Since joining the team in June, Jeremy Nowak has likely done all that was expected of him. With a brief 8-game repeat of Aberdeen under his belt (a stint where he went 8-for-28 with 2 homers and 6 knocked in,) Jeremy has provided a good share of offense for this new-look team in the second half.
Right now the 23 year old from Cheektowaga, New York via Mt. Olive College – both sort of out of the way as far as baseball is concerned – is hitting .277/3/15/.816 OPS in 42 games with Delmarva. It appears Nowak has figured out the pro ranks after hitting just .179 in 52 games with Aberdeen last season. But the Orioles didn’t lose faith in their 13th round pick from 2010 – they just let him learn in extended spring training before assigning him to a team in mid-season.
Nowak started out great in his first half-dozen games, going 8-for-19 with a home run and six runs batted in. The league began to catch up to him in July, but Jeremy seems to have made the necessary adjustments and is bringing his average back up.
One thing to like about Jeremy is his idea of the strike zone, as he’s fanned only 36 times in 155 at-bats while taking 25 walks. That’s an asset which could serve him well at the next level, and since this is the time of year the Orioles begin to consider the 2012 prospects of the players in their minor league system that could lead Jeremy to begin his first full season at the advanced-A level. If not, the Shorebirds would have a solid hitter for the heart of their order.
Both photos by Kim Corkran.
