List of Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliates
The Baltimore Orioles farm system consists of eight Minor League Baseball affiliates in the United States and the Dominican Republic. Four teams are independently owned, while the other four—two squads each in the Florida Complex and Dominican Summer Leagues—are owned by the major league club. The Orioles have been affiliated with the Double-A Bowie Baysox of the Eastern League since 1993, making it the longest-running active affiliation in the organization among teams not owned by the Orioles. Their newest affiliate is the Norfolk Tides of the International League, which  became the Orioles' Triple-A club in 2007. The longest affiliation in team history was the 53-year relationship with the Rookie Appalachian League's Bluefield Orioles from 1958 to 2010. The Orioles have the shortest cumulative distance between its four full-season minor league affiliates in baseball at . The top four affiliates are located within a radius from Baltimore, with three of them situated in Maryland. Geographically, Baltimore's closest domestic affiliate is the Baysox of the Double-A Northeast, which is approximately away. Baltimore's furthest domestic affiliate is the Florida Complex League Orioles of the Rookie Florida  Complex League some away. Baltimore Orioles. 2021–present. The current structure of Minor League Baseball is the result of an overall contraction of the system beginning with the 2021 season. Class A was reduced to two levels: High-A and Low-A. Class A Short Season teams and domestic Rookie League teams that operated away from Spring Training facilities were eliminated. Low-A was reclassified as Single-A in 2022. 1990–2020. Minor League Baseball operated with six classes from 1990 to 2020. The Class A level was subdivided for a second time with the creation of Class A-Advanced. The  Rookie level consisted of domestic and foreign circuits. 1963–1989. The foundation of the minors' current structure was the result of a reorganization initiated by Major League Baseball (MLB) before the 1963 season. The reduction from six classes to four (Triple-A, Double-AA, Class A and Rookie) was a response to the general decline of the minors throughout the 1950s and early-1960s when leagues and teams folded due to shrinking attendance caused by baseball fans' preference for staying at home to watch MLB games on television. The only change made within the next 27 years was Class A being subdivided  for the first time to form Class A Short Season in 1966. 1954–1962. The minors operated with six levels (Triple-A, Double-A and Classes A, B, C and D) from 1946 to 1962. The Pacific Coast League (PCL) was reclassified from Triple-A to Open in 1952 due to the possibility of becoming a third major league. This arrangement ended following the 1957 season when the relocation of the National League's Dodgers and Giants to the West Coast killed any chance of the PCL being promoted. The 1963 reorganization resulted in the Eastern and South Atlantic Leagues being  elevated from Class A to Double-A, five of seven Class D circuits plus the ones in B and C upgraded to A, and the Appalachian League reclassified from D to Rookie.