Eulogy for Bluefield

Andy MacPhail has announced that next year the Bluefield Orioles will be no more. From a development standpoint, this will not have a huge impact of the Baltimore Orioles. If they maintain the rest of their minor league teams, they will still have 8, which is plenty.


But from a historical perspective, it's a sad decision. The Orioles have had a 53-year partnership with Bluefield and a ton of Baltimore Orioles started their career in southern West Virginia including Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray, Boog Powell and Don Baylor. That's the oldest minor league affiliation in baseball and now it will be gone. They won nine Appalachian League championships as an Oriole affiliate. Joe Altobelli managed there as well.


This too shall pass and the Orioles will move on. But the end of this historic relationship deserves a bit more than flippant comments like this:


Yes, Bluefield and the Orioles had plenty of history. But it is tough to get too worked up about this one.


Wow, Dan Connolly, really? There was obviously more to his post but this comment pretty much sums up the tone. Bluefield deserves more than casual dismissal. I get that a lot of fans (or writers) don't care about the minor leagues or team history and Connolly is an MLB writer who, he admits, has never been to Bluefield. But I would expect more historical awareness from a Baltimore native.


I finally got out to Bluefield this summer but the game got rained out. I managed to snap a few pictures of the stadium and stand on the historic field. I am very bummed that I never got to see a game there but was happy I got to visit this little piece of Orioles history. Here's the pics of Bowen Field from this past July:

Snapshots: Bowen Field, Bluefield, WV

On our way back from a family vacation, I talked my wife into a stopover in Bluefield, WV so I could catch a game at this historic stadium. Unfortunately, rain earlier in the day had caused a rain out. (They have a tarp...but it appeared to not have been placed on the field before the rain. Water was pooled all around the first base area. Not sure why that was or if the tarp would have helped anyway...)

The rain out was a real letdown but as I am want, I managed to get into the stadium anyway to snap off a few pictures of this field that is rich in Oriole history. The Bluefield Orioles have been Baltimore's team in the Appalchian League since 1958. Memorial Stadium is gone; Bowen Field is the oldest link to the team's early history. Boog Powell, Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray and many other Orioles have begun their professional careers on Bowen Field.

Here's the pictures. Next time, I'm hoping for an actual game...

Checking In With the Farm Clubs - High Minors

Not as much to look at in the upper levels as there was in the lower levels...but here they are.

Bowie Baysox

Joel Guzman - 1B/3B/OF

Guzman is a former top prospect in the Dodger organization who flamed out and has bounced around for the last three years. However, the 25-year-old Guzman is hitting .272/.336/.535 with 17 homers for Bowie this season.

Late bloomer? Who knows? But he's an interesting hitter who plays a position that the Orioles need. (I don't know if I should be enthused that the O's found Guzman or depressed that he is, by far, the most promising hitter on the Baysox this season...)

Zach Britton - SP

The top Oriole prospect in the high minors, the 22-year-old Britton continues to impress. His ground ball rate stands at 65.2% this season and that's no fluke; his GB% has been 63% or above for the last four seasons.

K/BB ratio is still more than 2 to 1 and a 2.62 ERA at AA should lead Britton to a promotion to Norfolk before season's end.

Eddie Gamboa - RP

I like Eddie. He rose fast last season and has continued to turn in good work in Bowie. He's striking out a batter an inning and while the walk rate is not great, the K/BB ratio is still 2.5 to 1. He's just another reason I think the bullpen can be rebuilt from within.



Jim Hoey - RP

Hoey seems to have worked himself back from injury problems to and is striking out batters like crazy (11.5 K/9). I guess I'll believe it if he starts doing it at AAA again.



Norfolk Tides

Josh Bell - 3B

Bell has been maligned for a couple reasons this season. First, he can't hit lefties and people are demanding that he abandon switch hitting. (I've never really understood that argument. How do we know he can hit lefties better batting lefthanded than righthanded?) Second, he has not hit overall like he was expected to after his promotion to AAA.

The L/R splits are troubling. However, his bat is probably not as bad as it looks right now. First, his offensive numbers have improved each month of the season:

Slash Line    BB   K   HR
Apr  .238/.256/.405    2  21    3
May  .282/.325/.455    7  29    3
June .275/.367/.451    7  12    2

After a horrific April, he has focused on being more selective at the plate and it has paid off. Taking away April, his K/BB ratio is 3 to 1, not terrific but it's respectable and trending the right way.

Furthermore, according to Minor League Splits, if you normalize his numbers for park factor and luck, his .265/.312/.437 line becomes .294/.338/.494.

He's trending well and hitting better than his numbers show. He won't be pushing Miguel Tejada out of town this season liked many had hoped but he's having a productive season for a 23-year-old in AAA.



Brandon Snyder - 1B

Some better trends for Snyder as well, although in a different manner than Bell.

