Tag: Shorebird of the Week

Shorebird of the Week – May 22, 2014

Jimmy Yacabonis pitching on Opening Night.

Streaks are made to be broken, and somewhere along the line the 15-inning scoreless streak Jimmy Yacabonis has put up to open his Shorebird career will come to an end. In the meantime, however, he’s proving to be a reliable closer for a resurgent Shorebird staff which has been the strength of the team for most of the season.

Jimmy, who came to the Orioles organization through St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, leads the South Atlantic League with 10 saves to date. The 22-year-old New Jersey native had somewhat of a prospect status coming in, as he was drafted in the 13th round last year and pitched for Aberdeen rather than down in the Gulf Coast League, the usual fate of players coming from smaller colleges. While he only picked up four saves for the IronBirds, Jimmy closed out in 12 of his 18 appearances and allowed just 15 hits in 29 2/3 innings last year. Even with a high walk rate – 14 free passes in 29 2/3 innings – his WHIP was an outstanding 0.98, and that’s probably the basis for his achieving closer status with Delmarva this year.

If there’s any flaw with Jimmy’s game, it is the base on balls. Batters are only hitting a puny .122 against Yacabonis this year (and just .149 last year) so his pitches are apparently difficult to square up. Unfortunately, too many fall outside the strike zone so 10 walks already in 15 innings may be a concern going forward as he reaches higher levels with more discerning hitters. Out of 14 appearances, only three are “clean” in terms of facing the minimum number of hitters (in other words, a 1-2-3 inning.) Of course, Oriole fans of yore may remember a sloppy but effective enough reliever by the name of Don Stanhouse, but unlike “Full Pack” Jimmy is on the right side of walks vs. strikeouts.

Yacabonis is getting enough outs to achieve the saves, and that’s what counts.

Shorebird of the Week – May 15, 2014

Owner of perhaps the most torrid Shorebird bat and riding a 14-game hitting streak, Mike Yastrzemski is trying to make his own path to the big leagues – comparisons to his Hall-of-Fame grandfather Carl are too obvious to make. That connection and the inherent pressure may have been why Mike passed up an opportunity to play in the Boston system out of high school in favor of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee – far enough away from his Massachusetts home to let Mike blaze his own trail.

Indeed, Mike has been drafted three times – Boston drafted him in the 36th round as a high school senior in 2009, Seattle tried three years later in the 30th round, and finally Baltimore grabbed Yastrzemski in the 14th round last year and sent him to Aberdeen, where he hit .273/3/25/.781 OPS in 57 games. These were nowhere near the numbers the elder Yaz put up in a mercurial two-season minor league career before making his MLB debut in 1961 and becoming a fixture in Beantown for the next 23 seasons, but they were good enough to merit the promotion to Delmarva and the 23-year-old is raking thus far.

Through last night, Mike was batting .299/3/18/.867 OPS and leading the team in several offensive categories, perhaps just a tick better than the season he had in 2013 with the IronBirds. While he mainly played center field with Aberdeen, though, Mike has moved over to right field for the Shorebirds and as such has picked up five outfield assists.

While he’s a slight bit older than league average because he played four seasons in college, Mike is still doing well enough that he could make the SAL All-Star team and, more importantly, move up to Frederick by season’s end. (Three former Shorebirds – Glynn Davis, Lucas Herbst, and Brenden Webb – are tearing up the Carolina League at the moment, though.) So far the younger Yaz has proven himself a solid player for the Shorebirds, and those skills can surely translate up the ladder.

Shorebird of the Week – May 8, 2014

Remember Conor Bierfeldt's walkoff homer? Here's your winning pitcher.

Baseball sabermetricians tell us that pitching victories are a misleading statistic on judging the worth of a pitcher. But it’s not often that a Shorebird leads the league in a positive category, and since this April 27 appearance photographed above Dylan Rheault has led the South Atlantic League with five victories, which he garnered in five consecutive April appearances.

In a league where you may have a closer but starting pitchers rarely go more than six innings, the role of long relief is an important one and Rheault (whose last name is pronounced “row” as in “row your boat”) has excelled at the task, being unscored upon in six of his eight appearances thus far and picking up two three-inning saves along the way, including one last night in the Shorebirds’ 5-0 whitewashing of Augusta. Statistically, Dylan is 5-0 with a microscopic 0.98 ERA in 18 1/3 innings, allowing 20 hits but only four walks for a respectable 1.31 WHIP. Aside from giving up two runs in each of his first two appearances April 4th and 10th (the latter the first of his five straight wins), Rheault has remained basically unblemished. Only two of his four runs allowed were earned.

Intriguing because of his stature – Dylan is listed at 6′-9″ and 245 pounds – the Ontario native crossed the border and played for Central Michigan University. Given that he played for a mid-major school, Rheault lasted until the 19th round in last season’s draft but pitched well enough for Aberdeen (1-2 with a 3.57 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 40 1/3 innings) to merit the promotion this year. Rheault made four starts for the IronBirds but basically pitched out of the bullpen last season as well – he just wasn’t as fortunate as far as picking up victories went.

At just 22 years of age, Rheault is one of those guys who could end up being a sleeper prospect. It’s doubtful too many scouts find their way to the northern reaches of Ontario above Lake Huron, so it’s likely Dylan wasn’t on anyone’s radar until he went to college. But he’s a Shorebird now, and it’s possible by season’s end he could have double-digit wins if he keeps finding the right place to be at the right time.

