With the 2022 minor league season officially in the books, it’s time to roll out Camden Chat’s annual prospect review series to take stock of some of the most notable young talents in the Orioles’ farm system.
infielder Adam Hall, another Duquette-era holdover, has stagnated in the lower minors, five years after the Orioles made him their second-round pick out of A B Lucas Secondary School in London, Ontario.
The Athletic’s Keith Law has always been the high man on Hall, ranking him as the Orioles’ #6 prospect prior to the 2021 season. Hall flashed his speed and on-base skills in his first two years in the Orioles’ system, swiping 55 bases in 69 attempts while registering an OBP of .368 for then short-season Aberdeen in 2018 and .385 at Low-A Delmarva in 2019. His defense also was considered MLB worthy, with Law writing that Hall had “the arm and actions to be an average shortstop or above-average-to-plus second baseman.”
The canceled 2020 minor league season, though, impacted Hall more than most. Due to Canada’s travel restrictions, he wasn’t able to join his fellow O’s prospects at the club’s alternate camp in Bowie during the summer. Hall hasn’t recovered since his lost year of development. Spending all of 2021 at High-A, Hall’s OBP dropped to .335 and he struck out 100 times in 81 games. Law, who dropped Hall to #18 in his 2022 O’s prospect rankings in February, wrote, “If he doesn’t start making more contact with some more doubles power, he’s going to be hard-pressed to even hit a utility ceiling.”
Unfortunately, 2022 turned into another mostly lost year for Hall. While playing for Double-A Bowie, he missed a couple of weeks after contracting COVID-19 in May. He then spent two months away from the team from late June to mid-August for reasons that don’t seem to have been publicly disclosed, playing nine games at sporadic intervals for the rookie-league FCL Orioles during that span. Ultimately Hall played just 50 games for the Baysox, posting a career-worst .330 SLG with only 12 extra-base hits. He didn’t tap into the doubles power Law was looking for. More concerningly, Hall — once considered to be a capable defender up the middle — didn’t play a single game at shortstop, and only four at second base, in 2022. He started 21 games in the outfield but got the majority of his starts (23) as a designated hitter.
Whatever the reason for Hall’s limited appearances on the diamond — injuries, or being pushed aside by better prospects — there simply isn’t much of a major league future for a now 23-year-old outfielder/DH who slugs .330 at Double-A. Hall was Rule 5 eligible for the first time after the 2021 season, and while the O’s decided not to place him on their 40-man roster to protect him, the decision at least required a little bit of debate. This winter, there’s no such debate.
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