Category: Delmarva Shorebirds

I didn’t really put my reporter hat on nor did I take my camera, but if you’re interested in my impressions of the event this evening, I put them on my Myspace blog. Wanted to leave the political stuff toward the top this week. But come summer, Shorebird of the Week will be back and not on Myspace!

From September 3rd to April 3rd there are 213 days. If you don’t grasp the significance of those dates, you’re probably not a Delmarva Shorebirds fan. By my public school math, today is the 107th day between the dates, thus we’ve reached the halfway point between last year’s home finale and next year’s home opener against the Hagerstown Suns. And spring training’s not all that far away, starting up just after the NFL playoffs conclude.

Surprisingly, I’ve found since I started going to Shorebirds Fan Club meetings that the work really doesn’t slow down after the season concludes. Sure, the field may be covered up and all the large signs that cover the wall during the summer may be down but the front office and staff still has a lot to do over the offseason like baseball’s winter meetings and securing those 2008 advertisers, new and returning season ticket holders, and promotions that will entertain you between innings next summer. This time around, Shorebirds GM Chris Bitters has the advantage of seeing what worked and what didn’t during the 2007 season in planning for 2008. (I know he’s trying hard to get those Thickburgers to return. I swear I had seven or eight of those coupons at one time.)

And I know that Chris would like input from fans as to what they liked and disliked as well. Last Friday the club had its Christmas Party and I managed to get a 2008 pocket schedule, so I can tell you that we’ll have 17 fireworks nights next season, the Bucket Boys and Zooperstars are scheduled to be back, and we’ll have several different promotions that certainly will be worth a look-see. Now if we can get the bands back on Thirsty Thursdays like we had my first season here in 2005 the summer will be good to go.

Who am I kidding? I’m ready for April 3rd tomorrow. But the Hot Stove Banquet is Saturday, January 26th at Perdue Stadium’s Executive Club, that may have to do in the interim.

By the way, one method of keeping that baseball spirit alive is to join the Shorebirds Fan Club. It’s a relatively informal group of fans who just want to do nice things for the players. (If I’m involved in it, chances are it’s pretty informal.) That’s the purpose of our sale table during the summer prior to games. We meet at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday each month during the off-season in the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame located at Perdue Stadium. Thus our next get-together is January 15, 2008. Hope to see you there!

One other offseason Shorebirds note. We won’t have Gary Kendall back as manager next year, the O’s have reassigned him to manage the Aberdeen IronBirds. Instead, we’ll have second-year manager Ramon Sambo, who managed the rookies in the Gulf Coast League last season. Pitching coach Kennie Steenstra is staying put but there’s no word on field coach, so it’s not certain if Kimera Bartee will be returning yet.

For the last five months or so I’ve talked a lot about my adopted hometown team’s players and how they’ve done on the field. But as a way of putting the subject to bed for a long, cold winter’s nap (unless events warrant of course) tonight I’m going to look at the organization from a fan’s perspective. I suppose I’m qualified in that respect, I made over half the home games this season.

First of all, team GM Chris Bitters and his staff do deserve congratulations as attendance was up this year. The Shorebirds drew 220,219 for 64 dates – only 2 SAL teams had fewer openings. This worked out to an average of 3,440 per game. While I don’t have last year’s number in front of me, if memory serves it was right around 215,000 and they had a couple more dates (fewer rainouts) in 2006.

There were some things the new team did really well and were an improvement over the previous management.

• While it’s actually Ovations that handles the food service, I thought they did an excellent job this year. In past seasons it seems like they ran out of stuff quite a bit, this year all was well-stocked. And staffing generally was sufficient.
• It seems like the new regime managed to secure a lot more in giveaways and such, plus they made a really good effort to keep admission affordable.
• Once they had a few bugs worked out, the sound system truly was a lot better. It was a good initial investment by team owner Seventh Inning Stretch, LLC.
• This has more to do with next season, but I’m sure our management complained to the SAL office this season and got results. Instead of playing long, long stretches against the same three teams (Lake County, Lakewood, Hagerstown) next season Perdue Stadium fans will only see those teams 10 times apiece. Instead, we get rare appearances from the teams in Charleston (SC) and Savannah next August and a few more games against some other foes. In all we’ll host 11 of the other 15 teams in the SAL and only miss out on playing two.
• Finally, I have to say that the staff seemed a LOT more fan-friendly this past seeason starting from the top down. Something tells me that the attitude will pay off in future years provided they can keep the same friendly staff and put an entertaining product on and off the field.

