The Baltimore Orioles on Monday called up superutilityman Connor Norby, the latest standout prospect to join one of the best teams in baseball.
Norby, 23, has played second base and both corner-outfield spots this year at Triple-A, where he hit .286/.374/.510 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs. He is the latest top Orioles prospect to get called up this season, joining Jackson Holliday (No. 2 on Kiley McDaniel's updated top 50), Heston Kjerstad (No. 47) and Kyle Stowers. Both Holliday and Kjerstad have since been sent back to the minors.
Norby filled in at second base for Jorge Mateo, who was hit in the head Sunday by a Cedric Mullins swing in the on-deck circle, in Monday's 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. He batted ninth and went 0 for 3 with two swinging strikeouts before he was replaced by Ramon Urías in the bottom of the seventh.
"He did fine," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Norby. "Nice to get his first start, I'm sure, and his first few at-bats out of the way. He'll be back in there tomorrow."
Mateo was placed on the 7-day concussion injured list Monday.
In starting Monday's game, Norby filled out a fully homegrown Orioles infield. It also features Adley Rutschman at catcher, Ryan Mountcastle at first base, Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and Jordan Westburg at third.
The Orioles chose Norby out of East Carolina in the second round of the 2021 draft, and he has done nothing but hit in the minor leagues.
In Norby's first full season in 2022, he hit 29 home runs while ascending from High-A to Triple-A, where he spent all of 2023 and the first 51 games this season. The right-handed-hitting Norby will need to be added to the Orioles' 40-man roster before officially joining the team for its series in Toronto that starts Monday.
Baltimore, which at 37-20 owns the fourth-best record in baseball, is three games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East division.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.