Shorebird of the Week – August 5, 2010

Bobby Bundy posed for this shot during a Meet the Players lunch in April.

Back in April Bundy took the hill in relief during this contest against Hagerstown. Since then Bundy has moved into the starting rotation.

Last week I detailed one player who’s been a steady performer for the Shorebirds and this week it’s another’s turn. Bobby Bundy has kept a pretty even keel during a season where he began as a reliever but returned to a more familiar starter’s role in May.

Over twelve starts, Bundy has put together several workmanlike performances, with the best coming June 7 against Hickory where he allowed just four hits and one run in seven innings. It seems Bundy is more comfortable as a starter, though, since his numbers as a reliever were fairly pedestrian (a 4.24 ERA in 17 innings and ten appearances) compared to the 2-4 record and 3.88 ERA in 60 1/3 innings compiled as a starter.

Bundy is in his third professional season, although the 8th round pick in 2008 out of Sperry (Oklahoma) High School barely saw action in the 2008 campaign, making two forgettable appearances for the Gulf Coast League Orioles. In Bluefield last year Bobby was only 2-7 with a 5.10 ERA in 12 starts (54 1/3 innings) but apparently Baltimore’s brass liked what they saw in spring training enough to advance Bundy to a full-season team. He does have a nice strikeout-to-walk ratio for his pro career (108-51 in 134 pro innings) but is prone to giving up the longball – he’s allowed 10 home runs this year, most among the Shorebirds’ staff. Since he was drafted out of high school, Bundy has plenty of time to develop and advance through the system; he won’t turn 21 until next January.

As with his fellow high school prospects Matt Hobgood and Jesse Beal, we may see Bobby’s appearances become a little shorter as the season draws to a close. Having already thrown 77 1/3 innings this season with several early relief appearances, the limit may soon be reached for Bundy’s season in order to preserve his arm. Still, he can prove to be an effective pitcher in the remaining weeks of the season and perhaps begin next season as an anchor of Delmarva’s rotation.

Shorebird of the Week – July 29, 2010

Playing third in this day game against Hickory, Ty Kelly awaits the next ball hit to him. Kelly has split time between second base and third base this season.

Ty Kelly wrapped up a solid first half in this June 20 game against Lexington. He's kept on a path of steady improvement to this day.

Sometimes observers like me are mesmerized by the gaudy stats of a player just starting out in league play. Obviously there are those who can keep up this hectic pace long enough to quickly advance to the next level but more often these stars fade back to a more average or even subpar stat line. We tend to overlook the steady performer who comes to work every day and continues performing at a sound level. Ty Kelly is one of those guys.

Indeed, Kelly got off to a slow start, hitting just .233 in April. But since then he’s slowly built up the batting mark to a level where he’s well in line with the numbers he posted last year in his inaugural pro season at Aberdeen.

There Ty went .265/1/18 in 61 contests with the Ironbirds; in his first full season with Delmarva Kelly has brought the mark to .261/3/39 in 92 games. One big difference comes in extra base hits – Ty was almost exclusively a singles hitter with Aberdeen (just 7 extra base hits) but this year Kelly is knocking the ball around with authority, boasting a line of 23 doubles, 3 triples, and 3 home runs. And Ty seems to thrive with runners in scoring position with a .289 situational average, which probably explains the vastly improved RBI total.

Kelly wasn’t a highly-touted prospect as the Orioles waited until the 13th round to claim him last year; the native Texan played for the University of California-Davis. But he could be the kind of player who will advance through the system as his experience and hard work matches up well with the increasing ability of the players he’s up against. Toss in the fact he’s a switch-hitting infielder (although hitting .170 as a right-hander may necessiate dropping that eventually) and has a good eye at the plate – in his season-plus career Ty has 90 strikeouts and 86 walks – and the guy perhaps picked as an organizational player may defy the conventional wisdom and advance all the way to Baltimore. He just turned 22 last week so developmental time is on his side and there’s guys in the big leagues who’d love to see a .260 average right now.

Slow and steady may well win this race.

Shorebird of the Week – July 22, 2010

First baseman Tyler Townsend holds on a Hickory runner back on July 7th. With the injury to Tyler Stampone, Townsend has become the team's full time first baseman.

Tyler Townsend waits on the pitch in a June game against Lakewood. It was one of his first starts after returning from a hamstring injury.

The closest thing this year’s Shorebirds have to a ‘hometown hero’, Tyler Townsend came to town with some high expectations placed upon him by both the Orioles and local fans.

