Orioles catching prospect Creed Willems is excited for his first full season with the Chesapeake Baysox in 2025 after reaching the Double-A level toward the end of the 2024 season.
Willems, 21, hit .262/.275/.492 with seven extra-base hits in 69 plate appearances with the Baysox a year ago. The 5-foot-11, 225-pound catcher is hitting .216/.237/.405 through 39 plate appearances so far this year.
“It was big for me,” Willems said on Glenn Clark Radio April 11 of his jump from High-A to Double-A in 2024. “I spent a lot of time in Aberdeen and really worked my butt off to try to get out of there. So just trying to stay focused and staying present where my feet were was a big thing for me last year.”
The Texas native was taken by the Orioles in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft and signed for a $1 million bonus. Willems has gradually made his way from the Florida Complex League to Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen and now Chesapeake.
Willems understands that he’s now facing plenty of pitchers who may very well be future big leaguers.
“I think that was in the back of my head,” Willems said. “That’s what everybody says. The players say that. You hear it from everybody who has been a part of the game for a long time. For me, I was thinking about it, but I also try to [let it be] one of those things like, ‘You know what, this isn’t different from any other at bat I’ve taken all year,’ and just trying to keep that mindset.”
At the end of the minor league season a year ago, the Orioles sent Willems to play in the Arizona Fall League, where he got to play with other top prospects in the minor leagues. He said playing in the Arizona Fall League was a huge confidence booster for the 2025 season.
“It was huge,” Willems said. “Going out there, you’re facing guys who have made their debuts or are on the verge of making their debuts. It was a big confidence booster, and I think for me I learned a lot out there. A lot of it was I was relaxed and I was having fun. I think it showed me while I was out there whenever you’re playing loose and having fun and enjoying your time around your teammates and your buddies, it does a lot for you.”
Willems has grown more confident in his catching abilities from experiences he’s had playing at the Low-A, High-A and Double-A levels and participating in the Arizona Fall League.
“Behind the plate, my arm has always been my best attribute,” Willems said. “Over the last couple of years, really been trying to fine tune everything else and bring it all together. Our catching department has played a huge role in that, but really using my arm to my advantage and not being afraid to throw behind guys … and showing that I’m not scared to do it.”
One thing that was a little bit of a struggle for Willems while playing in the Fall League was the Automated Ball-Strike System, also known as ABS. Major League Baseball has been testing out the technology, which is used to determine whether a pitch is a ball or a strike.
Willems was, however, able to get used to ABS.
“It was new and I had never experienced it before,” Willems said. “I have a love-hate relationship with it because I got rung up a couple of times on it, but I also got a couple for my pitchers. It was a little tough. The first time using it I didn’t exactly know where the zone was, and I challenged a pitch I thought was in the strike zone … but you live and you learn. After that first one, I got a little bit more comfortable with it.”
For more from Willems, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Altoona Curve