Tag: Shorebird of the Week

Back to the field of play after my one-time departure.

As is traditional (if it’s not I’m making it so) any SAL All-Stars from Delmarva not already so honored as SotW will get their due after the break. Thus, Jesse Beal is my pick this week.

Because this is the first full season for the 19 year old righthander (he turns 20 later this month) out of South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, Jesse has already set a number of career highs for himself. In 14 appearances and starts for the Shorebirds, Beal has set new career marks in pitching 85 1/3 innings, allowing 89 hits and a 3.69 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 18 walks.

Jesse was especially effective in May, going 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA in 6 starts covering 39 2/3 innings. Perhaps consistency is the one thing he needs to work on as his May numbers were quite a bit better than lackluster performances in April and June, where his earned run average was much higher.

However, the 11th round Oriole pick from 2008 has shown good control over his minor league career, walking only one batter per nine innings in his previous stints with the GCL Orioles in 2008 and Bluefield last season. Like some other Shorebird pitchers, Jesse doesn’t have the eyepopping strikeout numbers but pitches more to contact as he’s allowed more hits than innings pitched but gets a lot of ground ball outs too.

With each inning for Beal adding to the personal best totals, he may be one of those pitchers who we see less of as the season wears on. Since Jesse has a wide lead over fellow high school prospect Matt Hobgood and the promoted Nathan Moreau in terms of team leadership in innings pitched (Jesse is tied for 7th in the SAL as well) the Orioles may shorten his starts a little bit to maintain his arm for future seasons. Even though Beal looks like a durable sort of guy, too many pitchers have seen their careers end from throwing too much early on.

If he pitches to contact well, though, Beal may surprise us and rack up double-digit wins by season’s end. Staying on rotation would give him 12 or 13 chances to pick up 5 more wins, so it’s a doable goal. Here’s hoping he gets there.

This is one of my favorite columns to write each year. I take the occasion of the South Atlantic League’s All-Star Game, which is the halfway point of the season, to do some research and see what my previous Shorebirds of the Week are doing with their baseball careers. Out of 90 previous picks (some were selected twice) I’ve found over 60 are still active somewhere.

Let’s go back to the 2006 season and my initial crop of 22 Shorebirds of the Week. With time, many have seen their baseball dreams come to an end but there are still 9 active players out of the group.

Leading the way for them is one of my two initial inductees to the SotW Hall of Fame – David Hernandez now holds down a reliever spot for the Orioles. The other inductee, Brad Bergesen, was with the O’s earlier this year but sent to Norfolk after some struggles. Among the remainder of the 2006 honorees joining Bergesen on the Norfolk roster are Brandon Snyder, Brandon Erbe, and Blake Davis. One step down from them at Bowie are Chorye Spoone and Jon Tucker.

One other 2006 honoree has found success in a different organization as Lorenzo Scott Jr. is on the roster of the New Orleans Zephyrs, top affiliate of the Florida Marlins. (Unfortunately, Lorenzo is currently on their disabled list.) Meanwhile, Vito Chiaravalotti continues to ply his trade in the independent Atlantic League, although he’s listed as inactive with the loop’s Somerset Patriots.

A total of 19 new honorees (3 were repeat winners from 2006) graced my 2007 docket and ten are still active – most in the Orioles organization. Dotting the Norfolk roster are Tim Bascom and Zach Clark, while Bowie claims Pedro Beato and 2007 Shorebird of the Year Danny Figueroa as active players – Wilfrido Perez is on their DL while Chad Thall is listed as inactive. And Frederick is still the baseball home of Billy Rowell and Miguel Abreu.

The other two 2007 honorees still active now play in different major league organizations. Brandon Tripp plays for Jacksonville (Florida’s AA affiliate in the Southern League) where he could face onetime teammate Ryan Ouellette – released by the Orioles earlier this season, Ryan was signed by the Chicago White Sox and assigned to Birmingham of the Southern League.