After putting up an OPS's of .615 and .659 in April and May respectively, Snyder is posting a line of .327/.389/.531 in June. He still isn't walking enough but this follows Snyder's development through the minors thus far. He tends to have a long learning curve when he moves up a level but when he gets it, he catches fire. It has taken him 5 months at AAA to come around but this may be the turning point that lands Snyder in the majors in 2011.

I don't think Snyder will ever be a great first baseman but he will be serviceable enough that we won't have to sign the like of Garrett Atkins again. (Not that we needed to in the first place...)




Tim Bascom - SP

Bascom is the starting pitcher who is closest to Baltimore now that Jake Arrieta was promoted. His stuff is marginal and he's a flyball pitcher but he has improved through each level, especially with his control as his walk rate is a minuscule 1.4 BB/9 in Bowie and Norfolk combined. He paints the corners and will have to hope his control and stuff are good enough to work the edges in the majors...but it could work.



Dennis Sarfate - RP

Just a quick note about Sarfate...

Yeah, he's got his velocity back and he's striking out 11.79 per 9 innings. But his walk rate is 5.32 K/9 and that's not going to play at the next level. Get it under control Dennis.

The Tao of Backman

Need a cure to your Oriole blues? Looking for some inner peace? Need to be reminded why you love baseball to begin with?

Wally Backman has your cure.

Tip of the hat to The Loss Column for posting a video showing Wally Backman getting thrown out of a game while managing the independent league South Georgia Peanuts. It led me to all these videos, excerpts from a TV show called "Playing for Peanuts". If you just want to see the ejection, it's toward the bottom of the post. But all of these put a smile on my face.

Assume that all of this is NSFW.

A 3-DVD set of "Playing for Peanuts" can be purchased at PlayingForPeanuts.com.

Checking In With the Farm Clubs - Low Minors

Delmarva Shorebirds

Garabez Rosa - SS

When I saw Rosa back in April, he looked legit in the field with good range and a big arm. Just 20, he looked good with the glove but kind of limited with the bat and slow of foot on the basepaths. Scouts liked his bat and thought he would come around.

And that's why scouts get paid to watch baseball. Rosa has been on a tear since I saw him in mid-April and has posted a season line of .294/.329/.429 line thus far. He doesn't walk (only 5 all year) but has gap power with 17 doubles in just 46 games. Of course, while his range looks good, he does have 19 errors too. I asked Shorebirds announcer Bret Lasky about him and he said he'll look great for a week or two and then have a stretch where he makes 4 errors in 5 games.

Justin Dalles - C

Justin Dalles is my latest minor league catcher crush. Dalles was a 6th round draft pick in 2009 and looked great to me during the two games I saw him play back in April. He posted a .278/.366/.472 line in 10 games (including hitting the longest homer I've ever seen live) but got laid out during a collision at the plate, not once but twice (was only back three games before getting hit again) and hasn't played since May 6th.

Here's an interview that Delmarva Shorebirds announcer Bret Lasky conducted with Dalles during his first stint on the DL.

Stephen Bumbry - CF

Bumbry is hitting well (.272/.360/.395) but not with a lot of power. Bumbry plays a good center field and shows good on base skills. He's fast, easily able to bunt for hits but is not so good on the bases as he is only 6 for 12 on stolen base attempts.

Tyler Kolodny - 3B

Imagine Kevin Millar with more power. His overall line is impressive (.260/.358/.552) even if his batting average is not. He has a decent walk rate (10%) and has slugged 10 homers in just 41 games. He has some things to work on but has a good approach and just turned 22 in March. They probably need to find space for him in Frederick by mid-season.

edit: Evidently, Kolodny has been sent to extended Spring Training due to disciplinary reasons.

Matt Hobgood - SP

Hobgood has been wild. Great stuff but wild. 25 walks in 52.1 innings, 13 wild pitches and 5 hit batsmen against his 32 strikeouts. He has induced groundballs at a 52% rate, he's only given up three home runs and does boast a FIP of 4.60 (vs his ERA of 4.64). When he gets the ball over the plate, good things happen. But he's really going to have to work on that control if he wants to have success at any level.

Ryan Berry - SP

On the other hand, Ryan Berry has been mowing the SAL down all season. With 43 K's vs just 11 walks in 49 innings. The 2009 9th round pick out of Rice has been a bit inconsistent but the overall ERA of 3.50 (3.67 FIP) is promising.

He's now in Frederick.

Frederick Keys

LJ Hoes

While at the Orioles Minor League Spring Training Camp in Sarasota back in March, I made this observation about Xavier Avery vs. LJ Hoes during batting practice:

Avery took BP and looked how you thought he would; light-hitting, shooting flares and sharp grounders to all fields. Hoes was a different story. The ball jumped off his bat and he was showing good gap power. It was only BP but Hoes is only 20. You might want to look for increased power from him this season.

So far, that has been correct. After posting ISO's of .082 and .058 for each of the last two seasons, Hoes has an ISO of .105 for Frederick with 8 doubles, a triple and a homer in 35 games. He's not Albert Pujols or anything but is a nice development. Adding the fact that he has walked more than he has struck out (24 to 17), his .290/.413/.395 line looks like a good step forward. He's got to be the best middle infield prospect in the system.

