Baltimore Orioles: 4 former Orioles pitchers playing well for other teams
By Ben Palmer
No. 3 – Josh Hader, Milwaukee Brewers
It would be fair for you to wonder right now just who Josh Hader is. If you don’t really pay attention to prospects, you likely don’t know who he is.
He was just recently called up from the minor leagues by the Brewers and is pitching out of the bullpen for them, however the 23-year-old is considered by MLB.com as the #33 top overall prospect in baseball, and the top left-handed pitching prospect in the league.
Hader was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012 out of high school (fun fact: he’s a local Marylander from Millersville) and was eventually traded at the 2013 trade deadline, along with L.J. Hoes, to the Houston Astros for Bud Norris.
Eventually, the Astros traded Hader, along with a slew of other players (including current major leaguer Domingo Santana) to the Brewers for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers.
Hader has excellent stuff, his fastball consistently sits around 92-97 MPH and he pairs it with an top-notch slider. He’s a strikeout machine and will likely be a quality starter for the Brewers.
As of right now, the Baltimore Orioles have only one player on MLB.com’s top 100 prospects list, and that’s catcher Chance Sisco at #87. Hunter Harvey used to be on there, but with his injuries, he’s fallen off. It sure would be nice to have a talent like Hader on the team.