This week I give SotW honors to infielder Ryan Steinbach, one of the newest Shorebirds. He joined the team after the All-Star break as he was sent down from Frederick to get more playing time. Despite being on the Keys’ roster for over a month, he only found his way into 8 games and could only muster a puny .105 average in the limited action (just 19 at bats.) It was odd that the Orioles’ 20th round pick in 2005 (hailing from a school called IPFW – Indiana/Purdue at Fort Wayne) would make a two-level jump anyway, as he skipped the Shorebirds this spring. He was a starter in Aberdeen last season, hitting .272 in 65 games. Thus, in the natural order of the Orioles’ system, he’s just about where he belongs now and I’m sure is itching to get some playing time and at-bats in order to return to Frederick.
So far it seems to be going reasonably well, as he’s already nearly doubled his total number of Frederick plate appearances in just a couple weeks. More importantly, he’s brought his average up to .241 and the switch-hitter has shown a keen eye at the plate with 8 walks in 11 games.
Probably the biggest knock on Steinbach would be a lack of power – in 298 professional at-bats he has yet to hit a home run and has just six extra-base hits to his credit (including his first triple for Delmarva.) So he’s certainly no Miguel Tejada, but seems like a prototypical #9 hitter – he has the ability to at least get on base and turn over the batting order. And home runs may be a bit deceiving at this level anyway since the entire Aberdeen team managed just 37 in 75 games last season.
It’s now up to Ryan to take advantage of the opportunity to play every day, and so far he’s done a decent job of holding on to that starting role.