 

The team did a lot good in 2007, so these friendly suggestions are my five biggest for improvement as we look forward to the 2008 season. What, do you think I’ll not show up anyhow if they don’t do them?

1. I’ve been told that it’s “on the radar” but the stadium really, really needs a new scoreboard and videoboard. From what I understand they were purchased second-hand for the stadium’s opening 11 years ago so I’m guessing these components are close to 20 years old. If we had to split the deal the scoreboard needs to be replaced first – it would be nice to have an operator who would update player stats and the like too. Along with that it would also be helpful to get an auxiliary scoreboard (just balls, strikes, outs, score) to be placed on the first base side.
2. In a way this is related to suggestion number 1. Because of the nature of the stadium’s setup, a fan has to constantly turn around to watch the game while standing in line for food or drink. Why not a CCTV system with a camera in the pressbox following the action? As a trial basis I’d suggest the main first base and third base concession stands be equipped. You already have the TV’s at the third level concession stand, they would just have to be hooked in.
3. There was some of this during this season, but it would be nice to have more player availabilities during the year where kids (and guys who pick Shorebirds of the Week) could get autographs and pictures. Maybe it could be a regular Sunday feature as well as the daytime games during the week. (Since I’m working on those dates maybe you do this already and I just don’t know it.) Seems like the “Bird Pen” was underutilized this season.
4. About fireworks. Yes, I realize they are a huge draw and with only 10 Saturday games next season you may only have about 16 shows. But can we work it out with whoever bought the Clear Channel stations to let some other radio stations pick the music? Personally I think 96 Rock should pick but I know Froggy and Q105 have a batch of listeners too. (Can’t figure out why but that’s just me I guess.)
5. Since we’re on music, you know I’m not letting this go by without my pet peeve. Thirsty Thursday is my favorite game day of the week but it’s just not the same as it was in 2005 when they had the local bands play pregame/postgame concerts. I suppose the one drawback is that there’s only two Thursday games (opening night and May 1st) before SU lets out, but I recall it being a decent draw once the weather warmed up and there’s 8 Thursday games May through August.

On the whole, the thing I hope most for is something that’s pretty much beyond the control of Chris Bitters and his staff, and that’s a winning team on the field. But win, lose, or draw, I’m still looking forward to cranking it up all over again April 3, 2008. Guess that means I’ll have to write my Shorebird of the Week the night before.

Now, when do tickets go on sale?

Late edit: Tonight I came across a bit of player news thanks to one of my Shorebirds Fan Club cohorts. Shorebird Brandon Tripp was named as the Orioles’ Minor League Player of the Year while fellow Shorebird Brandon Snyder was named as the organization’s top comeback player. Both were honored last night before the Orioles’ game against the Los Angeles Angels.

This season was one of several ups and downs for our local nine, but when it was all said and done we finished winning and losing 68 games. It was a perfect .500 season that even included a tie because our final road game in Hagerstown was called on account of rain after 8 innings with the teams knotted at 2 apiece.

As far as the second-half standings, Delmarva finished 34-35 which was good for fourth place, and by beating Lake County 3 of 4 in the final series we finished just in front of them. Hickory won the second half by 7 games over Lakewood, so it’s Hickory and West Virginia for the North title while Augusta and Columbus tangle in an all-Georgia final for the South.