The high expectations from the Orioles come from being a third-round pick in last year’s amateur draft and one of the top 100 selected overall. When you throw in the obvious familiarity of many Delaware Shorebird fans with Townsend’s talent, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some players buckle and fold under the pressure. Indeed, it looked like Townsend might be a bust – or at least develop more slowly than scouts figured – after he hit just .143 in 31 games for Aberdeen last year.

Maybe home cooking is what Tyler needed to succeed, though. Despite being sidetracked by a hamstring injury and a quick trip to the Gulf Coast League for a rehab stint, Townsend has moved into a leadership role among the batters in manager Ryan Minor’s lineup. Hitting .383 at home certainly proves he finds the confines of Perdue Stadium quite friendly.

A far cry from that anemic .143 mark last year, Tyler is leading the squad with a .324 average in 108 at-bats spanning 28 games. More importantly, Tyler is showing signs of power, ripping 14 extra-base hits so far including a triple and two home runs. It leads to an OPS of .887, leaving him second among this year’s crop of Shorebirds (and he tops the list among current players.) Yet Townsend is difficult to strike out as he’s fanned just 16 times.

Having gone away to star at Florida International University, the native of Lewes gets to return to the closest Orioles affiliate and allow those fans who saw him tear up the First State’s prep ranks continue his bid for a job in The Show. Having just turned 22, this experience will be helpful in the long run and South Atlantic League foes will suffer in the short run.

Shorebird of the Week – July 15, 2010

Brent Allar walks by the dugout en route to his usual pregame station - chatting with fans and signing autographs.

Back when he wore jersey number 17 in May, Brent Allar took the hill in this day game against Savannah.

My significant other and I call him, “Bubblegum Brent.”

If you’re around early enough before the game and hang out by the Shorebirds dugout, you’re likely to see Brent Allar walking out with a handful of bubble gum, ready to toss it out to lucky kids sitting nearby. Each piece impresses a lasting memory for some child, each autograph he signs creating a new favorite Shorebird player.

There’s something to be said for players who are friendly to fans. Perhaps it’s the way the pregame ritual works out, but relief pitchers seem to be the ones who are most likely to be available for autographs and Brent is generally quite willing to oblige.

What’s even more fun is seeing this sort of player succeed, and Brent has been on a great roll of late. Since the league’s All-Star break Allar has made five appearances (including a spot start Monday at Lakewood) and been pretty dominant, allowing just 1 earned run in 12 1/3 innings. Against Hickory on July 5th he blew through the Crawdads to the tune of 12 batters up, 12 batters down with seven strikeouts. Brent followed that up with five shutout innings and a victory in that start against Lakewood, allowing two hits and one walk.

The key has been control. Brent has always been able to feature a lively mid-90’s fastball, but not always been able to know where it’s going. In 156 minor league innings over 5 seasons, Brent has fanned over a batter per inning (172 total) but walked almost as many – 118 free passes, or nearly 7 per nine innings. In this stretch Brent has walked just 4, a much more acceptable ratio of about one per three innings. And cutting walks has enabled Brent to bring his ERA down from the upper-6 range to a more respectable 4.45 for the season.

Allar is quite familiar to Shorebird fans, as the 14th round pick in 2006 has spent three seasons here (most of 2007 and all of 2009 and 2010.) He is also the oldest active Shorebird player, as he turned 25 in March. Obviously the Texan and onetime TCU Horned Frog needs to keep turning in these performances to resurrect his career and advance upward in the system.

Brent definitely has a lot of fans hoping for that sort of success.

Shorebird of the Week – July 8, 2010

Loosening up before his June 16 start against Kannapolis, Luis Noel had no idea it would start a string of three victories in four starts.

It was just about this time two years ago that Luis Noel was my Shorebird of the Week – July 3, 2008 to be exact. And with the numbers he put up during that 2008 campaign for the Shorebirds (10-8, 3.96 in 27 appearances and starts for Delmarva) it was surprising that he didn’t move up to Frederick to begin 2009 – instead he ended up toiling back home in the Dominican Summer League.

Perhaps the issue was control – Noel allowed 73 walks in 138 2/3 Delmarva innings, or maybe he was worked a little excessively for a then-20 year old pitcher. Regardless of the reason, Noel put together a good enough season for the DSL Orioles to make his return to the Shorebirds in May, at a time where they needed stability in the pitching staff. Out of the five original members of the starting rotation, only one (Jesse Beal) has answered the bell each time his turn came up – others have been promoted, released, or missed time for various reasons.

