Camden Futures Prospect Weekly: Azocar's 11-hit week at Frederick, Witherspoon fans 8 in 5.1 hitless innings
By Avery Brooks ·
Camden Futures Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Orioles farm system.
Enddy Azocar is Driving the Ball With Authority
Enddy Azocar (A+, OF, Rank: 25) went 11-for-30 with 2 doubles, a home run, and 4 RBI this week at Frederick, continuing a stretch of production that has been difficult to explain away with small-sample noise. Over the last 30 days at the High-A level, he is slashing .414/.449/.747 with 6 home runs, 11 doubles, 2 triples, and 26 RBI across 107 plate appearances, with a contact rate that has climbed to 80.7 percent while he swings at a 51.3 percent clip. That combination of aggression and contact is unusual; typically a hitter at this swing rate is giving something back on the contact side. Azocar is not. The 19-year-old came over from Boston in the Adley Rutschman deal on August 3 and has not needed an adjustment period.
The 45 hit tool and visible chase tendencies remain part of the profile, and a month at High-A is not the same as surviving Double-A sequencing. His season strikeout rate of 22.7 percent across 475 plate appearances is manageable, and the combined .297/.349/.554 line with 21 home runs shows a 19-year-old whose bat speed is producing real game power ahead of schedule. Last year at Low-A he hit .202/.273/.314. The gap between those two versions is significant, and the power tool graded at 55 looks, if anything, conservative given what the exit velocity reports have described. A second-division regular projection is the current ceiling, with a center-field defense that has enough athleticism to hold there for now. What he does when Double-A arms begin working him down and to the glove side will answer the real question. For now, he is the most productive hitter the Orioles acquired in August.
Kyson Witherspoon Spins 5.1 No-Hit Innings
Kyson Witherspoon (A+, RHP, Rank: 7) struck out 8 and did not allow a hit across 5.1 innings this week, walking 3 and generating 17 whiffs on 89 pitches. The walk total is the one blemish on a dominant line, and it fits a pattern: Witherspoon has the arsenal to make lineups look overmatched, but the command has been the variable that determines his good starts from his rough ones all season. Over the last 30 days at the High-A level he carries a 1.42 ERA across 19 innings with 25 strikeouts and a 36.9 percent whiff rate, which is elite for the level. The full-season ERA of 4.22 through 89.2 innings reflects earlier inconsistency, including a rough run at Greenville where the home run ball was a problem.
The arsenal is genuinely deep. The four-seamer sits 96 to 99 with a 60 grade, and the cutter at 92 grades the same, giving him a hard two-pitch foundation with exceptional tunneling. The slider checks in at 55, the curveball at 55, and even the changeup at 45 gives him a fifth look. That is a lot of weapons for a 22-year-old at High-A, and the #3 starter projection has real teeth when the delivery stays on time. The 11.5 percent walk rate on the season is the clearest obstacle between Witherspoon and a Double-A assignment, because the secondary stuff will play at that level but not if he is working from behind in counts. His recent form strongly suggests the delivery has settled; the question is whether it holds when he faces a tougher environment. I would bet on the arsenal over the walk history at this point.
Quick Hits
Anthony Eyanson (AA, RHP, Rank: 1) · delivered 6.1 innings of one-run ball this week, striking out 8 while issuing zero walks and scattering 5 hits. It was his best outing yet at Chesapeake, and the combined season ERA across three organizations sits at 1.58 through 85.2 innings with a 36.4 percent strikeout rate. Acquired from Boston in the same package as Azocar, he is a 55 command, 94-to-98 fastball right-hander who already looks like the top arm in the system. Over his last 30 days at Chesapeake he has punched out 34 batters in 21.1 innings with a 41.5 percent whiff rate.
Wehiwa Aloy (AA, SS, Rank: 9) · collected 6 hits including 2 doubles and 2 home runs in 24 plate appearances, drawing 4 walks against 6 strikeouts. His 20-homer, .293/.367/.504 combined line through 471 plate appearances is ahead of where a 60-grade power tool from a middle infielder was projected to land. Over the last 30 days at Double-A he is slugging .512 with 5 home runs. The contact rate of 69.9 percent is the main thing keeping the everyday shortstop ceiling from being a certainty, but the power is arriving as advertised.
