarva to begin 2026, and the move looked smart early. Through his first 22 games with the Shorebirds, he hit .284 with a .896 OPS, drew 20 walks and stole eight bases.
The middle months were bumpier. In May, his average fell to .250 and his OPS dropped to .765. June was even quieter, with his average sinking to .214, his slugging percentage down to .343 and his OPS sliding to .732.
Layton steadied himself as July arrived and eventually got the call to Frederick at the start of August. Over his last 30 games with Delmarva, he hit .242 but still posted a strong .390 on-base percentage. By the time he was promoted on August 11, his Low-A line sat at .247/.396/.389 with 73 walks and 32 stolen bases.
He opened his High-A stint with a 3-for-4 game that included his first home run for the Keys, then settled back into the same shape of hitter he’d been in Low-A. In 25 games with Frederick, Layton hit .238/.390/.393, walked 21 times and stole 13 bases.
At this stage, he’s more projection than production. The athleticism is obvious: 65-grade speed, a 60-grade arm and enough defensive versatility to keep him in premium spots, with 500-plus innings at shortstop in 2026 and significant time also spent in center field and at second base. The power hasn’t really arrived yet - he hit eight home runs and 25 doubles across 117 games in A-ball - but the rest of the package already plays.
What he does best is get on base and turn that into pressure on the defense. Layton drew 92 walks in 489 plate appearances, an 18.8% walk rate that would have led the majors by almost two full percentage points. He also finished with 45 stolen bases, one more than Enrique Bradfield Jr.
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