One week to go

This time next week monoblogue will have returned to a “tradition” began last year. Just like in 2006, Thursday nights will reveal the Shorebird of the Week. For the next 22 weeks I’ll pick out a worthy player and at the end reveal my pick as Shorebird of the Year. (If you recall, last year’s SotY pick was Ryan Finan, here’s the rundown of my 2k6 SotW picks.)

I was reading Fox Sports writer Dayn Perry’s rundown of his top 100 prospects over the last few weeks and he’s got three Orioles up-and-comers on the list – two of whom should see significant time with the Shorebirds this year. Infielder Billy Rowell is ranked #45 and pitcher Pedro Beato is ranked 89th. Both of these players were first round Oriole picks last year. Meanwhile, my pick for best prospect on the Shorebirds last year, pitcher Brandon Erbe, was tabbed as the #63 prospect by Perry. Now, Dayn Perry may not be the greatest baseball prospect picker but I recall he was picking the Tigers to do a lot in 2006 while everyone else was placing them 4th in the AL Central. So who was right?

The great thing about this time of year is that every team in the SAL (and all the other leagues) figures it has some chance to succeed. I noted a couple weeks back that the hitting prowess of the Shorebirds should improve with some good batters moving up the ranks from Aberdeen and Bluefield. If we can keep the top-notch pitching we’ve had but lose the shackles of our punchless 2006 offense, there’s a pretty decent chance the Shorebirds could play deep into September. Either way, I’m looking forward to a month’s worth of summer evenings at the ballpark.

On Saturday, the Shorebirds will have their preseason open house. I’m anxious to see what the new ownership group has done with the place. I’m even more excited about showing up on Friday, April 13th for the season home opener against the West Virginia Power. Hopefully the Shorebirds will be off to a torrid start and keep it up all summer.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

One thought on “One week to go”

  1. IIRC Dayn Perry was rather modest when the Tigers took the league by storm. I think he picked them second, but he acknowledged that he didn’t think that they’d be as improved as they ended up being.

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