Orioles Proving Ground

The Orioles are in first place by a healthy margin (the HEALTHIEST in all of baseball), but there was still a legitimate reason for fans to freak out last week.

Dylan Bundy placed on DL in minors with lat strain, could be done for year http://t.co/KzCCKz2Itr

— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) August 15, 2014

But you can relax, because he was injured while running and it had nothing to do with his throwing arm.

Dylan Bundy has a strained latissimus muscle and is going on the Frederick DL. Happened while running in the OF. — Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) August 14, 2014

This injury will shut him down for the rest of the year, and that is not a bad idea. There is only a couple of weeks left in the minor league innings anyway, and in the best case scenario (and even this would have been highly unlikely), Bundy would have been pitching out of the Baltimore bullpen late in the season. Baltimore’s bullpen is excellent, and their least effective relievers are out of options, so taking this option off the table may even be a good thing. The next step for Bundy will be to rest and pitch some innings in the Arizona Fall League in October (provided he’s physically cleared to pitch). Hopefully he’ll be 100% ready to go when spring training begins in March.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 4-3 (W-L), 22 RS, 20 RA

Bowie (AA): 4-2, 35 RS, 24 RA

Frederick (High-A): 4-2, 25 RS, 16 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): OF Dariel Alvarez – 9/28 (H/AB), 4 2B’s, 1 BB, 7 SO’s

Not a single hitter clubbed a home run for Norfolk last week, which is probably the first time that this happened all year, but I’m not going to go back and check, so don’t quote me on that. I thought Alvarez deserved an extra bonus point for drawing a single walk. I probably shouldn’t have, but at this point it’s as rare as a unicorn sighting.

Bowie (AA): OF Chris Marrero – 5/17, 1 2B, 2 HR’s, 3 BB’s, 3 SO’s

Marrero has not been having a good year, as I have been documenting the last couple of weeks, but last week he was pretty good. One good week late in the season though doesn’t really help the overall stat line when the season has been this bad.

Frederick (High-A): 2B Tucker Nathans – 7/20, 1 2B, 2 HR’s, 2 BB’s, 2 SO’s

Tucker Nathans had one home run the entire season prior to August 11. Last week he somehow hit 2. Baseball is weird sometimes.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Mike Wright – 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 6 SO’s, 0 BB’s

Wright takes the top spot two weeks in a row! The preseason #5, 6, or 7 prospect in the Orioles organization (depending on who you ask) has really struggled this season. However, since giving up 6 earned runs against Rochester on July 20, he’s only given up 5 earned runs in 32 innings pitched, lowering his season ERA by almost 1.5 runs. The fact that it currently sits at 5.16 tells you how bad he was before that. Hopefully he’ll continue to pitch effectively to finish out the season, which will help instill confidence with not only himself, but with the organization as well.

Bowie (AA): RHP Zach Davies – 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 9 SO’s, 1 BB, 1 HR

Davies had an excellent week, striking out 9 batters in 6 innings, while only issuing one walk. He made one mistake, which I’m assuming was the pitch he threw to give up that solo homerun. It was the only run he gave up during his outing.

Frederick (High-A): RHP Gene Escat – 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 6 SO’s, 2 BB’s

The only run Escat gave up this week was unearned and I am certainly a fan of the 6 strikeouts in 3.2 innings. I’m not a fan of the 2 walks though, and it nearly cost him the selection.

The Bad:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Christian Walker – 4/24, 2 BB’s, 8 SO’s

Joe Reisal had a good piece on Walker at Camden Depot this past weekend. He’s had a much better season this year than many thought he would. This one stinker of a week won’t keep him from shooting up organizational prospect lists this offseason.

Bowie (AA): SS Sharlon Schoop – 1/9, 0 BB’s, 2 SO’s

Schoop continues to remind us that he’s not his younger brother.

Frederick (High-A): 3B Jason Esposito – 4/22, 2 2B’s, 0 BB’s, 5 SO’s

This weekly line from Esposito is more like what we have seen from him earlier (and most of) this year, but his recent hot streak (which is probably over) has helped make his season merely disappointing rather than downright terrible. Here’s hoping he gets hot again for these last few weeks and finished the season on a high note.

Pitchers

Norfolk (AAA): RHP Steve Johnson – 5 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 1 SO, 7 BB’s, 2 HR’s

Johnson was one of the unsung heroes in Baltimore’s march to the playoffs in 2012, but he struggled with a right shoulder injury in 2013 (along with an abdomen injury). It’s been another season to forget for Johnson, as he has been sidelined with another right shoulder injury for much of the year, and when he has pitched, it hasn’t been pretty (last week was obviously no different). He’s more than likely ready for this season to end so he can work on returning next year at full strength.

Bowie (AA): RHP Matt Bischoff – 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 SO’s, 5 BB’s

This was a toss up between Bischoff and Marcel Prado. Literally. I flipped a coin.

Frederick (High-A): LHP Matt Taylor – 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 SO, 2 BB’s, 1 HR

Taylor was the worst of the worst in Frederick this week. Notice it’s not even THAT bad. That will happen when your pitching staff only gives up 16 runs in 6 games.

Transactions

8/11/2014	RHP Patrick Connaughton promoted to High-A
8/11/2014	RHP Patrick Connaughton (High-A) placed on inactive list
8/13/2014	3B Cord Phelps contract purchased by Orioles
8/13/2014	RHP Ramon Ramirez placed on 7-day DL
8/13/2014	2B Alexi Casilla (AAA) activated from DL
8/14/2014	RHP Branden Kline promoted to High-A
8/14/2014	RHP Dylan Bundy (High-A) placed on 7-day DL
8/14/2014	C Pedro Perez (High-A) activated from DL
8/15/2014	2B Jemile Weeks (AAA) sent to GCL on rehab assignment
8/15/2014	RHP Miguel Gonzalez demoted to AA
8/15/2014	LHP Jake Pettit placed on 7-day DL

This entry was posted on August 19, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags Chris Marrero, Christian Walker, Dariel Alvarez, Dylan Bundy, Gene Escat, Jason Esposito, Matt Bischoff, Matt Taylor, Mike Wright, Minor League Recap, Sharlon Schoop, Steve Johnson, 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.