Orioles Proving Ground

It was a “.500” kind of week for Baltimore’s affiliates, as each of the teams detailed in this weekly installment won as much as they lost, with Bowie and Frederick even scoring the exact number of runs that they gave up. Frederick barely got any games in as they had to deal with a ton of rain and a couple of postponements/cancellations in the beginning of the week. Additionally, Norfolk used 16 different pitchers during the week, so no one really got a lot of innings. Feel free to use any of these fun facts as an ice breaker in the coming week.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-3 (W-L), 36 RS, 33 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-3, 22 RS, 22 RA

Frederick (High-A): 2-2, 18 RS, 18 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Brett Wallace– 8/23 (H/AB), 2 2B’s, 2 HR’s, 2 BB’s, 9 SO’s

The former top prospect has really been struggling at the plate this season, so it’s nice to see him put together a very productive week. The 9 strikeouts are still a little bothersome, but at least some of the power is starting to show up. Even though Wallace used to be a top prospect (the key phrase being “used to be”), fans shouldn’t expect much out of him, as he’s transitioned from prospect status to “organizational depth”.

Bowie (AA): OF Dariel Alvarez – 9/22, 2 HR’s, 0 BB’s, 2 SO’s

Alvarez has another strong week with the stick, bringing his 2014 line to .366/.379/.598. He seems to be allergic to taking a walk though (2 BB’s in 112 AB’s), which will limit his ability to adapt and contribute at the major league level. The lack of walks is a concern, but he seems to have good contact skills, as he’s only struck out 8 times this year. Don’t get your hopes up though as he’ll play all year at age 25, which at AA, is a little old to be dreaming on.

Frederick (High-A): OF Glynn Davis – 8/18, 2 2B’s, 2 BB’s, 4 SO’s

You can’t stop Glynn Davis, you can only hope to contain him.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Eddie Gamboa – 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 6 SO’s, 1 BB

The converted knuckleballer may have given up 6 hits in his one outing for the week, but he limited his walks (easier said than done when throwing a knuckleball), which helped him keep runs off the board. I haven’t seen Gamboa pitch since his conversion, but he’s showing a capacity to control the pitch (2.29 BB/9 IP in 2014), and could eventually help the major league team.

Bowie (AA): RHP Zach Davies – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 10 SO’s, 5 BB’s

Davies no doubt had a great outing this past week, but I had trouble putting him in this spot since he gave up 5 free passes. Only allowing 4 hits helped him limit the damage, although striking out 10 batters doesn’t hurt either.

Frederick (High-A): LHP Matt Taylor– 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 SO’s, 2 BB’s

Almost the exact same line Branden Kline put in the prior week, except without allowing a run.

The Bad:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Chris Marrero– 2/10, 5 SO’s

This is the second week in a row I have had nothing to say about the worst hitter in Norfolk. I hope it’s not the start of a trend.

Bowie (AA): C Michael Ohlman – 1/13, 4 BB’s, 3 SO’s

Ohlman shows up here again after another tough week, although on the plus side, he’s still drawing walks. I’d be interested to hear a scout’s opinion on Ohlman right now. Just based on the numbers, he looks to be overmatched at AA, and could benefit from some time back in Frederick.

Frederick (High-A): IF Tucker Nathans– 0/7, 1 BB, 2 SO’s

I hate to give Nathans the nod here since he only had 8 PA’s, but when you put a goose egg, it’s kind of hard to ignore it.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): LHP T.J. McFarland – 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 SO, 3 BB’s

Several candidates for this spot last week in Norfolk, but McFarland’s 3 walks compared to only 1 strikeout sealed the deal.

Bowie (AA): LHP Jake Pettit – 10.1 IP, 14 H, 5 R, 5 SO’s, 6 BB

Pettit’s ERA for the week (4.36) isn’t actually terrible, but the rest of his statistics are too close to what he put up last week, when his ERA was over 15. Something tells me that the only thing that changed from the previous week to last week was his luck.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Mychal Givens – 0.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 1 HR, 0 SO’s, 1 BB

Maybe, JUST MAYBE there’s a reasonable explanation for this. Unfortunately I wasn’t at the game, so I don’t have one for you. If this one appearance had been Givens’ only time on the mound this year, he’d have a 190.91 ERA (not a typo). Good thing for him, there’s still 4 months of baseball to be played.

This entry was posted on May 6, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags Brett Wallace, Chris Marrero, Dariel Alvarez, Eddie Gamboa, Glynn Davis, Jake Pettit, Matt Taylor, Michael Ohlman, Minor League Recap, Mychal Givens, T.J. McFarland, Tucker Nathans, Zach Davies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.