Delmarva finished in the middle of the pack as far as overall standings, too. Numbers in parentheses indicate each half’s finish, and teams in italics are in the North Division with Delmarva:

1. Augusta 89-51 (1,3)
2. Columbus 82-53 (3,1)
3. West Virginia 82-54 (1,3)
4. Asheville 80-58 (2,4)
5. Charleston 78-62 (4,2)
6. Lakewood 69-65 (3,2)
7. Hickory 70-66 (8,1)
8. Greensboro 71-69 (2,6)
9. Delmarva 68-68 (4,4)
10. Kannapolis 69-70 (5,5)
11. Rome 66-74 (7,6)
12. Lake County 64-74 (5,5)
13. Lexington 59-81 (5,7)
14. Greenville 58-81 (6,7)
15. Hagerstown 55-81 (7,8)
16. Savannah 41-94 (8,8)

I guess the league was good at swatting Sand Gnats. Savannah finished 45 1/2 games behind, which doesn’t say much for the Mets organization. And congratulate Hickory for going from worst to first in one half!

As strong as the South looked, I think I have to go with Augusta to defeat West Virginia for the league title.

Now let’s look at how Delmarva stacked up against the rest of the league in some other respects. The offense was better than last year’s but still ranked among the bottom as far as average. The Shorebirds’ .259 aggregate average was 12th. Other categories:

Runs scored: 662 (4.87 per game), 10th
Doubles: 245, tied for 9th
Triples: 31, 7th
Home Runs: 88, 12th
Walks: 433, 12th 
Strikeouts: 1,094, 4th most
Stolen Bases: 145, 9th
On-base percentage: .329, 13th
Slugging percentage (total bases/at-bats) .381, 14th
OPS (total of on-base and slugging percentages) .710, 14th

As it was last season, pitching was more the strength of the team. Their overall 3.91 ERA ranked sixth in the circuit. (This may come as a surprise with what you’ll see in a moment.) Some of the other overall rankings:

Saves: 36, 7th
Runs allowed: 655 (4.82 per game), 10th
Home Runs allowed: 73, 3rd fewest
Walks allowed: 590, most in the SAL
Strikeouts: 1074, 2nd (Rome had 1088 but they played all 140 scheduled games.)
WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched) 1.41, 10th

Looking at the Oriole organization as a whole, the oddity is that the team with the second-worst record is the lone playoff team. Frederick won the first half title in their Carolina League division with a 32-37 record and played the exact same ball in half number 2 (finishing third.) Unfortunately for the Shorebirds, the worst team was the one right below us in Aberdeen – they finished 32-41. Rookie league Bluefield was also a sub-.500 team at 32-36, but the lower level rookies in the Gulf Coast League did manage a winning season. Doesn’t look like a lot of help for 2008.

However, we may get a few of those I picked as Shorebird of the Week back. Starting back from April, here’s how my picks fared.

April 5: Brandon Snyder

Snyder was expected to carry a good deal of the offensive load this season while learning a new position, first base. He did just fine, finishing with a .283 average, 11 homers, and 58 RBI. It was a far cry from a disastrous 2006 campaign as he stayed healthy all year and amassed a valuable 448 at-bats of experience. His season was right among the top as far as offensive category leaders go. I think we’ve seen the last of Brandon, he’s earned a shot to play at Frederick.

Other honors: Brandon was picked by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the second half.

April 12: Brad Bergesen

I think had Brad stayed here the entire season and kept putting up the numbers he was amassing, I would have had zero issue with him being Shorebird of the Year. But he moved up to Frederick and opened up the field. With Delmarva he finished 7-3 with a 2.19 ERA and a WHIP of 0.98, allowing just 75 hits and 17 walks in 94 innings. For Brad the Carolina League was less to his liking, as he ended up 3-6 in Frederick with an ERA of 5.75, the WHIP ballooning to a pedestrian 1.54 mark. I suspect he’ll anchor the Frederick staff to begin 2008 anyway.

Other honors: Brad was a 2007 SAL All-Star.

April 19: Victor Castillo

Castillo proved to be by far the better catcher with the bat, finishing with a .294 batting mark. The other impressive thing to me was striking out just 33 times in 231 at-bats while drawing 27 walks. While he doesn’t have the power his stocky frame might suggest, he does show a little bit of speed and can steal a base once in awhile. He did hit one homer and knock in 27 though, and I think he’ll move up next season someplace along the line. Delmarva tends to get new catchers each year and Victor’s earned a shot at moving up.

