Orioles call up top prospect Heston Kjerstad to join young core ahead of AL East-altering series against Rays

The Orioles enter a four-game series against the Rays up two games over them in the division

The Baltimore Orioles have called up another high-level prospect to join the major-league team. This time around, it's outfielder Heston Kjerstad. The move was made official Thursday with a vitally important series against the Tampa Bay Rays on tap. 

The Orioles enter this series with a two-game lead over the Rays in the AL East. It's a four-game series, too, so it'll go a long way toward determining the eventual division champ. The good news for the Orioles is they've already got a 6-3 lead in the head-to-head series against the Rays. Remember, there is no longer a one-game playoff and instead the first tiebreaker after the season concludes is head-to-head record. 

Basically, in order to control their own destiny, the Rays need to sweep a four-game series from the team with the best record in the American League. That's a very tall order. The Orioles have only lost four straight one time this season and they haven't been swept even in a three-game series since May 13-15, 2022. 

On the Orioles' side, they'd love nothing more than to win the series and bury the Rays in the division race. The magic number for the Orioles right now is 15. That uses combined wins and losses between the two teams, so every Orioles win in this series knocks that number down by two. A four-game Orioles' sweep, while highly unlikely, would give the Orioles a six-game lead with a magic number of seven. 

The most likely result is obviously somewhere in the middle and that's generally going to be good news for the Orioles. 

As for Kjerstad, the 24-year-old was the Orioles' first-round pick (second overall after Spencer Torkelson of the Tigers) in the 2020 draft out of the University of Arkansas. He missed the 2021 season with myocarditis and spent an abbreviated 2022 campaign between Class A and High A. This season, Kjerstad spent 46 games in Double-A and 76 in Triple-A, combining to hit .303/.376/.528 with 29 doubles, eight triples, 21 homers, 55 RBI, 87 runs and five stolen bases. He's spent time in both corner outfield spots as well as first base.

The young slugger has "an adaptable swing that produces well-struck line drives," according to CBS Sports prospect expert R.J. Anderson. 

He's not in the lineup Thursday, but Kjerstad will almost certainly debut at some point in the next few days. When he does, he'll join Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser on the list of highly-touted Orioles prospects to debut in 2022 or 2023.