Kjerstad looking to build on AFL success

It took two years for Heston Kjerstad to play in a professional game after the Orioles drafted him second overall in 2020. He doesn’t think it’s a guarantee it will take two years from that first game for him to reach the majors.

Kjerstad said Saturday that he “for sure” believes he can make his major league debut in 2023, which is set to be his first full professional season after lost time to heart and hamstring ailments. His Most Valuable Player performance in the Arizona Fall League could see the 23-year-old outfielder open the season at Double-A Bowie after he hit .309/.394/.457 between Low-A and High-A in 2022. But he’ll start the year as a nonroster invitee to the Orioles’ major league spring training camp, beginning a campaign in which he said there’s “no chance” he plays with limitations.

“Just to be invited is an honor,” Kjerstad said. “To be able to go out and work with the big league coaching staff and be around the big league players, it’s going to be a huge learning opportunity and a chance for me to help improve my game.”

The Orioles drafted Kjerstad, a projected first-round pick, out of the University of Arkansas earlier than expected partly because they believed his left-handed power could quickly make him a force in the middle of their lineup. Despite missing two years with the heart condition myocarditis and a severe left hamstring strain, Kjerstad believes he’s used that lost time to develop into an even better player than he was in college.

“I’m more mature as a hitter, taking better at-bats and got a little bit more pop than I used to more consistently,” Kjerstad said. “Honestly, I think I’m a leg up from back then.”

Kjerstad has said, throughout his odyssey, he never stopped believing he would return. He ranked 80th in MLB Pipeline’s list of the game’s top 100 prospects, showing evaluators around the game still believe in his talent, too.

“It’s good to see when people respect what you’ve been doing, but at the end of the day, whether you’re on the list or how high you are on the list or anything like that, you’ve got to go out and play baseball,” Kjerstad said. “That’s the fun thing about baseball is just you’ve got to go out and prove it every day, and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing this year.”