Vance Honeycutt (AA, OF, Rank: 38) · went 5-for-17 with 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 6 stolen bases in his first week at Double-A after being promoted from Frederick on August 18. The promotion came after he returned from an oblique strain that had kept him on the IL since mid-July. The High-A numbers were rough on the season at .182/.285/.359 with a 42.8 percent strikeout rate, but the contact rate over his 7 Double-A games has jumped to 86.7 percent with a much more selective 40.9 percent swing rate. Whether that reflects genuine adjustment or the small sample doing its thing, the 70 athleticism, 70 speed, and 65 field grades project to an everyday center fielder if the bat gets to fringe-average. Six steals in his first four games at the level is not an accident.
Joseph Dzierwa (AA, LHP, Rank: 13) · went 5 innings allowing 1 run on 2 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts, extending a month that has been exceptional. Over his last 30 days at Chesapeake the ERA is 0.42 across 21.2 innings with 24 strikeouts and a 0.65 WHIP. The full-season ERA across High-A and Double-A combined is 2.00 through 117 innings. A 60-grade changeup and a 55 command grade drive the profile; the breaking ball package still reads as functional rather than dominant, which is the reason the back-end starter projection holds for now rather than something higher.
Stiven Martinez (A, OF, Rank: 20) · drove in 3 on 6 hits, including 2 home runs, in 24 plate appearances this week at Delmarva. Over his last 30 days he is slugging .512 with 5 home runs and a 14.6 percent walk rate, his most sustained stretch of productive output in a full-season assignment. The contact rate of 65.8 percent and the 31.1 percent strikeout rate on the season are still legitimate concerns for a player with a 40 hit tool grade, but the 12-homer pace and the patience spike in recent weeks give the 50 power projection something to work with. He is a 19-year-old who spent most of last year in the complex leagues, so the developmental clock is still running in his favor.
Boston Bateman (A+, LHP, Rank: 23) · struck out 9 over 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing 6 hits and 4 walks. The walk total is a recurring theme: on the season he has issued 44 free passes in 79.1 innings, a 12.9 percent walk rate that keeps the command grade at 45 and tempers the #3 starter projection. The stuff is real, though. A 94-to-99 fastball, a 60-grade curveball, and a slider with improving shape give him three potential weapons. Over his last 30 days the whiff rate is 39 percent and the ERA sits at 0.84.
Jhomnardo Reyes (A, OF, Rank: 17) · went 7-for-25 with 4 walks and a hit-by-pitch this week at Delmarva, though all seven hits were singles. Acquired from Minnesota in the Dean Kremer trade on August 1, the 18-year-old left-handed hitter has posted a 15.6 percent walk rate in his combined 295 plate appearances this season, which is genuinely advanced for his age. The power has been absent since he arrived at Delmarva, and the last 30 days show a .189 average. The patient approach and plus feel for contact from the left side are the most interesting parts of the profile; the pop comes later if the frame fills out.
Ty Head (A, OF, Rank: 4) · went 7-for-22 with a homer and 2 RBI in his second week at Delmarva. Through 39 plate appearances at Low-A he is hitting .353/.436/.529 with a contact rate of 81.1 percent and a 41.8 percent swing rate, which is the disciplined, contact-first profile you want to see from a 50 hit tool, 60 speed center fielder taking his first swings in full-season ball. He is the fourth-ranked prospect in the system for good reason.
Nestor German (AAA, RHP, Rank: 16) · was placed on the 7-day injured list by Norfolk on August 20; no specific diagnosis has been confirmed. His last appearance was August 18. On the season at Triple-A he has posted a 4.08 ERA across 117 innings with 120 strikeouts, which is a meaningful workload for an arm the system is counting on for depth.
Trace Bright (AAA, RHP, Rank: 55) · was promoted from Chesapeake to Norfolk on August 23. His Double-A stint produced a 3.82 ERA in 30.2 innings across 7 games, a much cleaner stretch than his Triple-A numbers from earlier in the season (7.46 ERA in 70 innings). The jump back to Norfolk is a second look at the level rather than a first.