This season was one of several ups and downs for our local nine, but when it was all said and done we finished winning and losing 68 games. It was a perfect .500 season that even included a tie because our final road game in Hagerstown was called on account of rain after 8 innings with the teams knotted at 2 apiece.
As far as the second-half standings, Delmarva finished 34-35 which was good for fourth place, and by beating Lake County 3 of 4 in the final series we finished just in front of them. Hickory won the second half by 7 games over Lakewood, so it’s Hickory and West Virginia for the North title while Augusta and Columbus tangle in an all-Georgia final for the South.
Delmarva finished in the middle of the pack as far as overall standings, too. Numbers in parentheses indicate each half’s finish, and teams in italics are in the North Division with Delmarva:
- Augusta 89-51 (1,3)
- Columbus 82-53 (3,1)
- West Virginia 82-54 (1,3)
- Asheville 80-58 (2,4)
- Charleston 78-62 (4,2)
- Lakewood 69-65 (3,2)
- Hickory 70-66 (8,1)
- Greensboro 71-69 (2,6)
- Delmarva 68-68 (4,4)
- Kannapolis 69-70 (5,5)
- Rome 66-74 (7,6)
- Lake County 64-74 (5,5)
- Lexington 59-81 (5,7)
- Greenville 58-81 (6,7)
- Hagerstown 55-81 (7,8)
- Savannah 41-94 (8,8)
I guess the league was good at swatting Sand Gnats. Savannah finished 45 1/2 games behind, which doesn’t say much for the Mets organization. And congratulate Hickory for going from worst to first in one half!
As strong as the South looked, I think I have to go with Augusta to defeat West Virginia for the league title.
Now let’s look at how Delmarva stacked up against the rest of the league in some other respects. The offense was better than last year’s but still ranked among the bottom as far as average. The Shorebirds’ .259 aggregate average was 12th. Other categories:
Runs scored: 662 (4.87 per game), 10th
Doubles: 245, tied for 9th
Triples: 31, 7th
Home Runs: 88, 12th
Walks: 433, 12th
Strikeouts: 1,094, 4th most
Stolen Bases: 145, 9th
On-base percentage: .329, 13th
Slugging percentage (total bases/at-bats) .381, 14th
OPS (total of on-base and slugging percentages) .710, 14th
As it was last season, pitching was more the strength of the team. Their overall 3.91 ERA ranked sixth in the circuit. (This may come as a surprise with what you’ll see in a moment.) Some of the other overall rankings:
Saves: 36, 7th
Runs allowed: 655 (4.82 per game), 10th
Home Runs allowed: 73, 3rd fewest
Walks allowed: 590, most in the SAL
Strikeouts: 1074, 2nd (Rome had 1088 but they played all 140 scheduled games.)
WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched) 1.41, 10th
Looking at the Oriole organization as a whole, the oddity is that the team with the second-worst record is the lone playoff team. Frederick won the first half title in their Carolina League division with a 32-37 record and played the exact same ball in half number 2 (finishing third.) Unfortunately for the Shorebirds, the worst team was the one right below us in Aberdeen – they finished 32-41. Rookie league Bluefield was also a sub-.500 team at 32-36, but the lower level rookies in the Gulf Coast League did manage a winning season. Doesn’t look like a lot of help for 2008.
However, we may get a few of those I picked as Shorebird of the Week back. Starting back from April, here’s how my picks fared.
April 5: Brandon Snyder
Snyder was expected to carry a good deal of the offensive load this season while learning a new position, first base. He did just fine, finishing with a .283 average, 11 homers, and 58 RBI. It was a far cry from a disastrous 2006 campaign as he stayed healthy all year and amassed a valuable 448 at-bats of experience. His season was right among the top as far as offensive category leaders go. I think we’ve seen the last of Brandon, he’s earned a shot to play at Frederick.
Other honors: Brandon was picked by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the second half.
April 12: Brad Bergesen
I think had Brad stayed here the entire season and kept putting up the numbers he was amassing, I would have had zero issue with him being Shorebird of the Year. But he moved up to Frederick and opened up the field. With Delmarva he finished 7-3 with a 2.19 ERA and a WHIP of 0.98, allowing just 75 hits and 17 walks in 94 innings. For Brad the Carolina League was less to his liking, as he ended up 3-6 in Frederick with an ERA of 5.75, the WHIP ballooning to a pedestrian 1.54 mark. I suspect he’ll anchor the Frederick staff to begin 2008 anyway.
Other honors: Brad was a 2007 SAL All-Star.