Shorebird of the Week – May 1, 2014

Delmarva's Conor Bierfeldt reacts after a walkoff home run against Charleston, April 27, 2014.

Normally I base my selection of Shorebird of the Week on performance, whether expected or actual, but once in awhile I take a photo and decide it just has to be used. Sunday was one of those times, and Conor Bierfeldt was the subject. It was his reaction after smashing a walkoff 2-run homer to seal a 5-3 extra-inning victory over Charleston, a win which set the tone for an eventual second 5-0 win later that afternoon.

The home run was also important for two other reasons: it was Bierfeldt’s first in a Delmarva uniform after finishing second in the NYPL last year with 12 round-trippers, and it finally ended a season-long home run drought by the Shorebirds at Perdue Stadium in the season’s 12th home game. (Bierfeldt is in a three-way tie for the team lead with that one home run.)

Unfortunately, the blast didn’t end Conor’s slump at the plate. The designated hitter/outfielder hasn’t been doing a lot of hitting as he’s off to a .156 start (12-for-77) with just the one home run and 10 RBI. It’s disappointing because Bierfeldt put together a .264/12/36/.862 OPS season for Aberdeen last year, excelling despite being a low-round selection (29th) from a small college, Western Connecticut State University. Nearly half of his 61 hits during the 2013 season were of the extra-base variety. The 23-year-old native of the Nutmeg State was expected to provide a power bat for the Delmarva lineup but has been seemingly overmatched so far, and shouldn’t be able to blame cold weather as an excuse because he played in the Northeast as a prep star.

Yet while he is a power hitter, his 24 strikeouts are only 5th most on the team and he leads the clubs with 13 walks drawn so his on-base percentage is close to .300 – for a guy hitting .156 that’s very good.

Obviously the hope is that Bierfeldt’s bat gets hot with the weather – we are scheduled for summer this year, right? – so the Shorebirds can stop being on the losing end of so many 3-2, 2-1, and 1-0 games. Over a season, we could expect Conor to hit a couple dozen longballs and hope at least a few win us some ballgames. I like seeing that exuberance on a player’s face.

Shorebird of the Week – April 24, 2014

Jeff Kemp awaits a throw in a Shorebirds exhibition against SU.

Thus far Jeff Kemp has been one of the quieter contributors to the Shorebirds’ early success. The shortstop isn’t really regarded as a hot prospect in the vein of several others who advanced from last year’s Aberdeen team, but the 2013 33rd round pick out of Radford University (and native of Bowie, Maryland) has done his part for the Shorebird offense by taking the early lead in doubles (7) and runs batted in (10.)

In 48 games for the IronBirds last season, Kemp put together a decent but unspectacular slash line of .240/3/20/.686 OPS, showing a little bit of muscle with 13 extra-base hits among his total of 37. So those seven doubles are just two off his career high that he established in thrice the games last season – apparently Jeff is finding the gaps of SAL outfields to his liking and placing the hits there.

It’s likely he won’t keep up that pace of doubles, but his other Shorebird numbers are reasonably solid, with a .256 average (20-for-78) being perhaps the best feature. Progress can be shown in cutting down a 17/2 K/BB ratio in an effort to pump up an anemic .268 on-base percentage. Another need for improvement is in the field, where Kemp has already committed seven errors compared to eight all of last season. He would probably be better suited to second base, which was his predominant Aberdeen position and the spot he played best.

Although Jeff has been serving as the team’s cleanup hitter thus far, it’s more likely that down the line he would be a sixth- or seventh-place hitter. He has just enough speed to not clog up the bases, swiping eight bags for Aberdeen in 2013, and should carry enough of an average to not be an automatic out. But while he’s the guy in the cleanup spot for now, Kemp is taking advantage of the opportunity.

Shorebird of the Week – April 17, 2014

Hunter Harvey pitches in the Shorebirds home opener, April 10, 2014.

The excitement level isn’t quite the same as it was two years ago, but last night’s start for Hunter Harvey proved he could draw a lot of the same interest Dylan Bundy did in his meteoric 2012 rise. The duel against Hagerstown’s Lucas Giolito drew regional attention as a battle of hot prospects and it didn’t fail to live up to its billing.

No, there’s very little chance Harvey will follow the Delmarva-to-Baltimore in one season trail blazed by Bundy, but so far this season last year’s first-rounder (22nd overall) has given people a reason to compare this 19-year-old with the 2012 phenom. In three starts, Harvey garnered his first professional win in Asheville and pitched 17 innings, allowing but 8 hits and 2 runs. He’s 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA and based on his 18/4 K/BB ratio has a microscopic 0.71 WHIP. No, that’s not quite the same as Dylan but still really, really good.

And Hunter seems to shine when the spotlight is on, matching Giolito goose egg for goose egg last night as the Shorebirds eventually won the scheduled opener to the doubleheader 1-0 in 15 innings. (Game 2 was scrubbed for a later date.) Hunter allowed just one hit in six innings, striking out seven and walking one, although he also hit two batters. This continues a pattern of success Harvey established last season in splitting time between the Gulf Coast League and Aberdeen. In 25 1/3 combined innings among eight starts, Hunter allowed 21 hits while striking out 33 and walking just 6, for an ERA of 1.78 between the two stops.

