Category: Delmarva Shorebirds

This week’s Shorebird of the Week is a pitcher who is somewhat of an anamoly. It doesn’t happen that often where a pitcher both gives up enough contact to allow more hits than innings pitched (85 in 84 2/3 innings) yet strikes out more than a batter per inning (97 strikeouts this season.) Generally that’s a sign of not being very consistent, yet Kyle Schmidt hasn’t allowed a great number of walks either (33 free passes, or about 3.5 per nine innings – maybe just a tad below average.)

What Kyle has done pretty well this season is keep his team in the game, something not shown with a subpar 4-8 record. Schmidt endured a string of six straight starts to open the season’s second half where he took the loss; however, he did throw what would be considered a “quality start” (e.g. less than 3 earned runs in 6 or more innings) in three of those six contests. In one of those starts he had zero support as the Shorebirds were no-hit that night. That losing streak was finally snapped Tuesday night as Kyle picked up a win against the West Virginia Power.

This is the second tour of duty in Delmarva for the Floridian and Georgia Tech product; he also pitched here last season. In 10 appearances last season (9 starts) Kyle was 4-4 with a 4.53 ERA. So this season’s 4.04 earned run average shows improvement but on the other hand his WHIP has worsened a bit (1.39 this season vs. 1.21 in 2006.) That may make some difference in his evaluation by the Orioles organization over the winter as Kyle is wrapping up his fourth season as a pro and turns 24 next month. But he still has 6 or 7 starts to serve as an audition to move up the ladder in 2008, so hopefully he can take advantage and get a little help from the offense in turning that win-loss record around. After all, he can’t bat for himself.

Sometimes hard work pays off. In this case, a trip back to extended spring training helped Todd Davison find a better stroke at the plate and earn him this week’s Shorebird of the Week honors.

Early in the season, Davison struggled with the Frederick Keys, hitting just .212 (7 for 33) in 15 games. So back to the O’s Florida minor league complex he went. Once he worked through his problems at the plate and began “hitting the cover off the ball” down there, he was reassigned to Delmarva and has played here since, joining the team in early June. Delmarva was probably the proper destination for the 2006 19th round Oriole draft pick out of the University of Delaware (hailing from Somers Point, NJ) since Todd didn’t hit too well at Aberdeen last season, just .208 in 50 games. Less success at the plate at extended spring may have meant a return to the IronBirds or a release.

With the Shorebirds, Todd’s batting has kept up very well. He got off to a really good start (.294 in June) and has managed to keep the average pretty solid, batting .260 as of this writing. Todd’s also hit his first two professional home runs in a Delmarva uniform and maintains a tidy .720 OPS.

I’d look for Davison to finish out the season at this level and give Frederick another go in 2008. While the organization has drafted high for corner infielders and has a pretty good second baseman at the big league level in Brian Roberts, depth at middle infield may be a needed commodity for the Orioles system in the near future.

Catcher Michael Pierce gets the honors as my Shorebird of the Week. Michael’s shared time behind the plate this season with a former SotW, Victor Castillo, but this week it’s his turn to grace monoblogue.

A tough May and June had Michael’s average down to .219 after a decent start but lately Pierce has returned to the groove and pushed the average back up to .235 with a pretty decent .712 OPS mark (OPS stands for on base percentage + slugging percentage). Out of 32 hits this year, 13 are doubles and that really helps the slugging numbers. Hitting .235 won’t win him a batting title, but catchers usually don’t hit for high average anyway unless your name is Pudge Rodriguez. Nor was Michael selected as a hot prospect, instead he came to the Orioles as the 28th round selection in the 2006 draft out of Fresno Pacific University in his hometown.

In looking up his numbers, I noticed he had only a handful of at-bats last year in Aberdeen (just 2 hits in 22 at-bats) so in essence this is his first pro season and he’s done reasonably well for a guy most would dismiss as an “organization player”, one whose purpose is to fill out the low minor league rosters. But as long as he’s here and continues to get in the lineup his chance to move up in the Orioles chain still exists.

And I just like a guy who shares my name and my number from Little League days.

I’m going to take this opportunity to first of all give my kudos to the Shorebirds management for again making players available prior to the games. In this case, it gave me an opportunity to get a good photo of my latest Shorebird of the Week, Tim Bascom.

