Shorebird of the Week – July 23, 2009

I took this photo on July 1st, which was Nathan's last bad start. Since then he's won three starts in a row, allowing just 1 run in 18-plus innings.

Note: I’m doing this a bit earlier than normal today because I’ll be liveblogging at the usual 7 p.m. announcement time.

With 16 teams in the South Atlantic League it’s tough for a Shorebird player to be selected when the league gives out weekly honors. But last week Nathan Moreau turned the trick and I decided it was high time to award him Shorebird of the Week as well.

Nathan has been on a hot streak of late, twirling shutout performances in his last two starts covering a total of 13 innings. With three victories in a row Moreau has turned around his record – which is now 4-2 – and since the All-Star break has lowered his ERA from 4.55 to a much more respectable 3.29 mark.

But Nathan still has a little work to do in keeping consistency. A look at his starts reveals that when he’s in the strike zone he’s dominant but walks can become an issue. Over the most recent three-start stretch the 22 year old Georgian has allowed but two walks – a key to his success. But other starts earlier on he allowed a walk per inning and was burned by that. It’s led to a season where the 4-2 record and 3.29 ERA is accompanied by a slightly high WHIP of 1.34, allowing 47 hits and 26 walks in 54 2/3 innings over 13 starts.

Yet the Orioles have plenty of faith in Nathan, selecting him in the 11th round of the 2008 draft. His Aberdeen numbers weren’t particularly great (1-2, 5.70 ERA in 36 1/3 innings over 10 appearances) and he had some extra work to do in spring training, not joining the Shorebirds until May 7th. But as the year progresses we’re seeing improvement with Nathan and certainly we’ll be leaning on him to anchor the staff for a second half run.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.