So the ceiling on this kid is pretty high, and I’d say the odds are very good that an appearance in the SAL All-Star Game could be the end of Hunter’s Delmarva career. Barring a setback, it seems like Harvey will need more of a challenge than South Atlantic League hitters – many of whom are three to four years older and more experienced – are putting up at the moment.

Shorebird of the Week – April 10, 2014

You may do a double-take at the photos, because this week’s SotW is a holdover from last season. The top photo came from the final home game of 2013, while the bottom one came from last week’s exhibition game against Salisbury University. In any case, David Richardson is trying to jump-start his Orioles career with a big year and his first full-season experience.

David has been in the organization quite awhile compared to many of his teammates – a 17th round selection from 2010 out of Hillsborough Junior College in Florida, he went to the same high school as major league standouts Dwight Gooden and Gary Sheffield. Perhaps his slow climb up the ladder is in part because he was originally drafted as an outfielder. But the 23-year-old got his first taste of the South Atlantic League at the end of last season, and while the overall numbers looked subpar – an 0-1 record with an 8.76 ERA in 10 appearances, with a 12/8 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings and 2.19 WHIP – much of the damage was done in two appearances against Lakewood where he gave up 11 runs in 1 1/3 innings and was pinned with his losing decision. Against the rest of the SAL he had a fine 0.82 ERA.

Because Lakewood hasn’t appeared on the schedule yet, David is holding his own thus far in 2014. In three appearances Richardson has pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run (a home run), striking out two and walking none. It translates to a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP on the young season.

Richardson had some experience as a starter for two seasons in Aberdeen, but seems to do much better in relief. He’s been used thus far in low-leverage situations, closing out losing efforts in two of his three outings, but continued success could see him be placed in a setup role. It will be interesting to see how David can handle the grind of a full season as well.

Shorebird of the Week – April 3, 2014


What better way to begin your professional career than to be selected as Shorebird of the Week? Okay, I suppose being in the opening day lineup in the Show could top this, but nonetheless Drew Dosch will be given this distinction before ever playing a regular-season game for pay.

Drew was the Orioles’ seventh round pick last year, but instead of following his draft class to Aberdeen he had to recover from knee surgery. So the post-draft portion of 2013 was scrubbed and Dosch came into camp looking for a gig with a full-season team to get caught up – looks like the 21-year-old from Canal Winchester, Ohio (near Columbus) achieved that goal.

Dosch starred at Youngstown State University, basically being the best player on a very mediocre team. Over three years at YSU he hit .325 in 151 games, collecting 11 home runs and 83 RBI in the three seasons before being drafted as a junior. In his final season Drew hit .338/3/30 in 54 games, playing third base for the Penguins.

Of course, missing that time at the tail end of 2013 means Drew will be getting adjusted to pro life with Delmarva, although being from Ohio means he’s used to playing in cold weather. He’s also played in the Cape Cod League, which means a little bit of wooden bat experience as well, so the transition may not be as abrupt as perhaps other players may endure. Normally Delmarva gets a player or two each season who’s starting their professional career above the rookie league, and this year that guy is Dosch.

The Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame Class of 2013

As is now the tradition of the first Thursday in December, we interrupt the boring winter Hot Stove League routine to bring back a Thursday evening Shorebirds post. Once again I take the time to announce my SotWHoF page will be reopening tonight with two new inductees.

I predicted last year this might be a small class, figuring that players who were can’t-miss prospects from recent drafts had already made their debuts while the other prospects from Delmarva were concentrated at the advanced-A and AA levels as 2012 closed. My prediction was borne out as the two Shorebirds of the Week who were added to the 40-man roster during the 2012-13 offseason were the two who got to The Show.

In order of major league debut, the two honorees are:

  • Zach Clark, who debuted (and made his only appearance) May 1, and
  • Jonathan Schoop, who played five games after his September 25 debut – the last five games of the season.

In terms of actual impact by a particular class, this was the leanest crop of prospects ever. Even in 2010, when I had Brandon Snyder as my sole inductee, he played in ten games. Combined, my pair this year played in six.

But that doesn’t necessarily serve as a predictor of future results. Clark, who is now a student at Knuckleball U. with master teacher Phil Niekro, could conceivably use that pitch to stay in the big leagues well after the age of 40 (he turned 30 in July.) Meanwhile, Schoop could end up being the successor to Brian Roberts in Baltimore, showing some signs of brilliance at a tender age. Considering what has become of the Class of 2011, which had seven members but only one full-time major-leaguer just two years later (four of the seven did not play in the big leagues in 2013, and one didn’t play at all) it’s anyone’s guess how this small cadre will do as the seasons progress.

As is often the case, I like to use the twin predictors of those who are added to a team’s 40 man roster and/or participate in the Arizona Fall League as a gauge of the following year’s class. So the list of possibilities on the 40-man roster front are Tim Berry, Eddie Gamboa, and Michael Ohlman, all added to the Orioles roster – although Gamboa was just as quickly removed – along with Jarret Martin of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Martin was sent to the Dodgers in a trade for Dana Eveland in late 2011.) Berry, Ohlman, and Martin also played in the Arizona Fall League, with Berry having the best numbers. Ohlman was a “taxi squad” player who could only see limited action and Martin was ineffective in 13 appearances.

