MINOR LEAGUE REPORT, MAY 4, 2005
We're roughly a month into the minor league season and there are some bright spots in the Orioles' organization worthy of mention. As has become customary, virtually all of the players of legitimate note are pitchers. Only a handful of Orioles position player prospects--distinguished from statistically impressive performances by journeymen minor leaguers--are demonstrating real promise. But a significant number of pitchers are performing well. Let's take a peek around the organization.
Note: stats through games of May 3
Ottawa (15-8): the Lynx lead the International League's North Division. Walter Young is still hitting for average (.360) but has hit only two home runs and has drawn only four unintentional walks in 90-odd plate appearances. Young's Isolated Power mark is a pedestrian .152. If you check the Ottawa stats you'll see one line pop out at you. Someone named "Freire" is hitting .374 with a .634 slugging percentage. Who is this phenom? Alejandro Freire, is his name. Before you get too excited, he's 30 years old and has been kicking around pro ball since 1992. He had played all of 45 games at the AAA level prior to this season. He's a right-handed bat, and I suppose at some point if the Orioles want to try and catch lightning in a bottle a recall is at least a theoretical possibility, but this is not a prospect we're talking about. Another AAAA player, Bobby Darula (an outfielder most recently of the Reds organization) is another 30-year-old who's never reached the big leagues. Darula's hitting .339, but it's pretty empty (only two extra base hits and three walks in 70-odd plate appearances). Bernie Castro (23), late of the Padres' organization, is hitting .333 with an .839 OPS at second base, but we're talking about someone with a career minor league ISO of .062. This year Castro popped his fourth career professional home run. Journeyman catcher Sal Fasano (33) is hitting .323 and slugging .710 (3 2B, 3 HR) in 10 games. "Prospect" catcher Eli Whiteside (25), the O's 6th round draft choice in 2001, his hitting .294 with eight extra base hits (2 HR) in 15 games, but hasn't drawn a single walk. Some of the usual suspects are up to their typical tricks; Keith Reed, for instance, has drawn one walk in 21 games. Ramon Nivar, acquired from Texas in the Matt Riley deal, has appeared in seven games and reached base four times; his OPS in limited action is .285 and he has more errors (2) than walks (1).
On the pitching end of things, John Maine is undoubtedly the most relevant performer. After a so-so start, Maine has begun to click. In four starts (19.2 IP), Maine has allowed 17 hits (two homers), walked eight and fanned 16. His ERA stands at 3.20. Eddy Rodriguez (23), has a decent ERA (3.38) in nine games (10.2 IP), but has walked nine while fanning seven. Jacobo Sequea (23) has allowed only eight baserunners (seven hits, one walk) in 9.1 innings, but has fanned, astonishingly, only one batter. Aaron Rakers (28) has allowed 14 hits and two walks while fanning 15 in 13 innings. Journeymen starters James Baldwin and Dave Borkowski have been serviceable (five starts apiece). Journeyman reliever Tim Byrdak (who appeared in 48 big league games with the Royals from 1998 to 2000) has been extremely effective (11 baserunners, 12 Ks in 11.2 IP), but epitomizes what is largely the Quadruple-A nature of this unit.
Bowie (11-14): the Baysox have the worst record of all the minor league clubs. There's little worth mentioning on the position player side of the equation. The team has hit a total of nine home runs in 25 games while committing 27 errors. The club has scored only 95 runs. Catcher Octavio Martinez (25), who was considered a hot prospect five or six years ago, is hitting .351 with five extra base hits, but has appeared in only 11 games. Journeyman outfielder Eugene Kingsale is hitting .309. 3B Tripper Johnson (23) continues his irregular journey through the Orioles minor league system by hitting .284 but has an OBP of just .326 and a SLG of .395. There's nothing else really worth discussing.
