Not to be confused with another, similarly-named Shorebird infielder, Michael Rooney has set himself on a mission to return to Frederick by hitting the cover off the ball here at Delmarva.
Brought on board to replace Jonathan Schoop (who was promoted to Frederick) on June 5th, Rooney has managed 17 hits in 11 Shorebird games, sporting a gaudy .386 average so far. That which Rooney has accomplished in 11 games and 44 at-bats with the Shorebirds has pretty much matched his total output for Frederick in 26 games and 62 at-bats earlier this season. He was hitting .226 for the Keys prior to his demotion.
A 30th round pick out of UNC-Wilmington last year, Rooney is on the hottest streak of his nascent career since he only hit .234/0/11 for Aberdeen last season with a lackluster .613 OPS. (Compare that to a solid .890 OPS so far at Delmarva.) But one thing which pops out in looking at the 22-year-old Tar Heel’s stats is that he rarely strikes out or takes a walk – in 281 professional at-bats he’s fanned just 48 times and drawn 30 walks. Rooney tends to get wood on the ball, so it’s just a matter of how hard it was hit and where it was placed.
With megaprospect Manny Machado out of the way, manager Ryan Minor may well continue to go with the hot hand of Rooney in the infield for the foreseeable future. As there are four players listed as shortstops on the current roster (but none at second base,) Michael now anchors a crew which is radically different from the group that started the season here – of that four-player shortstop group, not one began the season with Delmarva.
But that doesn’t mean we’ll have any less success – particularly if Rooney can keep the average over the .300 mark.
