'They push me and I try to push them': Connor Norby on sharing lineup with other Orioles top prospects
It’s no surprise that the Baltimore Orioles have the number farm system in all of baseball with the names still not on the major league roster in Norfolk.
The 6th ranked prospect in the system Connor Norby might seem to be flying under the radar despite keeping up his offensive numbers with the top 100 prospects he shares a lineup with.
Norby is not someone to look over though, as after he was drafted in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Orioles, he has done nothing but hit. This season, Norby carries a .912 OPS along with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs.
“I am a big believer of the phrase ‘You’re the average of the five people you are around most’” and if I am hanging around with Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Kyle Stowers, Colton Cowser, and Colby Mayo, and if I am the average of those five guys, I am pretty well off,” Norby said of his teammates. “They push me, and I try to push them. I hit behind Jackson and Heston hits behind me. We try to protect each other in the lineup. Obviously, we are in friendly competition with each other and we are all fighting to be in the big leagues and all want to be there together to help Baltimore win. We push each other and try not to be all numbers based but it’s hard not to look at them. We are all trying to get better and continue to work on things we need to get up there and help them out.”
With all those names, the Norfolk Tides won the Triple-A championship last season, which should come as no surprise. How does a team move forward to the next year after such an outstanding run to a championship last season?
“We have some similar faces from last year and a lot of different ones,” Norby said. “Triple-A is always a revolving door at times anyway and we have a lot of good players up and down between the majors. We even have some good ones coming up from Double-A. It can be tough to see new faces every day in the locker room, but it is a business at the end of the day. Last year is last year, and we flipped the page after the first game of this season that last year was the past. We have the same goal though and we feel like we can go out and win every night. We are waiting for it to click right now but have been playing better as of late.”
Norby is back in Norfolk for his second year after playing there for the entire 2023 season. The 23-year-old finished last season with 21 home runs and 92 RBIs along with a .842 OPS. Fast forward to 2024, Norby is on pace to exceed those numbers from last year.
“It’s been a little up and down a little bit this season, but I feel good,” Norby said of his 2024 performance. “I am blessed to be a part of this organization and be with the guys in that clubhouse. We have a ton of talent just like last year, which shoutout to Josh Lester. We all came out of the gates really hot and came back down to earth a little bit. I started feeling like myself a little more the last two weeks and then dealt with the wrist thing but felt like I haven’t missed too much of a beat since. The Red Sox are a good challenge for us every year with a lot of good hitters and pitchers over there.”
With all of the talent surrounding Norby in the Orioles system, it might not be a given that your name is penciled in the lineup at a certain position every single night. Norby is a natural second baseman, but with Jackson Holliday getting regular playing time at second in Norfolk for the time being, he has to be more versatile to get on the field every day.
“I have been playing a lot of outfield and that gives me another opportunity to get in the lineup and stay in the lineup,” Norby said. “I know I can play second base, but this is helpful to expand my role a bit and be able to play corner outfield when I need to. I am still a second baseman at heart but if you are trying to fight for a spot, playing multiple positions will only help you out.”
After having 565 at-bats at the Triple-A level in 2023 and another 179 this season, the major leagues isn’t too far away for Norby. With offensive numbers like he has, what could he want to achieve for the rest of the season?
“Everyone has numbers goals but I try not to look at those especially this early,” Norby said of what he is looking forward to. “I just want to get better every day. I want to be polished when I get up there whenever that time comes. I want to be the best defender I can be. I want to show people that I can play defense because I know that is a knock that some people have. I can play solid defense. I want to hit. That is what I am here to do and that is what I was born to do, and I believe in myself at the plate. I just want to continue to get better every day in those aspects. I want to show I am top hitter not only in this league, but in the entire sport.”