April 26: Brandon Tripp

Brandon got off to an outstanding start and was an SAL Player of the Week in late April but found things much more difficult after missing some time with an injury in May. While the overall line of .288/19/79 is fairly good and Tripp led the team in home runs, the post-April line of .247/14/54 may be closer to what can be expected at the higher level I feel Brandon will be placed at in 2008. Another oddity I found was that Brandon hit a lot better on the road than in Perdue Stadium (.330 vs. .243).

Other honors: As noted, Brandon was the SAL Player of the Week for the week of April 23. He was also an SAL All-Star, voted by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the first half, and selected by Mountaire as their Player of the Year in August.

May 3: Chris Vinyard

For most of the year, the Shorebirds indeed had a deadly lefty-righty power combination and it turned out that Vinyard led the team with 82 runs batted in to go with 16 home runs. The home run total was second to Tripp’s. Chris also batted a respectable .269 on the season, so he may get a shot at Frederick to share first base and DH duties with Brandon Snyder again. Working against Vinyard though is a much lower draft slot so he may come back here for at least some time next year too.

Other honors: Chris was selected as an SAL All-Star.

May 10: Pedro Beato

Beato was supposed to anchor the Delmarva starting staff and pretty much did his job. Even better, he got the thrill of appearing in this season’s All-Star Futures Game. While Pedro led the team in innings pitched with 142 1/3, in August he faded quite badly and it pushed his overall season ERA to a mediocre 4.05. On the whole he finished with a 7-8 record and WHIP of 1.39 – 3 terrible starts in August ratcheted that number up quite a bit. Since Beato only turns 21 during the off-season I think he’ll be back here for the first half of 2008 but gone before season’s end.

Other honors: As I alluded to, he was selected to pitch for the World team in the All-Star Futures Game.

May 17: Wilfredo Perez

When he first arrived in Delmarva, this guy just flat out killed lefties. But as it turned out, they fared a little better against him than right-handed hitters did. Still Wilfredo put together some monster numbers for the Shorebirds. How about an ERA of 1.67? Even better, as a starter his ERA was a sick 0.28. In 81 innings he walked 28 and struck out 108. As for the modern-day measuring stick of a pitchers’ prowess, the WHIP, Perez’s was exactly 1. Among pitchers with a reasonable number of innings, only the aforementioned Bergesen had a better figure than Wilfredo’s. Honestly, if this guy’s not in a Frederick uniform next year, I’ll be shocked.

Other honors: Wilfredo was picked by Mountaire as their Pitcher of the Year in August.

May 24: Billy Rowell

It wasn’t quite up to par with the Second Coming, but Delmarva fans did expect big things from 2006 first round pick Billy Rowell when he arrived. In only playing 91 games though his numbers weren’t really impressive – Billy hit .273 with 9 homers and 57 RBI. Projected over another 45 games or so to make a full season and they’re a tad more impressive compared to the team leaders. The thing Rowell needs to work on is the error total, as he committed 21 miscues at the hot corner. As most kids do, he made some sensational plays and bolloxed up a few easy ones. To me, he’s on the fence between deserving a promotion to start the season or spending a month or so here first. Either way, he’ll likely be in Frederick at the end of 2008.

Other honors: Billy was chosen as the SAL Player of the Week for the week of June 11.

May 31: Stu Musslewhite

Stu’s season came to an untimely end as he had shoulder surgery in late July. Thus, we may never know if his lackluster numbers were caused by a bum shoulder or some other factor. Stu only hit .182/0/13 for the season in 56 games that he split between third base, shortstop, and catcher as a valuable utility player. With the injury and the fact he’s recently turned 25, it may be past Stu’s time as far as being a player in the Orioles organization is concerned. However, if he does come back in 2008, Stu would be welcomed.

June 7: Jeff Moore

Here’s another guy who was cruising along and putting together a fine season when the injury bug got him. Jeff was shut down in July and never reappeared. It’s too bad because he was 6-4 with a fine 2.45 ERA in 18 starts. He also had a solid 1.17 WHIP going too. If the injury is not too serious, he’ll probably be back here to begin 2008 but could make a rapid climb up a level or two by season’s end – at 25 his peer group is at the AA level in Bowie.

