Orioles promote LHP Luis De León to AAA

De León will remain on standby in case the Orioles somehow pull off a miracle and make the postseason. He’s most likely made his final appearance of the year and will finish with a sparkling 1.93 ERA and 6/2 K/BB ratio across 9 1/3 innings of work. The 23-year-old top prospect figures to compete for a rotation spot next spring.

De León was one of the better starting pitching prospects in Baltimore’s system before making the transition to relief a couple weeks ago to be utilized as a weapon out of the bullpen. The 23-year-old has the stuff to be an impactful contributor for the Orioles, but he’s not going to generate enough volume to matter for fantasy purposes over the final month of the season. Still, he’s an interesting arm that fantasy managers need to know moving forward.

Espada is a reliever who is currently on the 40-man roster, so he should begin the year in Triple-A. De León is one of the team’s top starting pitching prospects and a top 100 prospect in baseball, according to FanGraphs. He reached Double-A last year and posted a 3.30 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 107/41 K/BB ratio in 87 1/3 innings across three levels. He should start the season at Double-A again with a chance for an early promotion to Triple-A if he pitches well.

McGonigle has been sizzling-hot in the desert recently, batting .462 (6-for-13) with three homers and seven RBI over his last three games. The 21-year-old prodigy is batting .385/.494/.754 with five round-trippers and three steals across 17 games this fall. He’ll enter next season as one of the top prospects in the fantasy landscape and should reach Detroit at some point soon. Here’s the full lineup: McGonigle (SS), Braden Montgomery (CF), Max Anderson (3B), Jonny Farmelo (LF), Blake Mitchell (C), Tommy White (1B), Sam Antonacci (2B), Raudi Rodriguez (DH), Enrique Bradfield Jr. (RF) and Luis De Leon (P).

The 22-year-old left-hander was impressive in this one, sitting 96 mph with his fastball but topping out at 99 mph. He had a 36 percent whiff rate on the day and got plenty of strikes on a wipeout slider, which is his most-used pitch. De León reached Double-A this season and posted a 3.30 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 107/41 K/BB ratio in 87 1/3 innings overall in the minors. There is plenty of upside in his long, lanky frame and plenty of velocity on his fastball. He will need to find the zone more with his secondaries since his changeup had just an 18 percent zone rate in this showing; however, if the Orioles can improve his overall command, he could fly up prospect boards next season.