It wasn't all that long ago that major league baseball teams didn't use promising pitchers as relievers in the minor leagues; major league relief pitchers were typically converted minor league starters.  While that's still true to some degree--many major league relief pitchers were starting pitchers for most of their professional careers until they were moved to the bullpen--the philosophy surrounding the development of relievers has been altered at least somewhat.  Most, if not all, major league clubs today do in fact attempt to develop some relievers, pitchers regarded as legitimate big league prospects, by using them in that role in the minor leagues.  While most pitchers at least begin their pro careers as starters, more and more are being moved to the bullpen within a year or two after signing professional contracts and some are placed in the bullpen immediately.

And so it is with the Orioles, who have carved out developmental roles for short relievers all the way down to the low-A level.

The point of this column isn't to debate the wisdom of this approach.  In fact, it has been debated at great length essentially ever since the specialization of pitching roles at the major league level became de rigueur a couple of decades ago or more.

No, the point of this piece is to focus on four such individuals in the Orioles' system who are, to a greater or lesser extent, setting their respective leagues on their ear.

The most highly touted of the four is Bowie's Chris Ray.  Ray (23), a third round pick in the 2003 draft out of William & Mary is in his second full year of pro ball and had been used almost exclusively as a starter over his first year-plus in the Orioles organization.  And he had performed pretty well.  But the Birds moved him to the pen at the start of this season where he has simply been lights out:

26 G, 31.2 IP, 13 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 HR, 6 BB, 37 SO, .125 Opp BA, 0 WP, 1-2, 15 SV, 1.14 ERA

There's dominating and then there's what Chris Ray has done to the Eastern League so far. If he keeps this up for another month, he should definitely be promoted, at least to Ottawa, but if there's a pressing need, Baltimore.  The sample here is still relatively limited (114 batters faced this season), which is one of the relatively difficult things about assessing the performance of relievers in general, but Ray has owned the league up to this point.  Another month of this and it will be hard to draw any conclusion other than that he has nothing left to prove at this level.

Ray's teammate, Sendy Rleal, has been almost as impressive.  Both pitchers are right-handed.  Rleal is older than Ray (24--he turns 25 later this month), and is in his sixth full pro season.  A free agent signee from the Dominican Republic, Rleal was moved to the bullpen at Delmarva in 2002 after a couple of pretty good years as a starter.  Things began to come together for him in the bullpen in 2003 at Frederick and he was even better at Bowie in 2004.  I was somewhat surprised that he didn't begin 2005 at Triple-A Ottawa, but Rleal hasn't sulked after being assigned to Bowie again this season.

24 G, 30.1 IP, 18 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 HR, 9 BB, 31 SO, .180 Opp BA, 1 WP, 2-2, 2 SV, 1.78 ERA

Rleal is right behind Ray in terms of effectiveness and also stands to be promoted if he keeps this up.  Rleal's lone blemish over the past couple of seasons has been home runs allowed--15 in 104.1 IP in 2003-04.  Thus far this season, he seems to have overcome that problem.

At Frederick, right-hander Chris Britton is doing his best Chris Ray impression.  High schooler Britton (22) was chosen in the 8th round of the 2001 draft and this is only his second year with a full-season team after missing all of 2003 due to injury.  He was moved to the bullpen during the 2004 season at Delmarva and showed promise.  Thus far this season, Britton has opened many eyes with the following performance:

21 G, 39.1 IP, 22 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 HR, 15 BB, 56 SO, .163 Opp BA, 1 WP, 4-0, 2 SV, 1.60 ERA

The walks are a bit higher than one would like--nothing grotesque, but worthy of mention.  However, Britton has been almost as unhittable as Ray.  Note the strikeouts; nearly 1.5 per inning. Here's another guy who's just laying waste to the league he's playing in.

Delmarva's got a relief king too and his name is David Haehnel.  Haehnel, was selected in the 8th round last year out of UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago) and tossed 28 brilliant games out of the bullpen for short season Aberdeen, fanning nearly 15 batters per nine innings and allowing less than a baserunner an inning.  Haehnel hasn't skipped a beat for the Shorebirds this season:

24 G, 29.2 IP, 14 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 8 BB, 32 SO, .141 Opp BA, 2 WP, 1-1, 14 SV, 0.61 ERA

Last night, Haehnel allowed his first home run of the year and just his second run overall.

If in a month or so all of the above is more or less continuing, perhaps the Orioles should simply bump everyone up.  Ray can move to the big club; Rleal can show what he can to at Ottawa.  Britton would proceed to Bowie and Haehnel to Frederick.  These certainly would be merit promotions.

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