Moving to 2008, there were 22 players selected as SotW and 17 of them remain in the game. Leading the pack is Matt Angle, who was recently promoted to Norfolk.

Five of the players now play at Bowie, although Pedro Florimon is on a rehab stint with Aberdeen. Matt Tucker, Tyler Henson, Zach Britton, and Ryan Adams are still contributing to the Baysox effort. Six other players are up one level with Frederick: Sean Gleason (my 2008 Shorebird of the Year), John Mariotti, Cole McCurry, Brett Bordes, Joe Mahoney, and Nate Nery. That experienced core may be why Frederick won the first-half title.

We still have two players who were Shorebirds of the Week two years ago in Luis Noel (who returned from a stint in the Dominican Summer League last year) and Mick Mattaliano, who’s been relegated to our disabled list. He last appeared in the exhibition game we played against Salisbury University. Brian Parker has regressed (or made a lateral move, depending on interpretation of the level) to Aberdeen.

Two of my players are now attempting to resurrect their careers with independent league teams – Brendan Monaghan with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League and Joe Nowicki on the Schaumburg Flyers, who play in the Northern League. It’s possible those ranks may be joined by Tony Butler, who was released last week from Delmarva.

Finally, Wally Crancer began the season with Frederick but voluntarily decided to hang up the glove and spikes last month.

With four repeat honorees, 2009’s crew of 18 SotW players is almost intact within the Orioles chain and most have advanced to Frederick; however, Eddie Gamboa and Brandon Cooney have progressed beyond the next level and star for Bowie. The Keys serve as baseball home for Richard Zagone, Ron Welty (2009 Shorebird of the Year), Xavier Avery, Oliver Drake, Greg Miclat, Kyle Hudson, Ryan O’Shea, and Jacob Julius. L.J. Hoes is on Frederick’s disabled list and rehabbing with Aberdeen.

Still here at Delmarva is Brent Allar, Luis Bernardo, and Nathan Moreau; meanwhile Aberdeen is the baseball home for Tyler Kolodny and T.R. Keating (who is also rehabbing with Aberdeen but on Delmarva’s roster.)

Of the other two remaining players, Rodolfo Cardona was picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates and was assigned to Bradenton of the Florida State League (where he’s on the disabled list) while Elvin Polanco is apparently out of baseball. Kolodny and Moreau are repeat honorees in 2010 along with Tony Butler.

This year’s 8 new honorees thus far are all still with Delmarva except for Ryan Berry, who was promoted to Frederick. Garabez Rosa and Brian Conley were among the three Shorebirds selected as SAL All-Stars, with Jesse Beal soon to be named as a Shorebird of the Week (if he’s not promoted beforehand.) Postgame, I’ll update this post with how these players did in Greenville.

Update: Brian Conley started the game in center field, going 0-for-1 with a walk before being pulled in the bottom of the fifth. At that point, Garabez Rosa was brought in to play second base and went 0-for-2. Jesse Beal pitched the fourth inning and gave up the tying run on two hits, fanning one. The game ended in a 5-5 tie in 10 innings as both teams used their allotment of pitchers.

In the past, I’ve mentioned that players who are demoted from a higher level tend to fall into one of two categories: they continue to slouch and exhibit the bad habits which got them sent down in the first place, or they make it a mission to prove the naysayers wrong.

Tossing aside a poor outing in his second start May 31, Kenny Moreland has provided a spark to the Shorebirds’ starting rotation. His last outing on Monday was a stellar 7-inning, 3-hit shutout performance against Kannapolis that lowered his ERA as a Shorebird to 3.70, his WHIP to an outstanding 0.99, and evened his overall record here at 2-2.

While Moreland was struggling a little bit at Frederick before his demotion (2-2, 5.22 in 10 games/7 starts covering 39 2/3 innings) he wasn’t allowing a lot of runners on base – there his WHIP was 1.29, which is about average. What was hurting Kenny was the longball as he’d allowed 6 home runs in that span.

