Orioles Proving Ground

Last week, we saw the Orioles call up top pitching prospect Kevin Gausman for a spot start against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. It was an unexpected and curious move, especially since that Gausman would be pitching on short rest and it was only his second start after spending time on the disabled list with a bout of pneumonia. Long story short, Gausman’s start for the Orioles did not go well, and he was sent back down to Norfolk the following day. What’s even more baffling is that on the day of Gausman’s start, Miguel Gonzalez was available out of the bullpen for long relief, if needed (he was). This raises the questions that if Gonzalez was available for long relief, why wasn’t he available to start? I don’t think I’ve seen a reasonable explanation for his call-up, and even if there was, it doesn’t seem like a sound decision.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-4 (W-L), 37 RS, 48 RA

Bowie (AA): 4-2, 26 RS, 17 RA

Frederick (High-A): 4-3, 45 RS, 28 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Brett Wallace – 11/27 (H/AB), 1 2B, 3 HR’s, 5 BB’s, 6 SO’s

It was a banner week for Wallace as he continues to hit the ball well after a slow start to the season. The 3 home runs during the week are certainly impressive, but it’s also nice to see him walk about as much as struck out.

Bowie (AA): 1B Christian Walker – 11/24, 3 2B’s, 2 HR’s, 2 BB, 5 SO’s

Yeah, Walker definitely had the best week out of the Bowie hitters, but I want to note that Michael Ohlman gave him a run for his money (7/19 with 2 doubles and a home run). This has been the first week that Ohlman has actually produced with the bat, so as one of the more highly regarded prospects in the organization, this is definitely a good sign.

Frederick (High-A): OF Michael Burgess – 11/26, 4 2B’s, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO’s

There were a lot of good performances this week for Frederick, which included some guys who usually show up on the wrong end of the recap producing with the bat for a change. At 11/26, Burgess didn’t even sport the best average of the week, but he combined that effort with the most power out of anyone, with over half of his hits going for extra bases.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Brad Brach – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 SO’s, 0 BB’s

I don’t know if it was due specifically to how he pitched last week, but after the solid effort in Norfolk, Brach was rewarded with a trip to Baltimore to join the big league bullpen. Since his recall to Baltimore, he has pitched a scoreless inning, which lowered his 2014 ERA from 16.20 to 10.12. And anytime you can lower your ERA more than 6 runs in one outing, I’d say that’s a pretty good day.

Bowie (AA): LHP Tim Berry – 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 5 SO’s, 1 BB

Bowie also got some good performances from Anthony Vasquez and Oliver Drake (who struck out 5 of 6 batters faced), but I think Berry had the best overall week. Although he’s had a couple of bad starts here and there, Berry has been putting together a solid season, and he continues to look like he may be a contributor to the back end of the major league rotation in 2016.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Gene Escat – 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 10 SO’s, 2 BB’s

Frederick RHP Parker Bridwell named Carolina Lg pitcher of week after taking no-hitter into 9th last Tuesday. O’s No. 19 prospect.

— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) May 19, 2014

Parker Bridwell got all of the attention this week in Frederick for getting within 2 outs of completing a no hitter, but Escat was better in my opinion, with 2 more strikeouts coming in 1.1 fewer innings pitched.

The Bad:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): C Johnny Monell – 0/15, 0 BB’s, 3 SO’s

Monell wore the 0 for 15 collar last week and that’s never fun. However, with only 3 of those at bats ending strikeouts, it doesn’t sound like he was completely lost at the plate, so he may be able to chalk it up to a bit of bad luck.

Bowie (AA): OF Chih-Hsien Chiang – 1/10, 0 BB’s, 3 SO’s

If you care about RBI’s, Chiang’s one hit of the week did drive in a run. Unfortunately for Chiang, I don’t care about RBI’s. Fortunately for Chiang, I am 100% positive that he doesn’t care what I think.

Frederick (High-A): SS Adrian Marin – 3/23, 5 SO’s

As I stated above, it was a good week for Frederick’s offense, as they averaged almost 6.5 runs per game. As difficult as it was to pick someone who had the best week, it was equally as easy to choose Marin for the worst week.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Brock Huntzinger – 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 SO’s, 4 BB’s, 2 HR’s

For the record, 1 of Huntzinger’s runs was unearned. On a semi-related note, did you know that the Orioles signed Heath Bell to a minor league contract? He was assigned to Norfolk and pitched a scoreless inning. I’ll have more on him later this week.

Bowie (AA): RHP Juan Morillo – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 SO’s, 2 BB’s

The Baysox pitched very well this week, only allowing 17 runs, so even though Morillo didn’t pitch all that badly, I HAVE to pick someone. After all, rules are rules. It came down between Morillo and Louis Ayala and Morillo won (lost?) the coin toss.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Matt Hauser – 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 7 SO’s, 4 BB’s, 1 HR

Did you know that the Frederick Keys roster has 4 “Matt’s” on their roster, and they’re all pitchers? That’s way too many “Matt’s” in my opinion.

Transactions

This entry was posted on May 20, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags Adrian Marin, Brad Brach, Brett Wallace, Brock Huntzinger, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Christian Walker, Gene Escat, Johnny Monell, Juan Morillo, Matt Hauser, Michael Burgess, Minor League Recap, Parker Bridwell, Tim Berry. 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.