As longtime fans of my website know, the occasion of the South Atlantic League All-Star break was my chance to update fans of my Shorebird of the Week feature on the fortunes of the over 100 players selected as such over the seven seasons I have carried it. At this time last year, however, I debuted the SotW Tracker page, which made the information available at the click of a menu item at the top of my website. (It’s the SOTW Tracker item on the gray menu bar above.) Every few weeks during the season I take a half-hour or so and keep the page updated with the latest on the players who are still active.
Because of that, I really didn’t need to do a long summary page. But I thought it was interesting to do a statistical breakdown of those who remain – for example, out of 134 players I selected between the 2006 and 2012 seasons, 65 are still active as players in various leagues and levels and 38 of them are still property of the Orioles. By season, it breaks down as follows:
- 2006: 6 of 22 active, with one in the major leagues, two at AAA, one at AA, one in independent league baseball, and one playing in Japan. None remain property of the Orioles.
- 2007: 5 of 19 active, with one in the major leagues, one at AAA, two at AA, and one in independent league baseball. Two remain as Orioles property. (Only 19 players were “new” Shorebirds of the Week; three were selected in 2006 as well.)
- 2008: 9 of 22 active, with two in the major leagues, three at AAA, one at AA, two playing in independent leagues, and one playing in Mexico; however, he is one of the two players who remain Orioles property as he was loaned to the Mexican League team.
- 2009: 8 of 18 active, with three in AAA, three in AA, and two playing independent league baseball. Five of those eight are still in the Orioles’ system. (Four players were selected as Shorebird of the Week in 2008 as well.)
- 2010: 7 of 17 active, with five at AA, and two at advanced-A. All but one are still Baltimore’s property. (This was the year with the most repeaters to date – two repeated from 2008 and three from 2009.)
- 2011: 13 of 18 active, with one in the major leagues, two at AAA, seven at advanced-A, and three in independent leagues. Just eight of the 13 still belong to the O’s. (Four were previously selected as Shorebird of the Week in 2010.)
- 2012: All but one of the 18 players are active, with two in AA, eight at advanced-A, five with Delmarva this season, one in rookie-level baseball, and one in independent baseball. Fifteen of the seventeen still play for Oriole affiliates.
If you look at the category of those in the Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame – 15 inducted, with a 16th to be added at season’s end – there are five who are playing in the majors right now: David Hernandez of Arizona (SotW in 2006), Pedro Beato of Boston (SotW in 2007), Pedro Florimon of Minnesota (SotW in 2008), and the Orioles’ own Zach Britton (SotW in 2008) and Manny Machado (SotW in 2011.)
At this point in time my initial inductee Brad Bergesen is playing in Japan, but most of the SotW Hall of Famers are dotting AAA and AA rosters: Brandon Snyder for Boston’s team in Pawtucket, Blake Davis for Milwaukee’s team in Nashville, Matt Angle with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm team in Albuquerque, Joe Mahoney (who was up with the Miami Marlins briefly back in April) playing in New Orleans, and a handful remaining in the Orioles’ system between Norfolk and Bowie: Xavier Avery, Kyle Hudson, L.J. Hoes, and Dylan Bundy make up that list, which also includes future 2013 inductee Zach Clark, who debuted earlier this season.
Only Ryan Adams, who was a SotW back in 2008 and made the SotWHoF in 2011 with the Orioles, is out of baseball. But there is a caveat: he was suspended by Major League Baseball after last season for 25 games, so he has to serve that before resuming his career with whichever team signs him. It’s possible he may be on an independent league team’s restricted list since most haven’t reached the 25-game mark quite yet.
If you haven’t looked at the SotW Tracker page over the last few weeks, you’ll notice I updated it with the honorees from 2013’s first half. At this point only one of the 2013 crop is a repeater from last year while five of them remain with the Shorebirds – so you can probably expect somewhere between 18 and 20 “new” players this season as well.
Lastly, I normally wrap up my post by detailing how the Shorebirds’ representatives did at the SAL All-Star Game. But Josh Hader might be in a Baltimore uniform before the game gets underway as Lakewood is experiencing the same rainy weather plaguing us this evening. As of 9:30 posting, the rain was still being waited out. Once I find out, I’ll let you know how Hader did in what could well be his last appearance as a member of the Shorebirds.
Update: Hader pitched as the first man out of the North bullpen, coming in for the second inning. While he allowed the lone South walk, it did no damage and he struck out two in the North’s 2-1 rain-delayed win.