Shorebird of the Week – June 27, 2013

It’s quite likely that having a connection within the Orioles’ organization helped get him drafted, as his father is Buck Showalter’s right-hand man with Baltimore as their bench coach. But it’s still up to Steel Russell to play well enough to keep his job and this year seems to be an indication he may be able to advance.

Brought up off the Aberdeen preseason roster for catching depth in May, Russell has split time with Chase Weems over the last few games after regular catcher Wynston Sawyer came up injured. But the spot duty seemed to agree with Russell as he started the season 17-for-49 at the plate. So while Steel has been scuffling a little of late, he still tops Shorebird receivers with a .269 average based on 18-for-67 in 20 games.

Steel, who was drafted in the 32nd round by the Orioles last year out of Midland Junior College in Texas, is a 22-year-old Pennsylvania native who obviously has been around baseball all his life. His father John is now a coach with the Orioles but played for a decade with the Phillies, Braves, and Rangers as well as managing the Pittsburgh Pirates for three seasons (2008-10.) So the bloodline is there.

But it was a little bit of a surprise to see Russell get a season-finale cup of coffee for the Shorebirds last year (going 1-for-3 at West Virginia) based on a poor batting line in the Gulf Coast League: .180/0/11/.447 OPS with that low-minor team. But he did and has settled into his 2013 role well enough to get the majority of the starts (granted, it’s 4 vs. 3) since the All-Star break.

If Russell can break out of his recent 1-for-18 skid and stabilize his average about where it is, there’s always the possibility he won’t be known more as the coach’s son than as a player in his own right. The Orioles drafted a lot of catching depth this time around because it was perceived they were shallow at the position, so continuing to work hard could be Russell’s ticket to future success.