Two years to the day after the Orioles selected him second overall in the 2020 draft, outfielder Heston Kjerstad is positioned to play in his first game for an affiliate Friday with Low-A Delmarva after being activated from the injured list.
Despite having not yet made his professional debut because of a heart condition and hamstring injury, Kjerstad, 23, remains the No. 10 prospect in the organization, according to Baseball America, though two of the players ranked ahead of him were selected behind him in Baltimore’s 2020 draft class.
A left-handed slugger out of the University of Arkansas, Kjerstad developed myocarditis shortly after he was drafted, missing the Orioles’ fall instructional camp as a result. A recurrence of the issue caused him to miss the entirety of the 2021 season.
Finally cleared, Kjerstad spent the offseason training at Orioles’ Sarasota, Florida, complex and was expected to be a full participant in minor league spring training, but in an intrasquad game March 11, he suffered a severe left hamstring strain chasing a line drive to left field off the bat of Adley Rutschman, who preceded him by a year as Baltimore’s top pick. Rutschman woke up the next morning with soreness in his right elbow, which proved to be a right tricep strain that also delayed the start of his season.
Afterward, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Kjerstad would be out 8 to 12 weeks. He’s participated in extended spring training activities of late and joined the Shorebirds earlier this week before his official activation Friday.
Kjerstad remains on a rehab progression for the hamstring injury and will rest regularly, only playing a handful of innings at a time initially.
In three seasons at Arkansas, Kjerstad hit .343/.421/.590 with 37 home runs in 150 games, becoming a projected top 10 pick. Still, he was an unexpected selection at second overall, signing for $5.2 million, far below the pick’s slot value of $7.79 million. The savings allowed the Orioles to sign high schoolers Coby Mayo and Carter Baumler to above-slot deals; Mayo, a third baseman, is now their No. 5 prospect, while Baumler, a right-handed pitcher, ranks 20th and sixth among pitchers despite missing all of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.
The player drafted first overall ahead of Kjerstad, Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson, has already reached the majors with the Detroit Tigers, as have pitchers Reid Detmers, the Los Angeles Angeles’ 10th overall pick, and Garrett Crochet, taken with the 11th pick by the Chicago White Sox.
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