Minor League Recap: April 7-April 13
First, apologies for the minor league update coming to you a day late. No excuses from me, so I won’t tell you some intricate story how the cat knocked over a glass of cranberry juice (no, it was beer, yeah that’s what it was!) just as I was about to hit the post button. Better late than never, right? Also, as an FYI, I can already tell you that it’s going to be AT LEAST a day late next week too.
Other than it being a pretty tough week for all 3 affiliates, I don’t have much more to say, so let’s get right to it.
Weekly Summary
Norfolk (AAA): 2-4 (W-L), 25 RS, 32 RA
Bowie (AA): 3-4, 25 RS, 27 RA
Frederick (High-A): 1-5, 18 RS, 35 RA
The Good:
Hitters
Norfolk (AAA): OF Julio Borbon – 7/21 (H/AB), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB’s, 5 SO’s
Borbon was picked up by the Orioles in the minor league portion of this past winter’s Rule 5 draft, giving them some much needed outfield depth in AAA after losing Xavier Avery and L.J. Hoes in two separate trades. Probably the most impressive line from Borbon’s week is the fact that he walked 7 times (career 5.7% walk rate in more than 850 major league PA’s).
Bowie (AA): 2B Buck Britton – 10/29, 1 2B, 2 HR’s, 3 BB’s, 0 SO’s
Frederick (High-A): OF Glynn Davis – 13/27, 2 2B’s, 1 3B, 0 BB’s, 8 SO’s
This is now two weeks in a row that I’ve given Davis the prestigious award of Orioles Proving Ground Frederick Keys offensive player of the week (I’m sure his parents are so thrilled, that both of these posts are hanging up on their refrigerator at home). Davis has indeed gotten off to a great start in 2014, hitting close to .500 after the first two weeks. However, he’s done this while also striking out a total of 14 times compared to only 2 walks. He will come back to earth eventually, and it may be a hard fall when he does.
Pitchers
Norfolk (AAA): RHP Eddie Gamboa – 8 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 8 SO’s, 2 BB’s
The knuckleballer threw 8 effective innings last week over 2 appearances to turn in the best performance of the Norfolk pitching staff. The most promising thing about his line isn’t the strikeout per inning, but the fact that he only issued 2 walks. If he can harness the knuckleball, the Orioles may have themselves some more pitching depth that will give opposing teams a much different look.
Bowie (AA): LHP Tim Berry – 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 5 SO’s, 2 BB’s
Not a great outing from Berry this week, but arguably the best of a mediocre bunch. Berry joins Davis (above) as repeat winners to begin the young season, resulting (I imagine) in passive aggressive emails being sent by each players’ parents discussing which one of them holds the crown of best Orioles farmhand of 2014.
Frederick (High-A): RHP Mychal Givens – 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 7 SO’s, 1 BB
Givens was originally selected by the Orioles in the second round of the 2009 draft as a shortstop and never really progressed much in that spot. Baltimore moved him to the mound last year to try and get some value out of him and as Jon Shepherd of Camden Depot tweeted yesterday, the idea to do that wasn’t some sort of “it’s just so crazy it may work” idea.
Before his senior year, Mychal Givens was a potential top 15 pick as a SP by ESPN’s Keith Law. He did not develop on that trajectory.
— Camden Depot (@CamdenDepot) April 15, 2014
He walked more than 4 batters per 9 innings in almost 43 IP last year, so there is plenty of work to be done. Having said that, Givens had an excellent week on the mound and the one run he did manage to give up happened to be unearned.
The Bad:
Hitters
Norfolk (AAA): 2B Alexi Casilla – 1/19, 2 BB’s, 7 SO’s
Ouch. At least Casilla walked twice.
Bowie (AA): 1B Christian Walker – 6/29, 0 BB’s, 7 SO’s
Walker did not have a terrible week by any means, but I didn’t think anyone else on the Bowie roster was noticeably worse. He could have helped his case a little bit if he would have worked a walk or two in there.
Frederick (High-A): OF Trent Mummey – 1/13, 1 BB, 6 SO’s
A rough week for Mummey got even rougher yesterday when the following announcement was made.
Os announce roster moves at High-A Frederick incl release of OF Trent Mummey, 4thrd pick in 2010 who had promise but couldn’t stay healthy
— Dan Connolly (@danconnollysun) April 15, 2014
On the plus side, he won’t be showing up in the “Bad” section of the Orioles Proving Ground Minor League Recap anymore.
Pitchers
Norfolk (AAA): RHP Suk-min Yoon – 6.2 IP, 17 H, 12 R, 4 SO’s, 5 BB’s, 1 HR
Yoon easily had the worst week of anyone on the Tides pitching staff last week, and it’s a wonder how he pitched that badly and still worked so many innings. I can only guess that they’re trying to stretch him out to see if he could actually contribute as a starter. Yoon got a late start to his season and it’s still very early, so there isn’t any need to get worried about him yet, but it would be for the best if the organization doesn’t see too many more weeks like this on his minor league resume, let alone his major league one.
Bowie (AA): LHP Jake Pettit – 10 IP, 16 H, 8 R, 7 SO’s, 3 BB’s, 1 HR
Averaging almost 2 baserunners per inning has the potential to lead to a lot of runs being scored. That is all.
Frederick (High-A): RHP Miguel Chalas – 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 SO, 3 BB’s
Let’s focus on the positives of Miguel Chalas’ one appearance from last week. First of all, there have been worse innings thrown by a pitcher in the history of baseball. Second, it’s actually kind of impressive that he allowed 6 runners to reach base in the inning, yet only let 3 of them score.
Orioles Proving Ground 
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