Unlike many pitchers at this level, Moreland is not a high strikeout pitcher and tends to pitch to contact, counting on movement to keep a batter from squaring up on the pitch and driving the ball. When it works he does well – last year between Aberdeen and Frederick Kenny allowed only 75 hits in 98 2/3 innings, going 10-3 with a 2.74 ERA. If not, he runs into problems like his May 31 start here when he allowed 9 hits (2 of them home runs) and 6 runs in 5 innings against Lakewood.

Kenny, a Virginia native, comes to the Orioles out of Division III Christopher Newport College – a team which often plays against Salisbury University so he should have some familiarity with his surroundings. The Orioles signed Moreland after he was passed over in the 2008 draft and have bumped the 24-year-old around quite a bit between Bluefield, Aberdeen, and Frederick (where he’s played at least part of each of the last three seasons.) His Delmarva debut came on May 25.

If Kenny can learn to be a location pitcher in the mold of a right-handed Tom Glavine he can succeed at this and higher levels. Winning a strikeout title isn’t everything, but advancing to the Show is.

Next week look for my annual recap of how my previous Shorebirds of the Week are doing and an extra-special edition of SotW next Thursday.

At 23, Kieron Pope is at a career crossroads.

In his second tour of duty with the Shorebirds after a devastating leg injury at the tail end of 2009’s spring training cost him over a season, Kieron needs to improve on his numbers from 2008. In a full season here he batted just .232/12/45 in 107 games, numbers which would probably doom a late-round organizational player.

But Kieron is a little more highly touted as a 4th round pick back in 2005 out of East Coweta High School in Gay, Georgia. Part of the scouting report Baseball America provided on him has been his story:

He has pro makeup to go with a pro body, working as hard on his game as any prep in the state. Pope has work to do, though, because while he has good hands, he swings and misses too much and lacks much of an approach at the plate. His instincts leave something to be desired. His arm is adequate and probably better suited to left field.

He did swing and miss far too much in 2008, fanning 139 times in 383 at-bats. Given that the four players picked ahead of him by the Orioles (Brandon Snyder, Garrett Olson, Nolan Reimold, Brandon Erbe) are all legitimate prospects and Pope is in his fifth season down on the farm this may be his last opportunity to advance.

But since being activated May 23rd, Kieron has finally began to look like the player the Orioles envisioned. In the 16 games he’s played since coming off the disabled list Pope is hitting .333 (21-for-63) with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. He’s still striking out with frequency (22 times) but half of that total came in his first 25 at-bats – perhaps he’s getting adjusted to live action now after such a long time away.

His tale will be told as the season evolves, since Pope has never hit better than .257 over a season (2006, split between Bluefield and Aberdeen) and his full season numbers in 2008 were not eyepopping. But if Pope can connect enough to maintain an average around .300 and keep hammering the horsehide out of ballparks around the South Atlantic League he could still be one of those late-bloomers who toiled in the minors for the better part of a decade before becoming established in the big leagues.

Let’s see, SAL Pitcher of the Week for May 24-30 …check.

Orioles Organizational Pitcher of the Month …check.

All right, all right…I’ll name Nathan Moreau Shorebird of the Week. Twist my arm, why don’t you.

Shorebird fans should be familiar with Nathan since this his second tour of duty with the team, having spent the 2009 season here. In fact, given his pretty decent numbers here last year (5-3, 3,61, 95 strikeouts and 43 walks in 87 1/3 innings) I was surprised that not only did he get sent back here but was relegated to the bullpen. Obviously Nathan’s pitching with a chip on his shoulder from the snubs.

In May Moreau was unhittable, giving up just 10 hits in 25 innings pitched and one measly run, fanning 33 and walking just five. The one-hit performance against Lakewood in his last start over 6 innings likely earned him the SAL nod and maybe, just maybe, convinced the Orioles brass that he’s ready for the next level.