However, since only Martin has (briefly) played above the high-A level it’s not likely we’ll see any of them play in the majors during 2014.

Out of the remaining Oriole AFL participants, only Branden Kline and Eduardo Rodriguez were selected as Shorebirds of the Week. Based on his 2013 season and polish shown in the AFL I would think Rodriguez has the best chance of making it to The Show next year. (He did not need to be added to the 40-man roster for protection.) Kline is coming off an injury-riddled 2013 and may well be Delmarva-bound again in 2014. He was added to the AFL roster more for the purpose of getting some innings in, not necessarily as a hot prospect.

There are some other players who I think have an outside chance of making it next year: pitchers Jacob Pettit, Oliver Drake, and Sean Gleason, outfielder John Ruttinger, first baseman Christian Walker, and utility players Garabez Rosa and Ty Kelly. Kelly was sent to the Mariners organization in a midseason trade, so he could suit up for Seattle by season’s end. For some in this group, they’re approaching the end of their opportunity as they advance in age – it would be another Zach Clark-style story if they made it.

I suspect when all is said and done there will be another small class next season, on the order of two to three players. It’s hard to predict the out years but I suspect 2015 and 2016 may see another bumper crop.

In the meantime it will also be interesting to see how many of the enshrined players who didn’t make it to the big league level in 2013 make it back next year. Some careers already seem to be in decline, but there are others who could be surprises next season. It’s simply fun to watch as well as select the future possibilities who start out as Shorebirds of the Week.

Finally, I’m going to try something new, an idea which was suggested to me at the end of the season. Sometime around the start of spring training I’m going to try and predict the ten most likely new faces on the Shorebirds. It will be fun to see how it plays out, and may be the bulk of my choices next summer.

After all, we are only seventeen weeks away from the return of Shorebird of the Week. I just hope there’s an exhibition game for pictures because we start out with a week on the road – otherwise my first two picks may be from 2013 photos. Yet they could be the future Hall of Famers.

Shorebird of the Year – a 2013 season wrapup

Well, at least the Shorebirds weren’t dead last in the league this year. Thanks to the Greenville Drive for holding our team up in the standings because of the Drive’s absolutely putrid first half.

Still, by finishing 54-82, the Shorebirds eclipsed the 80-loss mark overall for the fourth straight year – but they at least won 2 more games than they did in 2012, so there’s that. And once again, it seemed like the culprit was an offense which rarely fired on all cylinders despite a .248 team average which was eighth-best out of the 14-team league, to wit:

  • 532 runs made them 12th in the league. Oddly enough, they were ninth in hits with 1126, but those hits didn’t always convert.
  • They finished 11th in the loop with 209 doubles, but tied for third with 33 triples.
  • Their 57 homers ranked 11th in the league. By comparison, Joey Gallo of Hickory hit 38 by himself, including five in the final rain-shortened three-game series against the Shorebirds.
  • They finished tied for 11th in RBI with 484.
  • Delmarva ranked 11th in total bases with 1572, over 300 behind league-leading Hickory.
  • They drew the second-fewest walks in the league with 390, although adding a few rainouts back to our schedule would have bumped us up to our seemingly common 11th or 12th rank.
  • One somewhat bright spot: the Shorebirds struck out 1,067 times and that was fifth-best.
  • They were second to the bottom with 102 steals, and only Lakewood had a worse success rate than our 66.2% clip.
  • In on-base percentage and slugging percentage, they were – you guessed it – 11th and 12th respectively.

In short, our hometown team was offensively challenged once again. Only one player finished with a batting average over .300 and Christian Walker was in Bowie by season’s end, having played in just 31 games here early on.

Throughout the year, the pitching seemed to decline in league ranking, and you’ll never guess where the team ended up in ERA. Their 4.27 collective mark was…12th of 14.

  • Just six shutouts pitched was second-least in the league (Greensboro had five.)
  • Greenville held the Shorebirds off the bottom in saves; they had just 24 to the Drive’s 23. Of course, that has a lot to do with winning only 54 games.
  • They allowed the third-most hits in the loop, giving up 1,162 while getting only 1,126. That wasn’t as bad as being outscored 649-532. (Surprisingly, the Shorebirds were 10th in runs allowed but twelfth in earned runs, or third-most if you prefer.) They only allowed 95 unearned runs, which put them in the middle of the pack. Overall, fielding was around league average.
  • Delmarva also allowed the fifth-fewest home runs, which seems to be a function of playing at Perdue Stadium. They were just four off the lead (Lexington gave up 62, we allowed 66.)
  • Ranking eighth in hit batsmen belied finishing 11th in walks allowed. Had the Shorebirds played a full schedule they may have been worst, finishing with 494 in 136 games vs. Greenville’s 508 in 138 games. There were a couple guys who could have easily put the team over the top.
  • The Shorebirds were one of just three teams to not strike out 1,000 batters, finishing 12th with 995, just 8 ahead of Lakewood. If not for Parker Bridwell and his 144 punchouts (second in the SAL) they would have been deep in last.
  • Lastly, and predictably, the team’s WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched) total was 12th best.

It all fits a team which really didn’t have a lot going for it this season – few really hot prospects or high draft choices, and for the first time in my memory no June draft pick made it to Delmarva.