I knew I had to get a picture of Tim and pick him as a Shorebird of the Week once I found out the opportunity was there. After all, it’s not every pitcher who blows away the opposition in his pro debut like Tim did. On June 25 up in Lakewood, Tim faced 15 batters in five innings, allowing nary a hit and fanning nine. It was a shame he got a no-decision for his effort.

He got a sixth no-hit inning in Sunday night before Lake County batter Matt McBride finally got to him with a single. It wasn’t as easy in that start, but Tim battled through five innings again against the Captains, allowing three hits and one run, striking out five and walking two. So for his brief pro career, Bascom is sporting a nifty 0.90 ERA and a dominating 0.50 WHIP. Granted, it’s just 10 innings and the struggles are sure to come, but Tim’s been impressive in his debut with the Shorebirds.

The Orioles picked Tim in the fourth round out of the University of Central Florida. What I suspect will become of the 22 year old Floridian is that he’ll likely pitch not much more than 5 innings a start (probably on a pretty sharp pitch count), and he’ll have about 12 more starts this season. That will give him about 70 pro innings on top of his workload from UCF this spring. Particularly in Florida, their college season begins in February so the innings will take a toll on Tim a little more quickly than most at this level. Then next year he’ll likely be placed into the regular routine for Orioles farmhand pitchers, albeit (with any sort of success in Delmarva) it’ll probably be in a Frederick or even Bowie uniform. Though he was picked in the fourth round, Bascom was actually the second name called by the Orioles, who lost their second and third round picks when they signed free agents over the winter.

So enjoy watching this kid while he lasts here on the Eastern Shore. I’m sure Andy MacPhail and the rest of the O’s brass are watching him closely too.

For most of this season, the second base position for Delmarva has been held down quite well by Miguel Abreu. Miguel’s been a steady presence around the middle third of the batting order, providing some protection for the guys above him because he’s also shown some pop with the bat. So far this season Abreu has connected for six blasts, which ties him with Brandon Snyder for third best on the team. (Chris Vinyard and Brandon Tripp each have nine.)

The 22 year old Puerto Rican was picked by the Orioles in the 2005 draft, well down the line in the 28th round. But he’s garnered at least one honor on his minor league journey as he was an All-Star last season in the NY-Penn League, representing Aberdeen. And his power numbers this year are even better than his Aberdeen stats. Last year he hit .269 in 69 games with 3 home runs and 26 RBI for the IronBirds; and, while the average is a bit lower at Delmarva this season (.256) he’s beaten both his home run and RBI totals from ’06 already (6 HR, 36 RBI) in fewer at-bats – with close to half a season to go. If he can stay healthy, he should get to double-digits in home runs and about 60-70 RBI – solid totals.

And Gary Kendall can just keep writing “Abreu, 2b” on his lineup card.

Another pitcher who got off to a slow start but shown improvement is my pick for Shorebird of the Week. Josh Tamba was pretty highly touted after a good career at Cypress College in California, high enough to be last year’s 7th round pick by the Orioles. But the 22 year old righthander struggled in the chill of April, saddled with an ERA over 10 for the month and giving up a Ted Williams-like opponent batting average of .383 during the first weeks of the season.

A small change has helped him with his pitching, however. In his last few appearances he’s come on as a long reliever and the results are appreciably better. For the season he’s still 0-3 but the ERA has made a pretty steady drop to a current level of 5.33 – not great but half of where he was at in April.

One thing Josh will have to work on is not allowing so many free passes. Tamba has walked 32 in 52 1/3 innings of work, and allowing those extra 2 or 3 runners every 9 innings (compared to last season) hurts his chances of moving up in the system. Last season in Aberdeen he was much more stingy about giving up walks, just 21 in 70 innings. That works out to 2.7 bases on balls per nine innings, a ratio much closer to average.

So control should be the goal for Josh as he continues on with his Delmarva stint. Being such a high pick, he’ll get a little more forgiveness from the Orioles’ minor league personnel when they evaluate the season, but no player is safe from release regardless of the draft standing.

One thing that’s quite fascinating about baseball as a business is the way the personnel shift around from season to season. Particularly in the minor leagues, it’s the goal of every player to get up to the next level and on up to the promised land of The Show.

And so it is with the 22 players I selected as Shorebird of the Week during 2006. Many have climbed the ladder to the next level, some are still toiling in a Delmarva uniform, a few have taken detours down their road to the Show, and there’s some who saw their chances at big league stardom extinguished.

Since the team is at a mid-season break I thought this was a good time to see how my personal flock was doing. So over the weekend I checked into where these players now pitch, hit, and field.

