Baseball America names Norfolk Tides the 2023 Minor League Team of the Year

The Norfolk Tides were named the 2023 Minor League Team of the Year by Baseball America, not a big surprise, considering how the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate dominated the International League this past season.

Norfolk went 90-59 in the regular season and won the league championship series to bring home the franchise’s first IL title since 1983.

The Tides went on to win the Triple-A National Championship, defeating Pacific Coast League champ Oklahoma City, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The success came as the team had to work the Baltimore Shuttle, with the parent club on its path to the American League East title and a 2023 playoff berth.

The 2023 Tides had seven different players ranked in the Preseason Top 100 prospect rankings by Baseball America, including Grayson Rodriguez (#6), who started Opening Day for Norfolk to make him the first Top 100 pitcher to start Opening Day in Orioles affiliate franchise history and the first since Aaron Heilman (#45) in 2003.

Jackson Holliday (#15) started the season with Single-A Delmarva but crawled his way through the farm system and arrived in Norfolk in early September while being ranked as the #1 prospect. He joined Adley Rutschman (2021-2022) and Gunnar Henderson (2022-2023) as the third #1 prospect to be on the Tides in three straight seasons.

Into his second Triple-A season, Jordan Westburg (#76) cracked the Top 100 for the first time in his career while DL Hall (#75) remained listed in the Top 100 for a fifth straight season.

After joining the Tides late in 2022, Colton Cowser (#41), Joey Ortiz (#95) and Connor Norby (#93) each earned a spot in at least one Top 100 list.

On top of Holliday, the other Top 100 player to join the Tides midseason was Coby Mayo, who finished ranked #23.

In all, seven prospects (Rodriguez, Holliday, Cowser, Hall, Westburg, Norby and Ortiz) that were on BA’s Top 100 Prospects list in the preseason played for the Tides.

Since 1990, it’s the second-most to ever appear on a Tides roster (1995 had eight).