For the season, Nathan has lowered his numbers from a rough April (0-2, 9.00 in 12 innings) to 1-2 and a 3.16 ERA in 37 innings. The 23-year-old Georgian boasts a 48-16 strikeout to walk ratio and a fine 1.16 WHIP.

With the annual organizational transition coming later this month (as rookie league teams get started and standings at Delmarva and Frederick are reset for the second half) it wouldn’t be a shock to see Moreau promoted to Frederick to try his luck against the Carolina League.

Few people have as high of expectations placed on them as the son of a big league ballplayer. Add in the pressure of being drafted by your father’s former team and there’s no doubt that thousands of Oriole fans were expecting to hear the name Steve Bumbry in an Oriole lineup, most believing it would occur sooner rather than later.

But the younger Bumbry has a long way to go. Drafted out of Virginia Tech last year in the 12th round, thus far the fact that he was a Hokie during the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting tragedy has drawn nearly as much attention as his exploits on the baseball field. Then again, hitting only .234/2/10 at Aberdeen in 45 games isn’t particularly noteworthy.

Steve has finally picked up his stride this year, though. Through nearly the same number of games (42 vs. 45) Bumbry has matched or exceeded almost all of his offensive numbers from 2009 – only his lack of home runs sticks out, but that will likely change as the weather warms and ball carries better. Carrying a .280 average through last night’s game, Steve has shown that he has some power potential with 11 doubles and 3 triples scattered among his 40 hits.

As with most young hitters, the keys to success for Bumbry will be having him cut down on strikeouts (54 so far) and perhaps becoming more observant as one quite familiar with his development noted on the Shorebirds blog. Since Steve just turned 22 right before the start of the season he’s nicely on pace with his development.

But when you note that his dad was drafted in a similar round (11th round/1968)  and took several years to develop before he arrived in the bigs for good (1973 Rookie of the Year), it’s not out of the question that there may again be a Bumbry in the Orioles’ oufield (for the first time since 1984) in two to three seasons.

Any good team has a good closer, but even teams which start out mediocre like the Shorebirds have so far in 2010 can have a go-to guy as well. On this team, the position is well-held by Josh Dowdy.

Josh holds the team lead in saves with 4 (out of 5 so far this season as a team) and is second in games finished with eight. But more importantly from a career standpoint is the stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio Dowdy has put up – in 13 2/3 innings Josh has fanned 19 while walking just 2. To put this in perspective, 19 of the 41 outs recorded (nearly half) have come from strikeouts, which is a fantastic ratio. For example, in a two-inning stint against Hagerstown (when the photo above was taken) Josh recorded five of the six outs via the K.

Perhaps that’s why has WHIP is a microscopic (and team leading) 0.88 as he’s given up just 10 hits in his appearances.

While Josh wasn’t highly thought of out of college (the Florida native was drafted in the 38th round last year from Appalachian State) his numbers last year at Bluefield and Aberdeen suggested he could be a fine reliever. Over 31 innings Dowdy fanned 33 and walked 12, racking up 10 saves between the two teams.

At 23, Josh’s development seems to be right on schedule for continued advancement; in the meantime Ryan Minor seems to have found someone reliable to shut the door when the Shorebirds have a lead to protect.

Making his second tour of duty with Delmarva after spending part of the season here in 2009, Brian Conley has played like a guy on a mission so far this season. Fans may recall he struggled at the plate while in a Delmarva uniform last year, hitting just .156 (10-for-64) in 29 games. The well-traveled Conley also turned in 4 games with Bowie (.143 with a hit in seven at-bats) and 31 games with Aberdeen, where he hit a much more respectable .263 in 99 at-bats.

But last year’s struggles seemed to have turned into this year’s successes as Brian has doubled his 2009 Delmarva average and then some so far, hitting .324 in 102 at-bats thus far and solidifying the right field spot for manager Ryan Minor. While Conley isn’t a power hitter, he has enough speed to be among team leaders with 3 triples and 7 doubles.

