3 mid-level Orioles prospects the Mets should start scouting in a potential trade

3) Trace Bright

One more spot down the list is Orioles’ 16th ranked prospect, Trace Bright. A pitcher and fifth round pick from 2022, Bright has an appropriate name for a prospect. He’s in Double-A this season with a major league ETA of 2025. Through 13 starts with the Bowie Baysox, Bright is 0-7 with a 4.08 ERA. All of the offense seems to be in the majors or Triple-A for the Orioles right now.

The Orioles haven’t been shy about feeding him innings. He logged 99.2 last season in what was his first full professional year. A 3.97 ERA came out as the end result of it as he advanced from High-A to Double-A.

Profiled to be a back-end rotation guy, one notable element for him to work on was his command. He walked batters at a rate of 5.1 per 9 last season. He has successfully dropped it to 3.6 per 9 in 2024. The strikeout numbers have fallen off slightly but spending more time at a higher minor league level could explain why it went from 13.3 per 9 down to a still impressive 10.2 per 9. He has tamed his wild pitches as well, going from 17 last season down to 3 so far this year.

Where Bright has struggled more than walks is the number of hits allowed. Averaging more than a hit per inning and owning a 1.50 WHIP might have him lingering on the outskirts of ever being in the major league plans for Baltimore. He’s expendable right now for them. Bright could be a good project for the Mets to throw into their lab.

Verdict: Bright and an average minor league bat makes sense to swap for one of the available Mets arms.