Many of my selections last year now call Frederick home as they advanced to the next level. Pitchers Josh Potter (my very first honoree), David Hernandez, Chorye Spoone, Brandon Erbe (my pick as Prospect of the Year); catcher Zack Dillon; infielders Mark Fleisher, Blake Davis, Jon Tucker, and last year’s Shorebird of the Year Ryan Finan; and outfielder Arturo Rivas all play for the Keys this season.

Three of the group remain with the Shorebirds. It’s year two in Delmarva for infielder Brandon Snyder, pitcher Brad Bergesen, and utility man Stu Musslewhite. All three are repeat SotW winners this season.

This leaves nine who are outside the Orioles organization. There were five who I could not locate on any roster, so it’s likely their careers are now over. The group includes Kyle Dahlberg, Juan Gutierrez, CJ Smith (he latched onto a Cardinals farm club after being released by the O’s but didn’t stick there either), fan favorite Quincy Ascencion, and Ryan Steinbach.

And the other four play on outside the Orioles organization. One signed on with a major league chain while the other three have gone the independent league route. 

Outfielder Lorenzo Scott actually moved up a notch with his new organization. Scott currently plays for the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League. That Florida Marlins affiliate is at the same level as Frederick.

Pitcher Trevor Caughey is playing for Kansas City. Not on the Royals, but the Northern League’s Kansas City T-Bones. You gotta like the name. I believe after his release from Delmarva last season, he went out there to conclude 2006 and was kept for this season too. Outfielder Jarod Rine plays his home games in a park I happened to visit last summer on my Ohio trip – he plays for the Washington (PA) WildThings of the Frontier League. A small park capacity wise but pretty nice to watch a game in. Both of these players were sent down from Frederick during 2006 so Delmarva proved to be their last chance to stay on the Orioles’ payroll.

But my favorite outside destination of all the 2006 SotY players was the team Vito Chiaravalotti signed with. Vito is probably wowing fans all over the Atlantic League with his majestic moonshots. He has ever-changing venues to do so because he plays on a team of the sort unique to independent leagues – the traveling team. In his case, the team is known as the Road Warriors and they’ll play each and every one of their games this season as the road team. The reason is that Vito’s Road Warriors were the team slated to play in Charles County, Maryland beginning this season but stadium construction was delayed. In order to maintain an even league schedule, the Road Warriors were resurrected for another year.

Thus, for many of my chosen players the dream lives on. One player that I didn’t get to pick as a Shorebird of the Week last year because he was called up prior to selection is relief pitcher Jim Hoey. Hoey eventually made it all the way up to the Orioles for a cup of coffee last September, and this week he’s back in their uniform as the O’s recalled him from Norfolk. There’s a decent chance that some other former Shorebirds I’ve watched over the last 2 1/2 seasons may follow him, maybe by this time next year. Indeed, they do live for this.

Sunday it came to an end. As the SAL turns its attention to tonight’s SAL All-Star Game (featuring Shorebirds Jeff Moore, Brad Bergesen, Chris Vinyard, Brandon Tripp, and trainer Patrick Wesley), both West Virginia and Augusta punched their ticket to the SAL playoffs in September by winning first half titles in their divisions.

But after a pretty bad start, the Shorebirds finished the first half quite well. Even with dropping three in a row at Lakewood over the weekend, the 12-1 stretch to begin June gave the Shorebirds a first half mark of 34-33. They finished in a virtual dead heat for third in the SAL North, sharing the spot with Lakewood – the BlueClaws technically garnered third by one percentage point as they finished 33-32. (It was a tough first half for rainouts – only Greensboro, Lake County, and Lexington got their full 70-game slate in among SAL North teams. In contrast, just one game was lost among the South squads.)

But West Virginia was clearly dominant in the first half, finishing 48-20 and wrapping up the title with a week or so to spare. The Power easily outdistanced 38-32 Greensboro, with Lakewood and Delmarva rounding out the first division. Lake County and Lexington both finished the half identically at 31-39, with cross-state rival Hagerstown stuck in seventh at 29-38 and the Hickory Crawdads bringing up the rear at 27-40. Meanwhile, as noted above the Augusta GreenJackets won the South with a 50-20 mark. On the other end of the scale, Savannah finished with a horrid 20-50 mark. In between it went Asheville, Columbus, Charleston, Kannapolis, Greenville, and Rome.

