Jordan Westburg

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Jordan Cole Westburg

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Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Jordan Westburg was the first player selected in the Competitive Balance Round A of the 2020 amateur draft, with the #30 pick. He was taken by the Baltimore Orioles out of Mississippi State University. In his second season there in 2019, he had driven in 61 runs in 66 games, while scoring 68 and was again putting up excellent numbers when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the 2020 college season to a screeching halt in March. His keystone partner with the Bulldogs, 2B Justin Foscue, had been drafted with the 14th pick by the Texas Rangers. The two played in both the 2018 and 2019 College World Series.

He made his professional debut in 2021 with the Delmarva Shorebirds of Low-A East and by the time the season ended, he had received two promotions, playing successively with the Aberdeen IronBirds of High-A East and the Bowie BaySox of Double-A Northeast. In all, he appeared in 112 game and batted .285/.389/.479. He was named an Orioles organizational All-Star after the season. He had another excellent year in 2022 and the only reason he did not receive more publicity for his accomplishments was that the Orioles were loaded with top minor league prospects at that point, including Minor League Player of the Year Gunnar Henderson. His own contribution with Bowie and the AAA Norfolk Tides was to bat .265/.355/.496 in 138 games, with 96 runs, 39 doubles, 27 homers and 106 RBIs. He was again an organizational All-Star and was named the Orioles' Minor League Player of the Year. The main question was where he would play in the big leagues, given the rather intense competition for infield jobs on the Orioles. In his two minor league seasons, he had played all three infield positions and had done well at all three spots, so the Orioles had a lot of flexibility.

He started the 2023 season with Norfolk and was hitting .295 in 67 games, with 18 homers and 54 RBIs, when he got the call to the Show. He made his big league debut on June 26th, against the Cincinnati Reds, batting 7th and playing 2B. He went 1 for 4 with a run, a walk and a RBI in a 10-3 win. He walked against Brandon Williamson in his first plate appearance in the 2nd and went on to score his first run on a single by Austin Hays. The following inning, he drove in his first run with a ground ball out and a single in the 5th off Eduardo Salazar was his first career hit. In 68 games with Baltimore, he hit .260 with 17 doubles, 3 homers and 23 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 100. He saw time at both second and third base. In the postseason, he went 2 for 9 with a double and a run scored as Baltimore was upset by the Texas Rangers in the Division Series.

In !2024, he was in Baltimore's starting line-up from the stat of the season, seeing playing time at third base, a position he shared with Ramón Urías, and second base, where Jorge Mateo was his counterpart. There was briefly an attempt to slot top prospect Jackson Holliday into the second base job in April, but Holliday failed to hit in a two-week tryout and was sent back to AAA. meanwhile, Jordan played just about every day and made the All-Star team for the first time of his career. In 101 games, he was hitting .269 with 25 doubles, 18 homers and 58 RBIs with an OPS+ of 132. However, on July 31st, he was hit on the right hand by a pitch from Yerry Rodriguez of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 5th inning. He initially stayed in the game and came in to score when Holliday, who had just been called back from AAA that day and was starting at second, connected for his first big league homer, a grand slam. However, he left the game immediately afterwards, replaced by Urías, and it was announced that he had a broken bone and would miss some significant time as a result.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • AL All-Star (2024)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Jake Rill: "In debut, O's prospect Westburg tallies one MLB first after another", mlb.com, June 27, 2023. [1]
  • Noah Trister (The Associated Press): "Orioles lose All-Star 3B Jordan Westburg to a broken hand after he was hit by a pitch", Yahoo! Sports, July 31, 2024. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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