Other honors: Jeff was selected as an SAL All-Star.

June 14: Chad Thall

Chad served as Delmarva’s closer for a good part of the season and amassed a team leading 17 saves. His numbers weren’t the greatest for a shutdown closer but his 3-5 record with a 4.14 ERA and 1.29 WHIP were still good enough for him to earn a last-minute promotion to Frederick for their playoff run. For the Keys he made one regular-season appearance, giving up a hit and striking out two. I suspect he may have to get used to Frederick since my guess is they’ll begin 2008 with Chad on board.

June 21: Josh Tamba

I noted in picking Josh that his problem was walking too many batters, and shortly after being selected as SotW he was demoted to Aberdeen to get some more starts and work on the issue. Unfortunately, he fared worse for the IronBirds. With Delmarva, Josh was 0-3 with a 5.82 ERA and 1.71 WHIP – walking 32 in 55 2/3 innings. His Aberdeen numbers were ghastly: 1-5 with a 9.23 ERA, .331 average against, and a WHIP of 2.20. Tamba allowed over 2 runners per inning for Aberdeen and for the season he allowed more runs than innings pitched (101 vs. 95 2/3). He may get another shot at working out whatever issues he has though since he was a high draft pick and only 23, probably here with the Shorebirds.

June 28: Miguel Abreu

“Miggy” turned in a nice season for the Shorebirds, finishing among the leaders in several offensive categories. He was the team leader in at-bats (486), hits (130), triples (5) and just behind in most of the other offensive numbers. His .267 average, 13 homers, and 60 RBI combined with 20 stolen bases will likely allow him a promotion to begin 2008.

July 5: Tim Bascom

Tim was the first 2007 draft choice to play for the Shorebirds and for much of the next two months was the highest draft choice signed by the Orioles. While he was drafted in the fourth round, he was Baltimore’s second pick as they lost picks as compensation for signing major league free agents. Tim hung around long enough for 12 starts, earning a 3-3 record with a 3.74 ERA and a nice 1.25 WHIP. He also had a good strikeout/walk ratio of 55/24. At the tail end of the season he also got a promotion to Frederick, pitching 6 innings in 2 appearances, allowing 2 runs.

July 12: Michael Pierce

Michael finished 2007 with a .232 average, poked 5 home runs, and knocked in 21 RBI in 82 games. With only 224 at-bats since he shared catching duties with Victor Castillo, it could be a case where he stays here in 2008 to lend support to the catchers sure to come up from Aberdeen or Bluefield and gets about the same number of AB’s.

July 19: Todd Davison

After a slow start at Frederick (7 for 33 in 15 games), Todd went down to extended spring then to Delmarva. He got off to a good start with the Shorebirds, but fell off sharply as time went on. With the Shorebirds he hit .234 in 197 at-bats, hitting 2 homers and knocking in 30. Davison turns 24 in October so he may get another shot with Delmarva in 2008, probably as a utility infielder who spells the normal starters.

July 26: Kyle Schmidt

In his second go-round with the Shorebirds, Kyle put together some good stats. While his 6-8 record was mediocre, he finished second on the staff with 131 innings pitched and tied for third in the entire SAL with his 145 strikeouts. Had he pitched the same number of innings as the league leader, Kyle would likely have led the loop (Aneury Rodriguez of Asheville struck out 160 in 152 innings, 21 innings more than Schmidt threw.) Better still, Schmidt only walked 38 so his 1.24 WHIP was one of the team’s best. I think Kyle will be plying his trade in Frederick next year as well.

August 2: Paul Winterling

Winterling wasn’t playing much in Frederick (hitting .206 in 21 games) but proved in 100 Delmarva at-bats that he can hit at this level, amassing a .320 average here. Toward the end of the season Paul was our best hitter, hitting 4 homers and knocking in 11 – not bad numbers for just 29 games here. The OPS of .957 was the team’s best. Paul could be the anchor to our lineup next year, although the Orioles may not give him much of a chance since he was an undrafted free agent. If he can stick here and get some regular playing time for an extended period Winterling could put up really good numbers for the Shorebirds next season.

