Orioles Proving Ground

We’re going to keep this Minor League Recap short and sweet, just like they used to be. For most of this season (leaving out the 6 weeks I took off from actually doing a recap), I’ve included a little blurb on every single player I’ve mentioned. It’s gotten to the point where some of it has just become nonsense, and as I admitted in last week’s installment, sometimes I simply just can’t think of anything instructive to say.

The Baltimore minor league affiliates had a week to forget. I think it’s safe to say that the hot streak of Norfolk Tides, which had cooled 2 weeks ago, is officially over as they only came away with one victory last week. Bowie was the only team that came away with AT LEAST a .500 record, but even that doesn’t look quite as good since they were outscored by 6 runs. None of these 3 teams are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but I would not hold out hope for a postseason appearance.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 1-5 (W-L), 16 RS, 30 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-3, 21 RS, 27 RA

Frederick (High-A): 2-4, 21 RS, 33 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Christian Walker – 11/23 (H/AB), 1 2B, 2 HR’s, 2 BB’s, 7 SO’s

All that success that Walker has had in AA this year has carried over to AAA as well. It’s a small sample size (88 AB’s), but so far he has a triple slash line of .307/.400/.511 in Norfolk. If he finishes the season strong, he could be seen as a pretty good prospect over the offseason, I’m not talk about top 100, but he looks like he will value to a major league ball club. Whether than club is the Baltimore Orioles remains to be seen.

Bowie (AA): OF Mike Yastrzemski – 7/26, 3 2B’s, 1 HR, 2 BB’s, 4 SO’s

Yastrzemski is another player who will likely find himself moving up the organization’s top 10 prospect list after a strong season where he has moved up several levels. He had himself another strong week.

Frederick (High-A): 1B Trey Mancini – 10/25, 3 2B’s, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO’s

Jason Esposito has really come on over the past few weeks, and he had another strong performance last week. But Mancini outperformed everyone on the Frederick roster.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Mike Wright – 12.2 IP, 14 H, 6 R, 3 SO’s, 2 BB’s

Wright’s line doesn’t look that great, but only 3 of his runs were earned. Still the fact that he allowed 14 hits and only struck out 3 batters in 12.2 innings shows that no one on the Tides’ staff had an outstanding week.

Bowie (AA): RHP Oliver Drake – 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 7 SO’s, 1 BB

Apologies to Tim Berry, who had two really good starts last week, but Oliver Drake was pretty nasty.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Dylan Bundy – 4.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 7 SO’s, 0 BB’s

After striking out only one batter in each of his last 3 starts, the strikeouts returned in force last week as Bundy put down 7 batters in only 4.1 innings. That HAS to make you feel good.

The Bad:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): C Brian Ward – 0/8

I like Ward. He’s a good guy who plays excellent defense behind the plate. He took the collar last week though so there is nothing I can do about putting him here. Maybe he was unlucky though. He put the ball in play during every plate appearance, so maybe those balls just happened to find some gloves this week.

Bowie (AA): SS Sharlon Schoop – 2/9, 0 BB’s, 4 SO’s

Sharlon’s batting line this year is similar to his brother Jonathan’s. The only difference is that Sharlon isn’t hitting at the AA level, where as Jonathan’s not hitting at the major league level.

Frederick (High-A): OF John Ruettiger – 4/21, 1 2B, 0 BB’s, 3 SO’s

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Suk-min Yoon – 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 2 SO’s, 4 BB’s

I don’t think the signing of Yoon has worked out exactly as planned…although he hasn’t exactly been needed in Baltimore either.

Bowie (AA): RHP Julio DePaula – 2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 SO’s, 3 BB’s

DePaula wasn’t the only pitcher in Bowie to have a terrible week. Anthony Vasquez gave up 8 earned runs in only 4 innings pitched. However, Vasquez didn’t walk anybody.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Parker Bridwell – 4 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 SO’s, 2 BB’s, 1 HR

Only 5 of Bridwell’s runs were earned, but that doesn’t really make his week that much better.

Transactions

This entry was posted on August 13, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags Brian Ward, Christian Walker, Dylan Bundy, John Ruettiger, Julio DePaula, Mike Wright, Mike Yastrzemski, Minor League Recap, Oliver Drake, Parker Bridwell, Sharlon Schoop, Suk-min Yoon, Trey Mancini. 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.