The Orioles’ farm system gave fans plenty to like in 2026, but not every prospect left the year with momentum. Some players surged forward, others stalled out, and a few now head into 2027 with real pressure attached to their next step.
That’s the spot Trey Gibson, Vance Honeycutt and Juaron Watts-Brown find themselves in. Each has shown enough to stay on the radar, but each also has something to prove before the Orioles can feel good about where he fits in the long-term picture.
Gibson is the clearest case of a pitcher whose year ended with a split-screen view. After signing with Baltimore as an undrafted free agent out of Liberty University in 2024, he climbed fast enough to become one of the top-ranked pitching prospects in baseball and was expected to get a look in the majors in 2026. Injuries around the staff sped that timeline up.
He debuted in early May at Yankee Stadium and showed flashes in a short outing against the Yankees, but the leash didn’t last long. Walks and trouble finishing hitters sent him back to Triple-A for the summer, where he worked on his delivery and pitch mix before getting another shot on September 23 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
That one looked different. Gibson threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed two walks and struck out seven, and the outing came with a noticeably better fastball and a calmer feel on the mound.
The Orioles still need to see that version more often if he’s going to stay in the mix for a rotation job.
Honeycutt’s path has been messier, but the recent trend line is finally pointing the right way. The Orioles took the UNC outfielder in the first round of the 2024 draft, fully aware of the swing-and-miss concerns that came with him.
The power, speed, athleticism and center-field defense were never in doubt. The bat was the question.
Those questions were loud early. In 13 games between Single-A and High-A after he was drafted, he struck out 43% of the time.
In his first full season in 2025, he hit .171 in 101 High-A games and struck out 41% of the time. This year brought more of the same for a while: a .182 average and a 43% strikeout rate back in High-A.
Then Baltimore pushed him to Double-A for the final month, and he answered with a much better stretch, hitting .288 with a 149 wRC+ in 20 games while cutting his strikeout rate to 25% and lifting his contact rate to 74%.
He’s carrying that momentum into the Arizona Fall League, where he’s hitting .275 with a .500 on-base percentage, three home runs and a 1.075 OPS. The strikeouts are still there at about 27%, but the Orioles are seeing better swing decisions and real power production.
If that progress holds, his tools will get him to the majors. If it slips, the shine around his prospect stock could fade fast.
Watts-Brown is the least familiar name of the three, but his 2026 season made him hard to ignore. The right-hander starred at Oklahoma State, went in the third round of the 2023 draft to the Blue Jays and signed for a $1 million bonus. Baltimore picked him up at the 2025 deadline in the Seranthony Dominguez trade, and he immediately flashed strikeout stuff, fanning 43 batters in 35 Double-A innings.
Then 2026 turned into a test. A shoulder injury in spring training and early struggles raised doubts about whether he had hit a wall.
He steadied himself late in Double-A, posting a 3.13 ERA with a 30% strikeout rate and a 4.7% walk rate over his final six starts after walking 13.7% of batters across his previous 11 outings. But Triple-A was a different story.
In 37 innings, he posted a 10.22 ERA and walked 37.
The stuff is still there. Watts-Brown’s fastball sits at 94 mph and plays up because of its life and nearly seven feet of extension, and his slider generated a 46% whiff rate in Triple-A.
His curveball and changeup also missed bats in smaller samples. Even so, the Orioles didn’t get much reassurance from what happened at Norfolk, especially with other high-end arms climbing the system.
If he doesn’t clean that up in 2027, he could end up bouncing between Bowie and Norfolk as organizational depth.
None of these three is out of the picture yet. But 2027 feels like the year that will help define how Baltimore sees them going forward.
Gibson needs to lock in as a real big-league option. Honeycutt needs the bat to catch up with the rest of his game.
Watts-Brown needs to show the Triple-A stumble was just that - a stumble, not a slide.
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