Shocking Trade: Batilmore’s Former Top Prospect Reacts to Unexpected Trade

The Baltimore Orioles had the top farm system in baseball for a while.

That was the result of them drafting well, trading away players from their Major League roster to get prospects in return, and developing their youngsters at an elite level until they became highly regarded within evaluation circles.

It was exactly what the Orioles needed, and was something Mike Elias was familiar with doing because of his time with the Houston Astros who underwent a similar teardown rebuild.

Ahead of the 2023 season, there was some optimism about what the team might look like with many of their star prospects reaching the Major League level, but nobody expected them to win the most games in the American League to earn the No. 1 seed.

Because of that, their timeline was sped up.

Despite being swept out of the ALDS round of the playoffs by the future World Series champion Texas Rangers, there were now expectations placed upon this young Baltimore club for them to continue winning at a high level.

With a stockpile of talent on their roster and in their farm system, Elias made his first “win now” move ahead of the 2024 season when he traded for Corbin Burnes.

Adding the ace was supposed to push them to the next level after their starting staff fell apart in the playoffs when facing the experienced Rangers.

Unfortunately, nobody will know how things might have worked out since Baltimore was decimated by injuries, but despite all of that, they were still in a position to compete for a championship.

Elias made his next “win now” move ahead of this past deadline, trading away some young talent to add help to their dismantled rotation.

Connor Norby was one of those players moved when he and Kyle Stowers were shipped to the Miami Marlins in exchange for Trevor Rogers who turned out to be a complete flop for them.

In a conversation with Roch Kubatko of MASN, the former top prospect of the Orioles shared that he was surprised he was ultimately traded.

“I really thought I was, I don’t want to say ‘safe,’ but pretty much in my head I thought I was. I texted my agent, like, ‘Have you heard anything,’ and he said, ‘No.’ Kind of like, ‘Suspiciously quiet.’ That’s what he said. And not even five minutes later I’m getting a call. It definitely caught me off guard,” he said.

It’s easy to understand why he felt that way.

Norby was one of the best players for Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate, and he seemed to be someone who the team would have as part of their infield rotation for years to come.

But with the emergence of Jordan Westburg at third base, that really made his path to consistent playing time more difficult considering Gunnar Henderson’ MVP-level performance at shortstop and Jackson Holliday slotted in as their future second baseman.

In hindsight, the trade could come back to haunt the Orioles.

Norby and Stowers were two of the top performers this organization had in the minors who seemed poised to take their careers to the next level in the MLB, and since it’s not a given that Rogers will become an impact arm for them during his tenure, this deal could look very lopsided if those two turn into star players for the Marlins.