But there is help on the way, hopefully. After enduring a similarly wretched string of last-place finishes over the last half-dozen years, Aberdeen secured only its second winning season in twelve seasons of existence, clinching its first-ever division title in the process. Seeing how mediocre IronBird teams tend to become equally pathetic Shorebird squads in many cases, the hope for the reverse being true for Delmarva in 2014 is there. Even the Gulf Coast League Orioles were decent, finishing a square 30-30 on the season.

On the other hand, the next level up is suffering from our ills. Frederick also finished second-to-last in the Carolina League at 61-78; however, Bowie wrapped up a level season at 71-71 while Norfolk just missed the International League playoffs with a 77-67 mark, losing the tiebreaker to Rochester. It appears the Orioles’ system may be beginning to stabilize after a number of down years and hopefully it will reflect in an improved record next season.

Of course, the question for my 22 Shorebirds of the Week is how they will impact the organization going forward. It’s time to review their 2013 exploits.

April 4 – Mychal Givens

The grand experiment in placing Mychal on the mound seemed to work relatively well. After a very promising beginning, it looked bleak for a time as Mychal missed a month of the season early on and again on his return when Givens was hammered in Greensboro for 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning. But on the whole Mychal improved as the season went along, finishing 2-3 with a 4.22 ERA overall with a very respectable WHIP of 1.21 in 28 appearances. And after having a nearly even strikeout-to-walk ratio in the first half, Mychal cut down on the free passes to the extent that his ratio ended up 36 strikeouts to 19 walks in 43 2/3 innings. After three seasons as a shortstop who only hit .225 with Delmarva overall, his route up the Orioles ladder will be that of a bullpen mainstay.

April 11 – Adrian Marin

The 19 year old shortstop played well in his first full professional campaign, settling in at Delmarva and getting into 108 games. Marin put together a nice season, hitting .265/4/48/.667 OPS overall; however, Marin got off to a slow start (.214 in April) and tired out in the end (.205 in August and September.) In the middle he hit close to .300, giving Shorebird fans an exciting glimpse of what the Orioles thought they saw when he was drafted in the 3rd round. It’s pretty likely that Marin will be given every opportunity to win the starting shortstop job in Frederick next spring, and I decided he was my Prospect of the Year.

April 18 – Christian Walker

Of all the players who played at Delmarva this year, Walker did the best job of moving up the system. Until a late-season injury sidelined him, Christian was using his bat to speed through three stops on the docket, hitting .353/3/20/.894 OPS here with Delmarva in 31 early-season games before being promoted to Frederick and putting up .288/8/35/.822 OPS numbers there in 55 games. The move to Bowie was a little more difficult on Christian, as he hit only .242 with just one RBI in 17 games with a more pedestrian .641 OPS. While there’s a chance he could stick at AA, I think he’ll be sent back to Frederick to begin the 2014 season, particularly since he’s not a versatile player (all of his fielding appearances came at first base) and the Orioles are fairly set at that spot for a few years. In the end, Walker could be auditioning for other teams to give him the big break.

April 25 – Creede Simpson

For Creede, the 2013 season was a mixed bag, punctuated with a trip to the disabled list which cost him a month – not so good when you’re hitting well over .300 as he was. After a solid first half with a .295/4/21/.828 slash line, Simpson tailed off as the season went along to finish with marks of .248/9/49/.719 OPS – however, the home run and RBI numbers were still both good enough to be tops on the team. One asset Creede brought to the table, though, was the ability to play all around the diamond as he played 35 games at first base, two at second, three at third, 35 in left field, and 11 in right. That versatility will likely allow him to move up next year and perform many of the same roles at the next level.

May 2 – Torsten Boss

The .238/7/45/.690 OPS batting line is probably not what Boss was looking for as his 2013 showing with Delmarva, but he was really heading in the wrong direction at the end of July when his average was a puny .219. Returning after a few days out, Boss finished strong, hitting .305 in his last 23 contests to push his average back up. He was also quietly one of the top power producers on the team, finishing fourth in home runs and third in runs batted in. However, one drawback on Torsten’s record is that of being one of just two players to strike out over 100 times this season as he fanned 106 times in 106 games. Boss may move up for 2014, but thus far the Orioles can’t be all that pleased with a .244 career batting mark.

May 9 – Branden Kline

Shortly after Kline was selected as a SotW, his season was ended by a broken ankle. In seven starts, Branden went 1-2 with a fairly pedestrian 5.86 ERA which belied his second-round selection and attendant prospect status. However, there were a few encouraging signs such as the solid 32:14 strikeout:walk ratio in 35 1/3 innings and two quality starts he put together, one being his season debut against Hagerstown where Kline pitched six innings of two-hit shutout ball, and an amazing 13-strikeout performance he managed in just 5 2/3 innings in his final start against Hickory. Branden is healthy enough now, though, to be a representative for the Orioles in the Arizona Fall League, where he will make up some of the innings and experience he lost this season due to the injury. Branden will be the only current Shorebird on that roster, which is mainly made up of players from high-A and AA.

May 16 – Nik Balog

Serving mainly as the designated hitter, Nik hit well enough to have one of the better offensive seasons from a Shorebird player. His .266/3/32/.684 OPS was fairly solid and he paced the team with 29 doubles. There was a reason he served as the DH, though – 8 errors in just 24 games in the field, mostly at first base, led the Shorebirds to exclusively DH Balog after July 6. This was a definite regression considering Balog made just two errors in roughly the same number of chances in 2012 with the GCL Orioles. Unfortunately, Nik is one who could get caught up in a numbers game as a non-drafted free agent who will be 24 by the time next season rolls around. It will be interesting to see if Balog lands in instructional league this fall to work on his fielding, since the bat was at least league average and he could serve as an organizational player down the line.