April 19: Victor Castillo
Castillo proved to be by far the better catcher with the bat, finishing with a .294 batting mark. The other impressive thing to me was striking out just 33 times in 231 at-bats while drawing 27 walks. While he doesn’t have the power his stocky frame might suggest, he does show a little bit of speed and can steal a base once in awhile. He did hit one homer and knock in 27 though, and I think he’ll move up next season someplace along the line. Delmarva tends to get new catchers each year and Victor’s earned a shot at moving up.
April 26: Brandon Tripp
Brandon got off to an outstanding start and was an SAL Player of the Week in late April but found things much more difficult after missing some time with an injury in May. While the overall line of .288/19/79 is fairly good and Tripp led the team in home runs, the post-April line of .247/14/54 may be closer to what can be expected at the higher level I feel Brandon will be placed at in 2008. Another oddity I found was that Brandon hit a lot better on the road than in Perdue Stadium (.330 vs. .243).
Other honors: As noted, Brandon was the SAL Player of the Week for the week of April 23. He was also an SAL All-Star, voted by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the first half, and selected by Mountaire as their Player of the Year in August.
May 3: Chris Vinyard
For most of the year, the Shorebirds indeed had a deadly lefty-righty power combination and it turned out that Vinyard led the team with 82 runs batted in to go with 16 home runs. The home run total was second to Tripp’s. Chris also batted a respectable .269 on the season, so he may get a shot at Frederick to share first base and DH duties with Brandon Snyder again. Working against Vinyard though is a much lower draft slot so he may come back here for at least some time next year too.
Other honors: Chris was selected as an SAL All-Star.
May 10: Pedro Beato
Beato was supposed to anchor the Delmarva starting staff and pretty much did his job. Even better, he got the thrill of appearing in this season’s All-Star Futures Game. While Pedro led the team in innings pitched with 142 1/3, in August he faded quite badly and it pushed his overall season ERA to a mediocre 4.05. On the whole he finished with a 7-8 record and WHIP of 1.39 – 3 terrible starts in August ratcheted that number up quite a bit. Since Beato only turns 21 during the off-season I think he’ll be back here for the first half of 2008 but gone before season’s end.
Other honors: As I alluded to, he was selected to pitch for the World team in the All-Star Futures Game.
May 17: Wilfredo Perez
When he first arrived in Delmarva, this guy just flat out killed lefties. But as it turned out, they fared a little better against him than right-handed hitters did. Still Wilfredo put together some monster numbers for the Shorebirds. How about an ERA of 1.67? Even better, as a starter his ERA was a sick 0.28. In 81 innings he walked 28 and struck out 108. As for the modern-day measuring stick of a pitchers’ prowess, the WHIP, Perez’s was exactly 1. Among pitchers with a reasonable number of innings, only the aforementioned Bergesen had a better figure than Wilfredo’s. Honestly, if this guy’s not in a Frederick uniform next year, I’ll be shocked.
Other honors: Wilfredo was picked by Mountaire as their Pitcher of the Year in August.
May 24: Billy Rowell
It wasn’t quite up to par with the Second Coming, but Delmarva fans did expect big things from 2006 first round pick Billy Rowell when he arrived. In only playing 91 games though his numbers weren’t really impressive – Billy hit .273 with 9 homers and 57 RBI. Projected over another 45 games or so to make a full season and they’re a tad more impressive compared to the team leaders. The thing Rowell needs to work on is the error total, as he committed 21 miscues at the hot corner. As most kids do, he made some sensational plays and bolloxed up a few easy ones. To me, he’s on the fence between deserving a promotion to start the season or spending a month or so here first. Either way, he’ll likely be in Frederick at the end of 2008.
Other honors: Billy was chosen as the SAL Player of the Week for the week of June 11.
May 31: Stu Musslewhite
Stu’s season came to an untimely end as he had shoulder surgery in late July. Thus, we may never know if his lackluster numbers were caused by a bum shoulder or some other factor. Stu only hit .182/0/13 for the season in 56 games that he split between third base, shortstop, and catcher as a valuable utility player. With the injury and the fact he’s recently turned 25, it may be past Stu’s time as far as being a player in the Orioles organization is concerned. However, if he does come back in 2008, Stu would be welcomed.
June 7: Jeff Moore
Here’s another guy who was cruising along and putting together a fine season when the injury bug got him. Jeff was shut down in July and never reappeared. It’s too bad because he was 6-4 with a fine 2.45 ERA in 18 starts. He also had a solid 1.17 WHIP going too. If the injury is not too serious, he’ll probably be back here to begin 2008 but could make a rapid climb up a level or two by season’s end – at 25 his peer group is at the AA level in Bowie.