August 9: Zach Clark

Zach bounced around between three teams this season, spending a forgettable few weeks in Frederick before being sent down to Aberdeen. With more success there, he came to Delmarva in July and put in 9 solid starts for the Shorebirds. Clark only had a 2-3 record here but put up a sound 3.10 ERA and allowed only 57 hits and 9 walks in 58 innings with Delmarva (translating to a 1.14 WHIP.) Overall between the three teams, Zach was 5-5 with an aggregate ERA of 3.14 – the horrid 11.05 Frederick ERA in 3 appearances balanced out by his Aberdeen dominance, where he was 3-1 with a 1.03 ERA in 5 games. With Zach turning 24 during the 2007 season, probably he’ll be given the opportunity to return to Frederick and see if he can improve on what he did during his short stay there this season.

August 16: Danny Figueroa

Like a freight train gathering speed, Danny managed to continually improve his numbers as 2007 progressed. Overall he had a nifty .278 mark with 14 doubles, 5 triples, and 28 RBI (no home runs). The key stats for Danny were his team-leading 35 stolen bases and .398 on-base percentage – at one point he had a streak of 40 straight games where he got on base somehow. Helping him in that regard was a team-leading 68 walks, which placed him in the league’s top 10 for that category as well as for on-base percentage. He has certainly earned the right to move up and try to catch up to his twin brother (and ’05 Shorebird) Paco, who played for Bowie this season.

August 23: Ryan Ouellette

Ryan ended up going full circle this season – Frederick to Aberdeen to Delmarva and back to Frederick for one September appearance. For the Shorebirds Ryan made 18 appearances, finishing 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 34 1/3 innings. The big difference between his numbers for the three teams was the lack of walks he gave up at Aberdeen (1 in 8 innings) and Delmarva (11) vs. the number he gave up in Frederick (6 in 12 innings pitched.) Thus he had a 2.25 ERA in Aberdeen, 2.10 here, and 6.00 with the Keys. Because Ryan is yet to turn 22, he’s probably a borderline case between continuing with Frederick or returning to Delmarva to open 2008.

August 30: David Cash

The last SotW picked, David had a decent year with Delmarva. In 112 games he hit .262 with 1 homer and 51 runs batted in. Additionally, he had 20 stolen bases. Probably the two things he’ll be working on here in 2008 are getting more work in the outfield (he’s a converted infielder) and developing a little better batting eye since he only had a .295 on-base percentage, walking just 20 times in well over 400 plate appearances. While the average was passable, he needs to find more ways to steal first and most likely he’ll be here next season to work on that.

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So it’s time for me to pick my Shorebird of the Year.

As I stated above, had Brad Bergesen stayed the whole season and kept putting up the numbers he was, I would be honoring him right now. However, I am giving him honorable mention as the best prospect this season. Despite the fact Brandon Tripp was selected by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their Player of the Half for the first half, my personal vote as a member was for Bergesen.

With Bergesen out, this left me with a number of position players who had a lot going for them with very similar averages and leadership in a number of statistical categories. It was a group that included Brandon Snyder, Chris Vinyard, Miguel Abreu, Danny Figueroa, Brandon Tripp, and if you project out the numbers for a full season, Billy Rowell.

So I had to look beyond the numbers to an extent. I looked at the expectations each player had placed on him for the season.

Both Snyder and Rowell were first round picks by the Orioles, so one would assume they have the talent necessary to thrive at this level, or would have so once they gained a bit of experience. In Snyder’s case, he needed a year to excel at this level while Rowell is close to that point, maybe a few dozen games in 2008 away. As well, Brandon Tripp was a pretty high pick, drafted 12th in 2006.

This leaves Miguel Abreu (28th in 2005), Chris Vinyard (38th in 2005, drafted as a catcher), and Danny Figueroa (drafted 43rd in 2005). All of these guys were basically what’s known as “organization picks”; the guys you draft to fill out the season’s roster at Aberdeen and Bluefield. All three of them had very good seasons and can be arguably deserving of the Shorebird of the Year moniker.