Perhaps the one knock on the Maryland native who attended Towson University is that he’s a little older than the league peer group – Brian turned 24 earlier this month. But the 17th round pick in 2008 hasn’t played anywhere for a reasonable length of time since his initial campaign at rookie-level Bluefield, so collecting a decent number of at-bats in one place may help him in the long run.

Yet if one of the outfielders at Frederick goes down with an injury or is promoted, look for Brian to perhaps continue his tour of Orioles’ affiliates by making his debut with the Keys.

The first thing you notice is the glasses. Not a lot of ballplayers wear them and his look like they’re straight from the 1980’s. But if you’re not comfortable in contact lenses glasses are the best alternative and Ryan Berry seems like he’s found a comfort zone here in Delmarva.

Including last night’s masterful 7-inning performance, in Ryan’s last 26 innings he’s allowed but one run (April 29 at Asheville.) It’s not being reflected in his won-lost record because the Shorebirds have scored just 3 runs in those starts. Overall Berry is 0-1 with a sparkling 2.23 ERA in 36 1/3 innings. More importantly, Berry has found his punchout pitch as he’s fanned 36 while walking just 7 in his 6 starts. Combined with allowing only 33 hits, his WHIP is an impressive 1.10.

Delmarva marks Berry’s professional debut, as the 21-year-old Texan from Rice University didn’t pitch professionally in 2009. He was picked in the 11th round in the draft but the Orioles chose not to assign him to a minor league affiliate, probably because Berry missed part of the college season with a strained rotator cuff. This may affect whether Berry pitches a full season here or is shut down after a particular number of innings later this summer as occasionally happens with prized young prospects.

It’s telling, though, that Berry was tabbed as Delmarva’s #1 starter ahead of other prized prospects like first-round pick Matt Hobgood. Certainly Ryan is holding up his reputation so far and shutting down SAL batters in the process.

You may recall the cup of coffee Garabez Rosa had here last season, but this year he appears determined to continue his climb up the Orioles ladder by putting together a solid season. So far he’s had a torrid start.

After last night Garabez was hitting .353 (24-for-68) in 18 games, with a home run and 10 runs knocked in. With 11 doubles and an outstanding .925 OPS, the lanky 20 year old shows signs of becoming a power threat. It’s a far cry from the measly .125 average he posted here in 11 late-season games last year. He also has a flair for the dramatic, as his home run ended a 1-0 game against Greensboro on April 20.

Rosa, a native of Cotui in the Dominican Republic, signed at the age of 17 and after a summer in the Dominican Summer League he came to play here in the U.S. in 2008. He’s spent time with the GCL Orioles (2008), Aberdeen (2008-09) and now Delmarva – this season is his first full-season test.

But by bunching multi-hit games together he may assure himself yet another move before season’s end. Since the Orioles are thin at shortstop and will eventually need to replace 32-year-old Brian Roberts, continuing his impressive hitting may put Rosa on the Orioles’ radar screen for future middle infielders before too long.

Whenever one of our players merits selection as South Atlantic League Player of the Week, you can bet that a SotW berth isn’t far behind if he hasn’t already received one.

Certainly Tyler Kolodny was deserving right out of the gate – even though he’s cooled off just a bit against Greensboro, Kolodny holds a number of league-leading ranks: home runs (6), triples (tied for first with 3), total bases (45), slugging percentage (.818), and OPS (1.215). His 13 runs scored rank 3rd in the loop and he’s ninth in RBI with 11.

Most avid Shorebird fans recall Tyler held down the third base position for the majority of the 2009 season, and his current .327 average is over 100 points better than the .226/9/42 numbers he posted last year in 107 games. This year he’s also worked a little bit at first base to improve his value down the line.

The 22-year-old Californian was picked in the 16th round of the 2007 draft out of El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and has slowly progressed up the organization during his prior 3 years, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine him in Frederick before season’s end if he maintains a reasonable facsimile of his efforts so far. Given the work ethic I see out of Tyler, I think it’s doable.