Other honors: Jeff was selected as an SAL All-Star.
June 14: Chad Thall
Chad served as Delmarva’s closer for a good part of the season and amassed a team leading 17 saves. His numbers weren’t the greatest for a shutdown closer but his 3-5 record with a 4.14 ERA and 1.29 WHIP were still good enough for him to earn a last-minute promotion to Frederick for their playoff run. For the Keys he made one regular-season appearance, giving up a hit and striking out two. I suspect he may have to get used to Frederick since my guess is they’ll begin 2008 with Chad on board.
June 21: Josh Tamba
I noted in picking Josh that his problem was walking too many batters, and shortly after being selected as SotW he was demoted to Aberdeen to get some more starts and work on the issue. Unfortunately, he fared worse for the IronBirds. With Delmarva, Josh was 0-3 with a 5.82 ERA and 1.71 WHIP – walking 32 in 55 2/3 innings. His Aberdeen numbers were ghastly: 1-5 with a 9.23 ERA, .331 average against, and a WHIP of 2.20. Tamba allowed over 2 runners per inning for Aberdeen and for the season he allowed more runs than innings pitched (101 vs. 95 2/3). He may get another shot at working out whatever issues he has though since he was a high draft pick and only 23, probably here with the Shorebirds.
June 28: Miguel Abreu
“Miggy” turned in a nice season for the Shorebirds, finishing among the leaders in several offensive categories. He was the team leader in at-bats (486), hits (130), triples (5) and just behind in most of the other offensive numbers. His .267 average, 13 homers, and 60 RBI combined with 20 stolen bases will likely allow him a promotion to begin 2008.
July 5: Tim Bascom
Tim was the first 2007 draft choice to play for the Shorebirds and for much of the next two months was the highest draft choice signed by the Orioles. While he was drafted in the fourth round, he was Baltimore’s second pick as they lost picks as compensation for signing major league free agents. Tim hung around long enough for 12 starts, earning a 3-3 record with a 3.74 ERA and a nice 1.25 WHIP. He also had a good strikeout/walk ratio of 55/24. At the tail end of the season he also got a promotion to Frederick, pitching 6 innings in 2 appearances, allowing 2 runs.
July 12: Michael Pierce
Michael finished 2007 with a .232 average, poked 5 home runs, and knocked in 21 RBI in 82 games. With only 224 at-bats since he shared catching duties with Victor Castillo, it could be a case where he stays here in 2008 to lend support to the catchers sure to come up from Aberdeen or Bluefield and gets about the same number of AB’s.
July 19: Todd Davison
After a slow start at Frederick (7 for 33 in 15 games), Todd went down to extended spring then to Delmarva. He got off to a good start with the Shorebirds, but fell off sharply as time went on. With the Shorebirds he hit .234 in 197 at-bats, hitting 2 homers and knocking in 30. Davison turns 24 in October so he may get another shot with Delmarva in 2008, probably as a utility infielder who spells the normal starters.
July 26: Kyle Schmidt
In his second go-round with the Shorebirds, Kyle put together some good stats. While his 6-8 record was mediocre, he finished second on the staff with 131 innings pitched and tied for third in the entire SAL with his 145 strikeouts. Had he pitched the same number of innings as the league leader, Kyle would likely have led the loop (Aneury Rodriguez of Asheville struck out 160 in 152 innings, 21 innings more than Schmidt threw.) Better still, Schmidt only walked 38 so his 1.24 WHIP was one of the team’s best. I think Kyle will be plying his trade in Frederick next year as well.
August 2: Paul Winterling
Winterling wasn’t playing much in Frederick (hitting .206 in 21 games) but proved in 100 Delmarva at-bats that he can hit at this level, amassing a .320 average here. Toward the end of the season Paul was our best hitter, hitting 4 homers and knocking in 11 – not bad numbers for just 29 games here. The OPS of .957 was the team’s best. Paul could be the anchor to our lineup next year, although the Orioles may not give him much of a chance since he was an undrafted free agent. If he can stick here and get some regular playing time for an extended period Winterling could put up really good numbers for the Shorebirds next season.