May 23 – Matt Hobgood

One of the comeback stories this year was the return of Hobgood to a league where he struggled in his first full professional season three years ago. Several procedures later, the results for Matt were good enough (7-3, 3.71 in 63 innings, featuring a 1.41 WHIP) that he was promoted to Frederick for the first time in mid-July. Appearing almost exclusively in relief (one start and loss for Delmarva), Hobgood still managed to pitch 63 innings here and an additional 30 2/3 at Frederick. His numbers for the Keys weren’t quite as sound, as he went 2-1 but had an elevated 5.58 ERA despite a lower 1.30 WHIP in the Carolina League. Matt will probably begin next year at that same level; although he’s certainly fallen behind a number of brighter prospects in the Orioles’ organizational pitching ranks, there’s still a pretty good possibility he could make it all the way up someday.

May 30 – Josh Hader

One of those brighter prospects threatening to pass Matt Hobgood was Josh Hader, a mid-round draft pick from 2012 and local Maryland product who still managed to be the team’s lone All-Star selection this season. In 17 starts, Hader went just 3-6 but had a low 2.65 ERA in 85 innings. All three of his Shorebird victories easily came within the definition of a “quality start”: six or more innings, three or fewer earned runs. Perhaps the only two quibbles were an inordinately high number of unearned runs pushing down his ERA and the fact he walked 42 in 85 innings, which is on the high side. But those flaws didn’t stop the Houston Astros from taking Hader as part of their booty for the services of Bud Norris (along with Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame member L.J. Hoes), and Hader didn’t disappoint his new teammates on the Quad Cities River Bandits, pitching a one-hit gem over six innings in his debut. It’s likely Hader will have at least one more start as the River Bandits made the Midwest League playoffs.

June 6 – Tucker Nathans

One of two undrafted domestic free agents to make the ranks of Shorebird of the Week (the other being Nik Balog), Nathans took advantage of the opportunity presented to him after two seasons in the independent baseball ranks to first get a contract with a major league organization and then play well enough for a mid-season promotion to Frederick. Tucker’s 63-game stint with Delmarva featured a .271/9/38/.804 slash line, so when he advanced to Fredrick he kept the average over the last 45 games (hitting a robust .277) but only getting one homer, 18 knocked in, and a .699 OPS. Nathans was another player whose calling card was his versatility, as he played five different positions in a Delmarva uniform but went one batter at Frederick, adding center field to his repertoire for one game. Considering he’s a little older than his SAL peers – Nathans turns 25 in Novenber – it’s likely Frederick or bust next year.

June 13 – Lucas Herbst

Among those Shorebirds who would qualify for the league batting title, Lucas was the top hitter and put together a solid, consistent line of .276/5/41/.696 OPS for the Shorebirds. Aside from the anomaly of one September game where he was 0-for-5, the only “bad” month Lucas had was hitting .241 in July, and there are several of his peers who didn’t match that for the full season. While he slowed down some after a hot start, coming up May 4 and hitting .303 in that month, with 2 homers and 12 RBI, overall the season was a good positive step for Herbst and it should be enough to maintain his progress up the organizational ladder.

June 20 – Parker Bridwell

Parker was the typical Forrest Gump “box of chocolates” player, because you never knew what you would get. It could be the smooth 14-strikeout, no walk, two hit dismantling of Lakewood he put up August 16, which earned his SAL Pitcher of the Week honors a few days later, or it could be the bitter 10-hit, 9-run 3 2/3 inning outing against the same team May 21. But as the season went on the great performances became more prevalent – six of his eight quality starts occurred in the second half of the season, where he was 4-3, 4.07 compared to 4-6, 5.57 beforehand. The occasion of his SotW selection was immediately after his second-best start, when he eliminated Hickory from the first half title by giving up one run in eight innings, fanning 10. I would be surprised if he wasn’t a #1 or #2 starter for Frederick next season.

June 27 – Steel Russell

I thought we would see more of Steel in the second half, but instead he stuck to his usual diet of about 10 games a month in the lineup. Russell appeared in 42 games, hitting .236 in 140 at-bats with 14 RBI. While that doesn’t seem like much, it was a vest improvement from his 2012 season and showed he could hit a little bit. It may not get him much more than a backup role, either here or with Frederick, but Russell should be playing next year. Having Dad coaching at the big league level doesn’t hurt, either.

July 4 – Matt Taylor

Matt is the player one can point to and say that won-lost records for pitchers can be deceiving. While Matt was one of four pitchers in the SAL to have 13 losses (against only 4 wins) he was by far the best pitcher in the group in terms of ERA at 3.77 and WHIP at 1.41. Granted, he had a high number of unearned runs which held his ERA under 4 runs a game but a lot of those likely contributed to his record. In his second season with the Shorebirds, Matt improved on his ERA (3.77 vs. 4.33), his hits per 9 innings ratio (9.7 to 8.7) and pitched an eight-inning gem over Lexington on July 12, allowing but one hit. I can see Matt being placed in Frederick, although it was surprising a fifth-round pick repeated a level for a full year.