I can only pick one guy though. And as things turned out, the person I selected as my Shorebird Fan Club vote for Player of the Half for the second half did not win either. It was close between him and Brandon Snyder for my personal choice, and Snyder got the nod from the Fan Club.

While the Fan Club had many voters, my blog has one. And my vote for Player of the Half is my selection for Shorebird of the Year:

Because of his outstanding ability to get on base and jumpstart the Shorebirds’ offense, plus a great job manning center field, my 2007 Shorebird of the Year is outfielder Danny Figueroa. 

And now the long winter wait begins as the next Shorebirds contest with any meaning comes April 3, 2008 at Perdue Stadium against cross-state rival Hagerstown. I’ll have one more Shorebirds post next week with some comments as a loyal fan about what was good and bad about 2007 and suggestions for 2008.

My final Shorebird of the Week for the 2007 campaign is outfielder David Cash. Like the team, of late he’s been slumping (going into last night’s game he’d been mired in a 1-for-20 streak) but overall he hasn’t put together a bad year. For the season he’s hitting .257 with a homer and 50 RBI in 107 games. And both he and the team at-large broke out of their slumps last night as Cash went 2 for 5 with a double and triple while the Shorebirds beat last-place Hagerstown in a laugher, 14-1. (It also marked the debut of two new pitchers we may see in the final homestand, Cole McCurry and Mick Mattaliano.)

Indeed, the Cash name should sound familiar to baseball fans as his father played in the big leagues during the 1970’s with the Pirates, Phillies, Expos, and Padres. At the time his son was drafted, the elder Cash worked for the Orioles so it can be argued that our Cash’s 40th round selection in the 2006 draft was a favor to dad.

But while dad was an infielder, this season David’s played the outfield. David was drafted as an infielder but has undergone a position change as the Orioles look to utilize his speed (Cash is second on the team with 20 stolen bases.) And being only 21 Cash has the potential to become comfortable in the position for a season or two in the lower reaches of the organization while the Orioles management waits to see if the bat is there for advancement. It’s likely to be a tossup whether Cash moves up to Frederick or anchors the 2008 Delmarva outfield. Since David’s average backslid somewhat from his 2006 Aberdeen numbers (he hit .297 for the IronBirds last year) my guess is that he’ll be here to start next year.

With all 22 of the year’s SotW honorees now selected, next week I’ll wrap up how they all did during the 2007 season and select my Shorebird of the Year for 2007.

With the season coming to a close, one can start doing the postmortem on what successes and failures our Shorebirds had as a team. In general, our starting pitching was pretty solid but there were times the bullpen really let us down.

It was during one of those times that the O’s sent us some help from Aberdeen. One pitcher in that transaction back in July was this week’s SotW, Ryan Ouellette. Ryan has delivered a number of outstanding performances since his promotion and might parlay that into returning for 2008 to where he began the 2007 season, up in Frederick.

Last season Ryan was a 13th round selection by the Orioles out of Indian River Community College. The Floridian was sent to Bluefield to work as a starter and really didn’t do all that well, 2-8 with a 6.66 ERA. So it may have been a case of being overmatched two levels up in Frederick to start the year, but after being reassigned to Aberdeen and putting together a half-dozen respectable outings, he was brought up to what’s probably the most appropriate level for his development here in Delmarva. The smallish 21 year old (just 5′-11″ and 185 as listed) may have a better chance of advancement as a reliever, at least based on this season’s body of work.

For the Shorebirds, Ryan has a 2-0 record and a sparkling 1.84 ERA in 29 1/3 innings of work. Generally he’s been a 7th to 8th inning guy, averaging about 2 innings per appearance. But what he’s done best is just plain get guys out, shown by his .202 average against and a WHIP of 0.99. In other words, he allows less than one runner per inning and it’s really tough to score that way.

With this season coming to a close, it may be determined in spring training next year whether we’ll keep Ryan for the 2008 Shorebird staff or if he gets another shot at Frederick. Given the numbers he has here, he’ll certainly place himself in the mix for a promotion.

