It’s traditional that I award a league All-Star the coveted Shorebird of the Week tag as soon as I can. Having picked four of the five All-Stars for SotW honors already, the last holdout was catcher Michael Ohlman.
Now Michael’s not been as much of an offensive threat as the other two Shorebird position players (Manny Machado and Ty Kelly) but when compared to Shorebird catchers of recent vintage Ohlman is head and shoulders above the pack. The 20 year old product of Lakewood Ranch High School in Florida is hitting .242 with a pair of home runs and 20 runs batted in. His .691 OPS is reasonably decent, too.
Ohlman is a Shorebird veteran, having spent part of the 2010 season here before being reassigned to Bluefield for the short-season summer. Michael was a little overmatched last time he was here at Delmarva, since he hit just .174 in 34 games here before turning in a .233/0/20 line with Bluefield.
Michael’s numbers this year, though, may represent a sign that he’s “getting it” because the 2009 11th round pick hasn’t hit much – his career average coming into 2011 was an anemic .207 mark. With this being only his second full season of play it’s hard to compare numbers but Ohlman should set a number of offensive highs for himself if he stays healthy. And he has that All-Star selection to help boost his confidence.