July 11 – Lex Rutledge

Given that Rutledge had a 4-3, 1.45 topline with a 45:16 strikeout:walk ratio in 43 1/3 innings (leading to a WHIP of 1.02) it was no surprise that he was promoted to Frederick shortly after being selected. What was surprising was the subpar numbers Lex turned in there, ballooning to a 7.82 ERA in 12 2/3 innings, allowing 18 hits and walking seven (although he fanned 15.) His Frederick WHIP was almost double that of Delmarva at 1.97. He went from being scored on in just six of 18 Delmarva appearances to giving up runs in five of nine at Frederick. But I don’t think Lex will be back; my inclination is to believe that he will stay with Frederick unless there’s a real numbers game among the staff there.

July 18 – George Barber

Aside from a brief two days at Bowie, Barber bounced between Aberdeen and Delmarva for the 2013 campaign – ironically, he was sent down immediately after I selected him and only played one more game with the Shorebirds the rest of the season. Unfortunately, his numbers were the opposite of what one might expect as Barber went 3-for-9 at Bowie (.333), 15-for-64 with Delmarva (.234), and 12-for-75 at Aberdeen (.160). As a composite, George hit .203/1/6/.531 with the one home run at Aberdeen. While George has a compelling comeback story, I suspect his playing days may be numbered based on age and performance. His 60-game trial I referred to ended up being 46 all told.

July 25 – Roderick Bernadina

As I pointed out in my feature about him, this season has seen Bernadina revert to more of his career means at the plate: the .238/2/29/.615 OPS was around the numbers he’s featured over his pro career. But this was a lost season in the sense that Roderick missed two significant portions of it and his injury at the end of July came at a time where he had hit .278 on the month – by far his best. Had that streak continued into and through August, Bernadina would have finished with a more respectable average in the .250 range; still, that would have been disappointing considering his splashy Shorebird debut month in August 2012 where he hit close to .300 for the period. He just might be one of those guys who repeats here to see if he reverses some other alarming trends, like a worse strikeout:walk ratio for 2013.

August 2 – Dennis Torres

In what was essentially his professional debut, I just missed on my prediction that Torres would pitch between 45 and 50 innings because he closed with 44 2/3. Many of them were pretty good, as Dennis wrapped up 2013 with a 1-3, 3.22 topline and 1.55 WHIP based on 41 hits and 28 walks allowed. That’s the key thing for Torres to work on, particularly as he allowed at least one free pass in his last eight appearances (11 in 15 total innings.) Because of his low-round status and a pretty good crop of pitchers coming up behind him, I think the range of possibilities for 2014 ranges from a release at the end of spring training to a repeat performance in our bullpen.

August 9 – Wynston Sawyer

Behind the plate, Sawyer ended up being the first Shorebirds catcher to actually catch in 80 or more games since Luis Bernardo caught in 81 back in 2009. At the plate Sawyer has a career-high .238 average and set career standards in at-bats, hits, and hit more home runs this season (8) than his first three pro seasons combined (6). And unlike previous seasons, Wynston only played a handful of games at first, allowing him to concentrate on the backstop position basically full-time. He may not yet have the bat for higher levels – although there were promising signs of development there with the .238/8/38/.720 OPS line – but I think Wynston will replace Michael Ohlman as the Keys’ predominant catcher next year.

August 16 – Mark Blackmar

When you go from 1-5, 6.84 as a starter to 3-4, 3.58 as a reliever, it’s clear the trend is toward the bullpen. Declining from a 1.92 WHIP and .357 average against as a starter to a 1.14 WHIP and .241 average given up out of the bullpen is clue number 2. With the drastic splits, one may as well toss out the overall numbers of 4-9, 5.53 with 110 hits allowed in 86 1/3 innings and focus on the bullpen figures, for that’s where Mark figures to toil hereafter. My guess is that Mark will be a repeater here, most likely given the role of pitching 2 to 3 innings per appearance.

August 23 – Bennett Parry

Bennett came all the way from being a late addition to the staff from extended spring training to reliever to pretty solid starter. It was a nice evolution from the lefty, who turned in a 2-2, 3.49 season with a WHIP of 1.30 and a very solid 52:22 strikeout:walk ratio in 59 1/3 innings with Delmarva. You knew he arrived when he twirled back-to-back 6 1/3 inning shutout performances against Kannapolis and Lakewood August 11 and 17, respectively. Since he’s not pitched a full season yet, Parry may start here in April and move up by midseason if his results are similar to this year’s.

August 30 – Greg Lorenzo

The last Shorebird of the Week is often the hardest to pick out. When he set the bar by hitting over .300 across three levels last season, we expected a better season than the .241/2/41/.604 one we received from Greg. Aside from a worse mark as a raw 18-year-old rookie in the Dominican League in 2009, the OPS was by far the worst in Greg’s career. Imagine how many he could have added to the 40 stolen bases he attained with an OBP of .350 instead of .281. He may not have threatened the 68 total which led the league, but 50 would have been in sight. He might be here for another season, at least to start, because he didn’t seize the opportunity to gain on the players ahead of him at the next level.

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As is often the case, I had a hard time deciding my Shorebird of the Year – the choice came down to three players. But I went with the one who had the lowest expectations coming into the season because he wasn’t even on the roster at that point.