One thing I like to look at is the second half schedule and who it favors based on first half results. The odd scheduling that the SAL is known for means that certain teams do not face each other whatsoever in the second half (or at all, for that matter.) For teams on the northern and southern fringes of the league this can put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Along with Hagerstown, Lakewood, and Lake County, the Shorebirds will not see Columbus, Charleston, Rome, or Savannah this season while the other four SAL North teams play a total of 16 games – 4 each – against those foes. All SAL North teams have the other four South teams (Augusta, Asheville, Kannapolis, Greenville) on their second half schedules. There’s also a few extra North vs. South games between some of the North Carolina teams as noted below.

So based on the total number of games above or below .500 a certain opponent is, here is the strength of second half schedule for each SAL team (ranked easiest to most difficult):

1. Columbus (-388). It helps to play hapless Savannah 16 times.
2. Charleston (-184). They play the next worst South team, Rome, 16 times themselves.
3. West Virginia (-174). Not having themselves on the schedule is their biggest help.
4. Augusta (-168). See West Virginia. They both play 10 times against the sixth place squad in their division.
5. Asheville (-86). An “extra” four interdivision games against Hickory helps ease their second half.
6. Lakewood (-66). No Savannah on the schedule = lower ranking. They play Hagerstown 16 more times this season.
7. DELMARVA (-62). Like Lakewood, no Savannah. 16 games against a slightly better team (Lake County) factored into our ranking.
8. Greensboro (-34). Their “extra” interdivision games occur against Kannapolis, who was close to .500 in the first half.
9. Rome (-12). The most “even” schedule, as they play the horrific Savannah squad 12 times, but balance that with 26 games against decent Columbus and Charleston teams.
10. Lake County (+102). They play essentially the same schedule as Delmarva and Lakewood but we’re helped by the Captains’ poor first half mark.
11. Hagerstown (+112). Same as Lake County above, substitute “Suns” for “Captains”.
12. Kannapolis (+116). They get “extra” games against a solid Greensboro team, their most-played opponent (8 times.) Along with Asheville and Hickory, these four teams have the most ideal schedule in terms of variation, playing no one more than 8 times each.
13. Hickory (+164). As you may guess, last place teams get no break because they play all better teams above them. And playing a good Asheville team 4 “extra” times is no break either.
14. Lexington (+186). Their schedule is made difficult by playing West Virginia 10 more times and Augusta 4.
15. Greenville (+242). The anti-Lexington, they play the mighty GreenJackets 10 more times and West Virginia for 4 dates.
16. Savannah (+252). The only good thing I can say about their schedule is that they have just one real long roadtrip, to West Virginia/Lexington. The other road games are short hops as they don’t come to the northern reaches of the league.

I’ve decided to break up the other part I planned on doing regarding where the 2006 Shorebirds of the Week are currently playing. That will be tomorrow’s post, followed by a close check of the second half roster to see if my Shorebird of the Week is still on it. If so, he’ll be announced Thursday as usual. With Aberdeen getting its season underway, some of the Shorebirds may be transformed into IronBirds this week.

And the final is in, our SAL North wins the All-Star Game 3-1. Chris Vinyard and Brandon Tripp were 0-1 and 0-2 respectively, all K’s. That’s okay, save the hits for the games that count. Brad Bergesen pitched a scoreless 4th inning, giving up a hit and walk but fanning two. Jeff Moore did not get into the game.

With saves in his last five appearances, lefthander Chad Thall has become Delmarva skipper Gary Kendall’s closer of choice and thus becomes my selection as Shorebird of the Week. Thall overcame a rough start to the season (0-1 with a 7.90 ERA in April) and has whittled his overall numbers to a 1-1 record and 4.13 ERA – since May 15 his ERA is a sparkling 1.88.

Paramount for a closer, Thall can get the strikeout when he needs it (27 K’s in 32 2/3 innings of work this season) and doesn’t walk many (just 9 so far in 2007.) Overall his WHIP is a solid 1.16.

Thall was a “draft-and-follow” 27th round pick by Baltimore in the 2005 draft, not beginning his pro career until last season in Aberdeen. The Centralia, Missouri resident out of Jefferson College put up solid numbers for the IronBirds as well, finishing his inaugural pro season 6-2 with a 1.83 ERA. While Chad may not have been on the map for a lot of teams because he played for a small school, nonetheless he’s proven to be a useful pitcher for the Shorebirds and collected 4 saves in the recent 8-1 homestand the Shorebirds enjoyed.