Normally I like to have two pictures of my Shorebird of the Week, but it’s his performance thus far this season which gives the camera-shy Luis Noel the nod for the honors this time around. The lanky Dominican righthander is tied for the team lead with seven wins at this juncture and in 15 starts has managed to allow just 61 hits in 78 1/3 innings. Perhaps his 39 walks are a little troubling, but 11 of those came in his last two outings, both against Hagerstown. It’s one of those stretches a promising young pitcher goes through, and the 20 year old, who signed with the Orioles organization in 2006, certainly qualifies for both adjectives.
Essentially Luis jumped a level this year to play on his first full season team. He did appear in 3 games for Aberdeen last season and was knocked around to the tune of 10 earned runs and 4 home runs in just 7 innings of work there, but most of his time was spent with the lowest Oriole farm club, their entry in the complex-based Gulf Coast League. There he was 6-2, 3.18 in 15 appearances (11 starts.) His solid start for Delmarva appears to have allowed him to stay for the duration; although like some other young pitchers who have come through in recent years he may have his innings limited later this season in order to keep his arm healthy. This generally has happened at about the 100 inning mark, a point Noel should hit around the end of this month.
The challenge for him in the meantime is to work his way out of this minor setback with his control that has bedeviled Luis the last two times out. Seeing different opponents over the next few weeks may be of some help in that department, but on the whole Luis Noel looks like another in a solid crop of promising pitchers the Orioles have managed to acquire in recent seasons.