The pitching is a different matter. The staff ERA is 3.08, third best in the Eastern League (which has certainly been a pitcher's league thus far), but regardless of the league-wide trend, this has been an impressive unit. The club is fanning better than a man an inning and is holding its opponents to the lowest batting average in the league. The team has allowed a shade higher than three walks per nine innings. The starters have been, as a group, outstanding. Discussion begins with Hayden Penn (20) who has been phenomenal. After a rocky session at Bowie after being promoted mid-season from Frederick last year, the team's fifth round selection in the 2002 draft had adjusted and then some. In five starts (29 IP), Penn has allowed 21 hits (no home runs) and six walks while fanning 40. His ERA is 1.55. Brian Forystek (26) has been almost as good statistically. After an awful 2004 split between Ottawa and Bowie (he was demoted from the former to the latter), Forystek has been an entirely different pitcher in the early going in 2005. In five starts (26.1 IP), he's allowed 20 hits (four home runs, however) and nine walks while striking out 29. His ERA is 2.05. Matt Bruback, in 25.1 innings, has allowed 17 hits (2 HRs) and walked eight while striking out 25. His ERA is 2.49. Cory Morris (25) has allowed 14 hits (four HRs) and 11 walks while fanning 22 in 22.1 IP while posting a 3.22 ERA. Journeyman Eric DuBose has allowed 14 baserunners in 18 innings (18 strikeouts) in three starts. The bullpen trio of Scott Rice, Chris Ray and Sendy Rleal has been at least as tough as the starters. Rice (23, a first round pick in 1999) has allowed 10 hits and two walks while fanning six in 12.1 IP. He hasn't allowed an earned run. Ray (23), a third round choice in 2003, split last season between Delmarva and Frederick. This year he's filling the closer's role at Bowie and has six saves. In 10 appearances covering 12.1 innings Ray has surrendered just five hits (one HR) and walked three while fanning 12. His ERA is 0.73. Rleal (24) did a fine job at Bowie last season and is probably going to be the first of this triumvirate to be promoted. In nine appearances covering 12 innings, Rleal has allowed three hits (1 HR) and walked three while striking out 14. His ERA is 1.50.
Frederick (12-13): the Keys are at least respectable this year. Mario Delgado (25), who spent the last two years in the Northern League is at .358 with six doubles and five home runs in 23 games but has drawn only three walks. Catcher Ryan Hubele (24), coming off a non-descript season last year, is hitting .356 with six extra base hits (two homers) in 17 games, but has worked only two walks. The most intriguing position player at Frederick--and possibly in the entire minor league organization--thus far this year has been Jeff Fiorentino (22). The left-handed hitting outfielder was the club's third round pick in last year's draft and hammered the ball in 63 games between Aberdeen (14) and Delmarva. So far this season, in 21 games, Fiorentino is at .353/.396/.600, with six doubles, three triples and three home runs in 85 ABs. Outfielder Nick Markakis (21), the seventh pick overall in the 2003 draft, is off to a so-so start--.277/.347/.410 in 23 games. He leads the team with eight doubles but has just one home run. Markakis took a while to get going last year, so stay tuned.
There are a few noteworthy stories on the pitching side of things for the Keys as well. Adam Loewen (21), the fourth pick overall in the 2002 draft, got off to a horrible start this year. He was walking a man-and-a-half an inning after his first couple of appearances. Since then, Loewen has begun to rediscover his command. He has walked 21 batters in 25 innings (that looks terrible but, believe me, it represents a huge improvement), allowing 20 hits and fanning 24. His ERA is 3.24. His progress definitely bears watching. Lefty Richard Stahl (24), who has suffered repeated injuries and regular control problems since being selected in the first round by the Orioles in 1999 finally seems to be showing signs of maturity. In five starts (30.1 IP), Stahl has allowed 22 hits, walked nine and fanned 29. His ERA is 2.37. James Johnson (21), a fifth round pick in 2001, is coming off a solid season at Delmarva in 2004 and following it up with a fine start to 2005. In six starts (35.1 IP), Johnson has yielded 26 hits, walked 10 and fanned 37 while posting a 3.06 earned run average. Chris Britton (21), an eighth round pick in the 2001 draft, showed promise at Delmarva in 2004 and has pitched well in the early going out of the bullpen in 2005. In nine appearances (13.1 IP), the right-hander has allowed six hits and walked seven while fanning a noteworthy 21 batters. His ERA in the early going is 0.68.
Delmarva (14-12): Peter Maestrales, a third baseman who spent the last couple of years in the Atlantic League after being released by the San Francisco Giants organization following the 2002 season is off to a phenomenal start in the Sally League--.359/.468/.577 in 20 games--but don't get too excited; he's 25 years old, ancient for this level of competition. The entire Shorebirds team has only 10 home runs in 26 games, so there's not all that much to report. Chris Smith--drafted as a pitcher (and in fact, Smith has appeared in six games in relief) has played in 25 games as a position player and hasn't embarrassed himself (he's hitting .289 with nine extra base hits and 15 walks).
There are a few pitching performances worthy of note. Luis Ramirez (22) has allowed 19 hits and walked 14 while striking out 28 in 27.2 innings, posting a 2.60 ERA in the process. Kevin Hart, the University of Maryland product drafted in the 11th round of the 2004 draft, has allowed 23 hits and walked 12 while fanning 24 in 27 innings en route to a 2.67 ERA. Carlos Perez (22), playing his first year in a full season league, has allowed 15 hits and walked 13 while striking out 31 in 26 innings. He's posting a sparkling ERA of 0.69. Carlos Jan has allowed 14 hits and walked 11 in 17.2 innings but has struck out 27. David Haehnel, who cleaned up at Aberdeen last year after being selected in the 8th round of the draft, has yet to allow a run. In 11 appearanes (11.2 IP), he's saved seven games, surrendering seven hits and five walks while striking out 16.
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