You may recall back in 2005 the Shorebirds had a player named Paco Figueroa. He played here right after being drafted by the O’s and now is a member of the Bowie BaySox. Maybe it was a courtesy pick or the Orioles hoping lightning could strike twice, but 34 rounds later they also drafted Paco’s twin brother Danny. Both attended the University of Miami.

Unlike his twin, Danny didn’t make his pro debut until 2006, splitting time between the Shorebirds and Aberdeen IronBirds. In just 33 games between the two squads Danny only hit at a .214 clip (but .278 in 18 at-bats with the Shorebirds). It looked just as lackluster for Danny to start the season in 2007 as he batted just .193 with the Shorebirds in April.

However, each month since Danny has improved his average and is now up to a solid .277 mark for the campaign. In particular, Figueroa’s tearing the cover off the ball since the All-Star break as he’s going at a .336 clip average-wise with a .848 OPS mark. Danny’s also the team leader with 28 stolen bases and just behind Brandon Tripp with 64 runs scored (Tripp has 67).

With the chance to play every day, it’s possible that Danny has shown enough promise to pick up a level on his brother in 2008, or at least stay two levels behind (Frederick vs. Norfolk). While age isn’t on Danny’s side (both Figueroa brothers are 24) another good season could put him on the Orioles’ prospect map.

When he’s on, watching this week’s SotW is like watching the infielders taking their fielding practice between innings as opposing batters beat Zach Clark’s offerings into ground ball outs. Last Thursday I went to a game he started and that was exactly how it went as Zach threw a complete game (7 inning) 4-1 victory over Kannapolis. It impressed me enough to make him Shorebird of the Week a week later.

And after looking into Zach’s numbers, that start wasn’t an anomaly – all four of his Delmarva starts have been what’s considered a “quality” start (3 or fewer earned runs in 6 or more innings.) A guy with a WHIP of 0.87 on your staff will certainly be one who can be leaned on to keep you in games. He’s given up 21 hits and just 5 walks in 30 innings with a 2-1 record for Delmarva, and carries a stellar 1.50 ERA.

Oddly enough, for the second week in a row I picked a guy who the Orioles didn’t pick with a draft choice. The Orioles signed him up last year and the native of Wilmington, Delaware has bounced about the Orioles system already – Bluefield and Aberdeen last season; Frederick, Aberdeen, and Delmarva in 2007. He did struggle to open the season in Frederick, allowing 14 hits and 11 runs in just 7 1/3 innings, so he was sent down to a more appropriate level to continue his career. Having just turned 24, he’s not all that far away from getting another shot with Frederick if he can continue to do what he’s done here.

The only knock that scouts could have on Clark is that he’s not a great strikeout pitcher, so he may need to develop a better out pitch to succeed at a higher level. But a guy who’s relatively economical with the pitch count and can eat innings will have a place in most organizations for awhile.

For the second week in a row, a guy who played just part-time for the 2006 edition of the Shorebirds is my pick as Shorebird of the Week. Paul Winterling played in 6 games here last year and was sent down from Frederick last month in order to get more at-bats than the Keys could give him. All told, last night he played in just his 33rd game this season.

Paul is an unusual story. Most American-born players enter the pro ranks after being selected in the amateur draft, but Paul didn’t hear his phone ring after completing college at Johns Hopkins. Essentially he was signed by his hometown team as Winterling hails from the town of Glenelg. And while it’s a great opportunity for Paul, the trouble in his case is that he’s not really regarded highly as a prospect, thus playing time is hard to come by sometimes as the Orioles want to see players they actually drafted or signed from other lands get the lions’ share of the exposure.

Since rejoining the Shorebirds in mid-July Paul has seen a few more at-bats, hitting .290 in his 11 games thus far (9 for 31.) He does have a good power stroke going for him – between Frederick and Delmarva he’s hit 5 home runs in just 99 total at bats. Combined his .232 average isn’t special, but with regular play he’s seemed to improve at the plate.

Hopefully Winterling, who just turned 24 this week, can get a fair shot at proving himself with the Shorebirds during the remainder of this season and turn himself into a prospect worth watching in 2008.