Orioles Promote Highly-Ranked Pitching Prospect Amid Strong Start To Season

Pitching has been a major issue for the Baltimore Orioles this season.

Outside of Tomoyuki Sugano, the winter additions for the rotation and bullpen largely have performed poorly, putting even more spotlight onto the fact that Corbin Burnes was allowed to walk in free agency.

Injuries to Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells haven't helped, but not having high-level pitching options has been an overall organizational failure.

Hopefully that can change soon.

According to Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun, the Orioles are promoting Nestor German to Double-A Chesapeake after starting the year with their High Single-A affiliate.

Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America have the right-hander ranked 11th in Baltimore's farm system, but he has looked like a future star after being taken in the 11th round of the 2023 draft.

The 23-year-old posted a 1.59 ERA across his 21 total outings and 12 starts last season, and through six starts in the 2025 campaign, he has a 3.60 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched.

For his career thus far, German has 127 K's to just 27 walks, holding opposing lineups to a .207 batting average across 98 2/3 innings.

He likely won't play a factor for the Orioles in this season or next despite his MLB ETA being 2026, but it looks like he could be a high-end homegrown starting pitcher that this organization desperately needs.

All eyes will be on how German handles pitching at the Double-A level.

Baltimore will likely keep him in Chesapeake for the remainder of the year, so it will be important for him to continue developing and prove himself against the higher level of competition.

More From Orioles On SI