In the second go-round for Delmarva, Luis has shown improvement over his previous tenure by cutting down on the walks while maintaining a pretty good strikeout pace (40 K’s/16 BB’s in 41 2/3 innings.) Going 4-2 over that 8-start span has already placed him among team leaders in victories, and a sparkling 8 inning performance (5 hits, 1 run on a solo home run, and 10 strikeouts without a walk) against Hickory on Tuesday was enough to give him the nod over other contenders for this week’s honor.

Since Luis was signed at the tender age of 18, the 22 year old is already in his fifth minor league season. Obviously the native of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic would like to advance farther up the system as Delmarva marks his high-water status to date, and if he can keep the walks down he has a chance to do just that.

Shorebird of the Week – July 1, 2010

The head shot of Jesse Beal was taken back at the start of the season, as was the picture below.

Jesse Beal started Delmarva's home opener on April 16 - unfortunately it wasn't one of his better outings.

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.

Shorebird of the Week – June 24, 2010

This is a very special edition of my Shorebird of the Week feature.

Since its inception to begin the 2006 season, each and every Thursday during the Shorebird season I have selected a player as my Shorebird of the Week. As I detailed Tuesday, I’ve selected a total of 90 players to be honored for a week on my site, with some players being honored twice over two seasons. With 22 players selected each season over the last four campaigns, I figured out the twelfth such selection this season would be the 100th Shorebird of the Week selected. Thus I wanted it to be special.

Over the 4 1/2 seasons I’ve done this, I’ve always selected players who were playing on the roster. But this year I have the opportunity to harken back on the team’s 15 year history and do something unprecedented.

An enjoyable part of Ryan Minor's job is to hand out various organization awards. Here Minor (right) presents the Orioles Pitcher of the Month award to Shorebird hurler Nathan Moreau.

Less than a year after Ryan Minor played here and helped lead the Shorebirds to their first SAL championship (in 1997, just their second year of existence) his rocket ride through the Orioles’ minor league system ended with a September callup. He’ll forever be known to Orioles fans as the player who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. in the lineup to end Ripken’s consecutive game streak.

Unfortunately his debut turned out to be the peak of his major league career and after two unsuccessful seasons in Baltimore and a trade to Montreal failed to resurrect his fortunes, Minor became a baseball nomad, cycling through three organizations (even trying his hand on the mound) and several independent league teams before finally calling it a playing career after the 2005 season.

Fast forward to 2008 when the Orioles game him a chance to return home as a coach for the Shorebirds, where he served under managers Ramon Sambo and Orlando Gomez before being handed the keys to the team for the 2010 season. While his 32-38 record as manager isn’t eyepopping, the more important test for his future managerial ambitions is how he develops the players for higher levels.

Yet with the situation at the big league club in flux, there’s always the possibility that Ryan’s move up the managerial chain could be as fast as it was when he played. Life could present the 36-year-old Minor a second chance at Orioles success if he wants to leave his adopted hometown to pursue it.

Tracking the Shorebirds 2010

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.

Delmarva to host 2011 SAL All-Star Game!

The placard revealed at last night's Shorebirds game.

Last night it was revealed that Delmarva will play host for the 2011 South Atlantic League All-Star Game after a 12-year hiatus.

Perdue will act as the presenting sponsor but this was billed as an opportunity for Delmarva to shine in the eyes of the baseball world. It will give local fans the chance to see a number of up-and-coming stars all on one field as the best of the Northern Division take on the cream of the Southern Division crop.

This also gives the region the chance to enjoy the atmosphere surrounding the game – although each year’s festivities are subject to change, this is some of what Greensboro is doing as host this year. Obviously opportunities abound for utilizing our location to also showcase Ocean City and Chesapeake Bay.

The game will also have a charitable aspect to it based on the sponsorship by Perdue and area food banks. I suppose that’s a natural fit given we may be the most rural of the league’s 14 cities.

So look for that big ‘Coming Soon’ sign in left field to be replaced by a large welcoming banner. Hopefully those involved will also make the effort to give the stadium a facelift for the game, making it befit the honor of playing host.

Shorebird of the Week – June 17, 2010

Kenny Moreland winds and deals during a start against Lakewood on May 31. It turned out to be his lone poor start thus far for Delmarva.

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.

Shorebird of the Week – June 10, 2010

Kieron Pope loosens up before stepping to the plate for the first time against Lakewood on May 28.

Kieron Pope surveys the defense against Lakewood on May 31.

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.

Shorebird of the Week – June 3, 2010

Nathan Moreau, taken during Lunch with the Players on April 18. He really was more awake than that, but the picture is what it is.

This April 21 outing began Moreau's bounce back from a hideous outing in our home opener.

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.