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Minor League Recap: August 4-August 10

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

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 Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: July 28-August 3

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

There hasn’t been too much to report on last week in the minor leagues. Oh wait, there was a trade that happened, and there seemed to be a lot of people that didn’t appreciate my take on it. Other than that, the Norfolk Tides cooled off a bit after an extremely hot 3 weeks and we saw some position player pitching in Norfolk, as third baseman Cord Phelps took the mound in extra innings on July 31 against Toledo. Phelps didn’t last long, pitching 0.1 innings, while giving up two hits and the game-winning run. The fact that the game ended quickly after Phelps entered the game was probably for the best.

Norfolk also saw the additions of Ubaldo Jimenez and Ryan Webb to the Norfolk roster, as Jimenez was there for a rehab assignment (he won’t be there long), while Webb was designated off the 25-man roster (similar to being optioned and different from being designated off the 40-man roster – it’s confusing I know, so you can read more about it HERE). I don’t understand the move by the Orioles to send Webb to AAA, as he has been their third best reliever this year, only slightly less valuable than Darren O’Day. It puzzled me enough that I went on a mini-twitter rant about it the other day. Continue reading →

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Orioles Give Up Too Much for Andrew Miller

Posted in Pitching, Trades with tags , , , , , , on August 1, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

One of the busiest trade deadlines that I can remember is now over and the Orioles came out of it with one move.  Similar to (one of) their deals at the 2013 trade deadline, Baltimore traded one of it’s more highly regarded prospects for 2 months of a reliever, sending LHP Eduardo Rodriguez to the Boston Red Sox for left handed reliever Andrew Miller.  It’s not a strategy I typically like, although Miller has been one of the most valuable relievers in all of baseball this year.  Today over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I give my taken the Rodriguez /Miller swap.

Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Give Up Too Much for Andrew Miller

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Orioles Should Try to Acquire Justin Masterson

Posted in Pitching, Trades with tags , , on July 30, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

It’s July 30, and that means more trade talk.  Despite being in the playoff hunt, the Cleveland Indians have not only made Justin Masterson available, but they seem “very willing” to deal him.  Even though he’s having the worst season of his career and is currently on the disabled list (right knee inflammation), I think he would be an excellent fit for the Baltimore Orioles to try and acquire before the trade deadline.  So head over to ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog, Camden Depot and find out why.

Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Should Try to Acquire Justin Masterson

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Minor League Recap: July 21-July 27

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

The Norfolk Tides are the talk of baseball!

Ok, they aren’t really, but the exclamation points make you think they are. Actually, going 15-3 over an 18 game stretch is pretty impressive, and that hot streak has now brought them up to 8 games below .500, 7.5 games behind the division leading Durham Bulls. Wait, 8 games BELOW .500? After going 15-3 over their last 18 games? Yeah, they’re not a good team. Considering they’re 10 games out of the wild card as well, I’d hold off on printing those playoff tickets.

In “you can stop panicking” news, Dylan Bundy threw 6 scoreless innings last week to bring his ERA at Frederick DOWN to 6.11. He gave up 3 hits and walked to in his outing, but he only struck out one batter (if that actually made you panic more, then…sorry). Continue reading →

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Zach Britton on Pace to (Probably) Make History

Posted in Pitching with tags , , , , , on July 25, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Orioles closer Zach Britton was once part of the team’s “cavalry” of starting pitching prospects that included Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, and to a lesser extent Brandon Erbe and Brad Bergesen. #Blessed with an above average sinking fastball and slider (along with an average change-up), Britton was generally considered the 2nd or 3rd best prospect of the group, depending on who was asked, and he topped out as Keith Law’s #11 overall prospect in his 2011 rankings for ESPN (ESPN Insider required and recommended). Here’s a snippet of what Law had to say:

“There’s at least strong No. 2 starter potential here, but better command would give him more ceiling than that.”

Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: July 14-July 20

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

It’s been a while since the last minor league recap (almost two months!), but I can promise you that I have some really good excuses. The first excuse is that I was out of country on my honeymoon. Yes, it’s true that I have been married for a little while now (apologies to all of those single ladies who read this blog on a regular basis, I know there are a lot of you), but we hadn’t had the opportunity to go on one until this past June. I was then tied up with my actual job that pays me way more money than I get for operating this site, so, you know, priorities. I had thought about doing one giant minor league update, but quickly reconsidered when I realized just how much work that would entail. So I decided it was best just to not cover the last 6 weeks of Orioles minor league baseball. Let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.

In actual Orioles minor league baseball news, the big story of last week was the promotions of 1B Christian Walker and recent Futures Game representative OF Dariel Alvarez to AAA, as well as the promotion of OF Mike Yastrzemski to AA. That’s great news for them, as they’re one step closer to their major league dreams. But don’t go thinking that they’re actual prospects all of a sudden. With the respective All-Star games last week, it was a short one, so let’s get on to the recap… Continue reading →

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Orioles Starting Rotation (Still) Needs Improvement

Posted in Pitching, Trades with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on July 1, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

After a long vacation that didn’t involve any baseball, I’m back with my first post since early June.  Today at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I take a look at a very familiar topic that has seemed to pop up during the trade deadline and the offseason ever since I started writing about the team.  Writing about upgrading Baltimore’s starting rotation is quickly becoming a bi-annual tradition, where the names change, but the statistics stay the same.  Take a look at the article to see who I suggest they go after this time.

Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Starting Rotation (Still) Needs Improvement

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Minor League Recap: May 26-June 1

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Ain’t nobody got time for an in depth minor league recap this week, so let’s get right to it.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-5 (W-L), 29 RS, 33 RA

Bowie (AA): 2-5, 28 RS, 45 RA

Frederick (High-A): 4-3, 36 RS, 29 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): OF Julio Borbon– 7/23 (H/AB), 2 3B’s, 1 HR, 2 BB’s, 4 SO’s

The speedster showed some unusual power this week, hitting 2 triples and a home run. How unusual is it to hit 2 triples in one week? I don’t know, you shouldn’t depend on me to figure everything out for you. Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: May 19-May 25

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

If you’re reading this, then you already know…the minor league recap is a day late this week. Blame it on the holiday weekend, where my time was spent doing really important things that didn’t involve baseball. Don’t believe me? I didn’t even know that the Orioles traded for Nick Hundley until he made that throwing error against the Brewers in the bottom of the 9th inning on Monday night (I started watching the game only a couple of minutes before that). I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. In other news this week, the talents of Heath Bell were on display in Norfolk this past week. We looked at what the Orioles may expect from him last week. Obviously it’s only been a week (small sample alert), but the results in AAA have been worse than expected, as he gave up 4 earned runs in 3.2 innings, giving up 7 hits while walking 4. Yet somehow, he didn’t have the worst performance by a Norfolk pitcher.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-3 (W-L), 43 RS, 28 RA

Bowie (AA): 5-2, 44 RS, 33 RA

Frederick (High-A): 1-5, 16 RS, 25 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): OF Quintin Berry – 8/21 (H/AB), 2 2B’s, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 BB’s, 3 SO’s

Berry had such a good week that he was named International League Player of the Week…

Wait, he wasn’t? I think the voters got that one wrong. Peguero had a great week and was very deserving of “my” award, but I think Berry was slightly better by hitting for slightly more power (Peguero’s extra base hits consisted of 3 doubles) and walking twice, compared to Peguero’s zero walks. So if Peguero makes fun of Berry for NOT winning the International League Player of the Week award last week (which I’m sure will happen if it hasn’t already), Berry can point to this blog post and reply with a witty comment.* Continue reading →

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