August 9: Zach Clark
Zach bounced around between three teams this season, spending a forgettable few weeks in Frederick before being sent down to Aberdeen. With more success there, he came to Delmarva in July and put in 9 solid starts for the Shorebirds. Clark only had a 2-3 record here but put up a sound 3.10 ERA and allowed only 57 hits and 9 walks in 58 innings with Delmarva (translating to a 1.14 WHIP.) Overall between the three teams, Zach was 5-5 with an aggregate ERA of 3.14 – the horrid 11.05 Frederick ERA in 3 appearances balanced out by his Aberdeen dominance, where he was 3-1 with a 1.03 ERA in 5 games. With Zach turning 24 during the 2007 season, probably he’ll be given the opportunity to return to Frederick and see if he can improve on what he did during his short stay there this season.
August 16: Danny Figueroa
Like a freight train gathering speed, Danny managed to continually improve his numbers as 2007 progressed. Overall he had a nifty .278 mark with 14 doubles, 5 triples, and 28 RBI (no home runs). The key stats for Danny were his team-leading 35 stolen bases and .398 on-base percentage – at one point he had a streak of 40 straight games where he got on base somehow. Helping him in that regard was a team-leading 68 walks, which placed him in the league’s top 10 for that category as well as for on-base percentage. He has certainly earned the right to move up and try to catch up to his twin brother (and ’05 Shorebird) Paco, who played for Bowie this season.
August 23: Ryan Ouellette
Ryan ended up going full circle this season – Frederick to Aberdeen to Delmarva and back to Frederick for one September appearance. For the Shorebirds Ryan made 18 appearances, finishing 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 34 1/3 innings. The big difference between his numbers for the three teams was the lack of walks he gave up at Aberdeen (1 in 8 innings) and Delmarva (11) vs. the number he gave up in Frederick (6 in 12 innings pitched.) Thus he had a 2.25 ERA in Aberdeen, 2.10 here, and 6.00 with the Keys. Because Ryan is yet to turn 22, he’s probably a borderline case between continuing with Frederick or returning to Delmarva to open 2008.
August 30: David Cash
The last SotW picked, David had a decent year with Delmarva. In 112 games he hit .262 with 1 homer and 51 runs batted in. Additionally, he had 20 stolen bases. Probably the two things he’ll be working on here in 2008 are getting more work in the outfield (he’s a converted infielder) and developing a little better batting eye since he only had a .295 on-base percentage, walking just 20 times in well over 400 plate appearances. While the average was passable, he needs to find more ways to steal first and most likely he’ll be here next season to work on that.
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So it’s time for me to pick my Shorebird of the Year.
As I stated above, had Brad Bergesen stayed the whole season and kept putting up the numbers he was, I would be honoring him right now. However, I am giving him honorable mention as the best prospect this season. Despite the fact Brandon Tripp was selected by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the first half, my personal vote as a member was for Bergesen.
With Bergesen out, this left me with a number of position players who had a lot going for them with very similar averages and leadership in a number of statistical categories. It was a group that included Brandon Snyder, Chris Vinyard, Miguel Abreu, Danny Figueroa, Brandon Tripp, and if you project out the numbers for a full season, Billy Rowell.
So I had to look beyond the numbers to an extent. I looked at the expectations each player had placed on him for the season.
Both Snyder and Rowell were first round picks by the Orioles, so one would assume they have the talent necessary to thrive at this level, or would have so once they gained a bit of experience. In Snyder’s case, he needed a year to excel at this level while Rowell is close to that point, maybe a few dozen games in 2008 away. As well, Brandon Tripp was a pretty high pick, drafted 12th in 2006.
This leaves Miguel Abreu (28th in 2005), Chris Vinyard (38th in 2005, drafted as a catcher), and Danny Figueroa (drafted 43rd in 2005). All of these guys were basically what’s known as “organization picks”; the guys you draft to fill out the season’s roster at Aberdeen and Bluefield. All three of them had very good seasons and can be arguably deserving of the Shorebird of the Year moniker.
I can only pick one guy though. And as things turned out, the person I selected as my Shorebird Fan Club vote for Player of the Half for the second half did not win either. It was close between him and Brandon Snyder for my personal choice, and Snyder got the nod from the Fan Club.
While the Fan Club had many voters, my blog has one. And my vote for Player of the Half is my selection for Shorebird of the Year:
Because of his outstanding ability to get on base and jumpstart the Shorebirds’ offense, plus a great job manning center field, my 2007 Shorebird of the Year is outfielder Danny Figueroa.
And now the long winter wait begins as the next Shorebirds contest with any meaning comes April 3, 2008 at Perdue Stadium against cross-state rival Hagerstown. I’ll have one more Shorebirds post next week with some comments as a loyal fan about what was good and bad about 2007 and suggestions for 2008.
Better than the O’s!