Over the next seven months, the Orioles will grind through a 162-game season that will test their roster construction, player development and, perhaps most of all, organizational depth. Just as they will need Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman to anchor the lineup on a daily basis, the Orioles will also look to the fringes of their roster for players to fill in for injured stars and take advantage of opportunities to prove themselves. It’s almost never obvious in March who those players might be, and many of them such as Albert Suárez last season can come out of seemingly nowhere. In an attempt to get out ahead of nowhere, here are five under-the-radar players in the organization who have a chance to make significant impacts for the Orioles in 2025.

OF Dylan Carlson

The 2024 season was nothing short of a disaster for Carlson. After missing the first month with a shoulder sprain, he got off to a slow start with the St. Louis Cardinals, never found his footing with the Tampa Bay Rays upon arriving ahead of the trade deadline and entered free agency when they nontendered him at the start of the offseason.

Carlson is expected to begin the year at Triple-A Norfolk, but the switch-hitting outfielder has a chance to get his career back on track with Baltimore as the top candidate to fill an outfield spot when an injury arises. Even from 2022 to 2023, when he struggled to live up to his strong rookie season, Carlson still displayed a good eye for the strike zone and his ability to play all three outfield positions makes him a strong bet to get significant playing time in the majors this year.

LHP Trevor Rogers

One of the Orioles’ biggest acquisitions at last year’s deadline, Rogers posted a 7.11 ERA in just four starts before being sent down to Norfolk. He spent the rest of the season working on his mechanics and finishing the year with a 2.96 ERA over his final four starts with the Tides.

Sidelined since the start of camp with a right knee subluxation, Rogers won’t be ready for opening day and he’s at least eighth on the Orioles’ rotation depth chart. He’ll have to prove that small sample of success wasn’t a fluke by carrying it over into 2025, but if he does, the former All-Star should get a chance at some point to take an MLB mound again. He has the upside to earn his way back into a regular spot in the Orioles’ rotation.

RHP Brandon Young

The Orioles’ reigning minor league Pitcher of the Year award winner enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, putting up a 3.44 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 89 innings with Norfolk after earning a promotion from Double-A in May. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias even went as far as to say that Young was on his “radar” as a potential callup in August.

Though Young never did get that call, and neither MLB Pipeline nor Baseball America ranked him higher than 19th on their organizational top 30s this offseason, the Orioles added him to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The 26-year-old will be a candidate for both the rotation and bullpen this summer, especially if he’s able to implement some of the new pitches he’s been working on this spring.

OF Dylan Beavers

While Baltimore’s farm system might not be the No. 1 ranked unit in baseball anymore, the club does have another first-round draft pick who’s reached Triple-A. Beavers, the 33rd overall selection in 2022, slashed .241/.343/.413 with 15 home runs and 31 stolen bases at Double-A last season before getting a small taste of Norfolk at the end of the year.

The Orioles have had a tough enough time as it is trying to get some of their other young outfielders enough playing time — so much so that they traded several of them at the deadline last year — but Beavers impressed with a couple of extra-base hits early in spring training before being cut. He appears to be first among the next wave of young Orioles outfield prospects about to begin knocking on the door of the majors.

LHP Luis González

A 33-year-old journeyman who has never reached the major leagues? While González might not have a strong pedigree, the left-hander was quietly one of the most intriguing arms in Norfolk last season. His 4.50 ERA doesn’t tell the full story; González posted a 1.10 WHIP, averaged more than a strikeout per inning and did well to limit walks.

If González can keep the ball in the yard — he allowed 1.2 home runs per nine innings in Triple-A last season — and translate some of the impressive results he’s had in the Dominican Winter League (0.83 ERA in 33 relief appearances) over the past two years, he could finally break through to the big league level this season and get a chance to stick in the Orioles’ bullpen.

Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.