This year’s Shorebird of the Year is outfielder Lucas Herbst, who beat out Adrian Marin and Parker Bridwell for the honor. It was the consistency I noted above that gave him the nod – Marin tailed off significantly in the last month of the season and Parker (who had some backing from readers of this site) had overall numbers which weren’t all that great. Yet Bridwell was second in the league in strikeouts, and I was fairly torn between giving it to him or Herbst before finally deciding on Lucas.

So that’s a wrap on the player side for 2013. Next week will be my picks and pans feature speaking as a fan, in December will be an expanding Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame which should have a class of at least two players for 2013 (as Jonathan Schoop was called up for the September roster expansion) and sometime around the start of spring training I’m going to follow through on a suggestion from a comment and pick out 10 players I think may be new to Delmarva in 2014.

Just because it’s the off-season doesn’t mean the Shorebirds stuff is forgotten until April!

Shorebird of the Week – August 29, 2013

This photo of Greg Lorenzo seemed to be most appropriate, as I took it shortly after he slid into second. On 38 of 45 occasions this season, Greg has been successful in swiping an additional 90 feet of enemy territory, leading the Shorebirds by a wide margin in that department and currently sixth-best in the South Atlantic League.

But for the longest time this season, it seemed like the hardest 90-foot distance for Lorenzo to travel was that space between home plate and first base. At the All-Star break Greg was hitting a puny .208 and only getting on base 27% of the time, but in the second half Greg has improved to a .279 batting average and .301 on-base percentage. Now those aren’t particularly outstanding, but in order to steal bases the trick is getting on base in the first place and Lorenzo has improved in that regard.

Admittedly, we were a little bit spoiled by Greg’s performance at the tail end of last year, where he went 24-for-72 in 19 games and swiped six bases. It capped off a season where he jumped from the Gulf Coast League to Delmarva in the total space of just 53 games, and was seemingly a breakout offensive campaign from a player who had never hit higher than .252 in any of his three previous seasons. So perhaps his .244/2/41/.612 OPS for 2013 is along the lines of what we should expect from Greg, a Dominican native signed by the Orioles in 2009.

Looking ahead to 2014, it’s not out of the question the 22-year-old may find himself back for a third tour of duty in Delmarva. Having said that, job one for Greg has to be finding a way to cut down on strikeouts. Granted, Lorenzo has over 500 plate appearances this season, which leads the team – Joel Hutter may end up with right around 500 as well – but not only is he near the top of the league in stolen bases, he’s fifth in strikeouts as well. (Of the four players above him, three are prototypical power hitters and the fourth looks like a draft bust from 2011.)

For many of the thousands of players who play professional baseball, raw speed is their calling card. But baseball is a funny game in that, unless you put the ball in play or force the pitcher into walking you, seldom do you get to first base. With 143 strikeouts and 22 walks, the old adage that “a walk’s as good as a hit” is something Lorenzo will need to heed in 2014 if he wants to advance beyond the South Atlantic League. In terms of raw batting average, Greg has done well in August, but that other phase of the game merits attention as well.

Finally, as a reminder: next week’s Shorebird piece will be a season review and selection of my Shorebird of the Year, followed the next Thursday by my picks and pans. Sometime in December I’ll induct the Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame Class of 2014, which will probably consist of two or three players, and then it will go dark again until April 3, 2014, when the Shorebirds open their nineteenth campaign on the road, with the home opener April 10.

Shorebird of the Week – August 22, 2013

A few weeks back, I noted a pitcher who went from being a mediocre starter to an effective reliever. This week’s honoree went the opposite direction, becoming an effective Shorebird starter over the last half of the season since being elevated to the Shorebirds June 4 from extended spring training.

But Bennett Parry has been dominating of late, unscored upon in his last two starts against Kannapolis and Lakewood, a stretch covering 12 1/3 innings. In those two starts, the first of which gave Parry his second win of the season, he’s allowed just eight hits and three walks while fanning nine.

The tall 22 year old lefty, an afterthought in the 2011 draft as a 40th round selection out of Cal State-Northridge and the San Diego area – his alma mater Poway High School is famous baseball-wise for graduating the offspring of two famous Padres: Gary Templeton and Tony Gwynn – has impressed as a starter, pitching to a 2.10 ERA in seven starts coming into tonight’s game at Greensboro where he will take the ball once again. Conversely, as a reliever his ERA is a more pedestrian 4.41 in 16 1/3 innings. Parry has allowed 18 hits and has an 18/8 strikeout/walk ratio as a reliever, but improves to 26 hits allowed in 35 innings as a starter with a 30/10 strikeout/walk ratio. More telling, his WHIP as a reliever is 1.59 but declines to 1.03 as a starter. That’s one fewer baserunner every two innings, which leads to a marked difference in ERA.

So far in three professional seasons, though – and this includes two brief appearances with the Gulf Coast League Orioles in 2011 – his highest ERA is 2.84 and that’s where he stands right now. Bennett pitched to a 1-4, 2.70 ERA between the Gulf Coast League and Aberdeen last year, and has kept up relatively similar success with the Shorebirds. He’s kept racking up strikeouts at a pace of about one per inning, although his most recent two starts were slightly under that mark.

Certainly Parry can be useful as a lefty starter, and his body of work over the second half of the season makes him a contender for Frederick’s starting rotation next season.