Xavier Avery - CF

Of course, I didn't see Avery's power surge coming. Since 2007, he's gone from an ISO of .057 to .078 to .095 this season. Again, he's not exactly a slugger but it's a good development to go with his speed and defense in center. He has a slash line of .280/.338/.375 through 49 games.

Billy Rowell - 3B

I was glad that the organization decided to leave Rowell in Frederick to start 2010. Promoting someone to AA after the year Rowell had in 2009 felt like they were just giving up on him. So far, Rowell has responded well by hitting .248/.364/.372 so far. Yes, it's his third season at Frederick and he's been a little lucky with his BABIP but he's still only 21. You've already got money invested in him and he could be a late bloomer like Jayson Werth was. It's better to promote a guy when he's ready and Rowell just wasn't ready to make the leap to AA yet. Maybe they can salvage some value out of him yet, even if he won't ever be the star they envisioned when they drafted him.

Ronnie Welty - OF

Frederick's version of Tyler Kolodny, Welty has good power (ISO over .200 so far) and good strike zone control (.369 OBP for his minor league career). He's OPSing .834 for the season and he already has 9 home runs vs the 10 he hit all last season.

Nathan Nery - SP

Could this be a lefty version of Brad Bergesen? 25-year-old Nery is getting groundballs at a 57% rate and walking less than 2 per 9 innings. A 3.86 ERA makes him arguably the best starter in Frederick.

Brandon Cooney - RP

Cooney's physique makes Hobgood look slim. But he throws hard and the Keys closer is dominating the Carolina League with a 0.55 ERA and 19 Ks in 16 innings pitched. Look for a mid-season promotion to Bowie.



Jose Duran - RP

Duran was a a Rule 5 selection in the AAA phase this year. Duran is an imposing figure and has been nearly as dominant as Cooney. With a 0.94 ERA and 26 Ks in 29 innings pitched, Duran could find himself in Bowie's bullpen before season's end as well.

Delmarva Shorebirds @ Greenville Drive – 4/10/2010

LF T.J. Baxter went 3-3 and 1B Tyler Kolodny went 3-3 with a HR as the Shorebirds beat the Drive (Red Sox affiliate) 6-4 in Greenville last night. Baxter got on base for all four plate appearances and Kolodny fell just a double short of the cycle during starting pitcher Matt Hobgood's A-ball debut.

The Orioles' top draft pick in 2009, Hobgood looked dominant at times but struggled with his control at others, at one point walking three straight batters. Hobgood walked five but struck out four and only gave up three hits, two solid hits to the outfield (a single and a double) and a weakly hit infield single.

Baxter and Kolodny were the offensive stars of the evening. Kolodny scored three runs and stole a base while Baxter scored two and stole two bases of his own. C Justin Dalles added a solo home run in the 7th, a moonshot that cleared the 30 ft centerfield wall, 410 feet away from home plate with plenty of room to spare.

The Shorebirds' hitters had little problem with Drive starter Manuel Rivera as the lefty gave up 4 earned runs to take the loss.

Nick Haughian, Randy Henry and Josh Dowdy combined for 5 innings of relief. Haughian earned the win with 2 shutout innings and Dowdy picked up his second save of the season.


More observations to follow...

John Stockstill, David Stockstill to Switch Jobs

Saw this from Ken Rosenthal this morning:

The Orioles, shaking up their front office as Opening Day nears, are replacing farm director David Stockstill, according to major-league sources.


Stockstill will move into another position, sources said. His brother, John, the team’s director of international scouting, will take over some of David's duties...

The Orioles will portray the change in a positive light, one source said, but club officials had grown increasingly frustrated with David Stockstill’s approach to player development.

Andy MacPhail, the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, inherited David Stockstill when he took over on June 20, 2007. John Stockstill had worked for MacPhail with the Chicago Cubs.


Roch Kubatko then had this:


David is expected to switch roles with his brother, John, the director of international scouting... 

John has been hanging around the minor league side of the Sarasota complex, so I guess that was the first clue that something was in the works.

Why was this done? Poor player development if you believe Rosenthal but MacPhail has expressly denied this. We may not know for awhile, if ever.

Former Oriole beat writer Jorge Arangure tweeted this which might be the most important development of all::

#Orioles reassignment of J Stockstill is another clear sign of MacPhail's autonomy. Stockstill is very close with Angelos  

Stockstill move is something that won't make major headlines but is an important indication of who is calling the shots for them.





And maybe that's all that matters right now.

Orioles Minor League Camp in Sarasota, 3/6-3/8

One of the great benefits of the Orioles moving their Spring Training home to Sarasota is that now their minor league camp is just a few miles away from the Ed Smith complex. It is held at the Buck O'Neil Baseball Complex at Twin Lakes park just on the east side of I-75.

This encompasses my impressions over two days...

The first day, I arrived waaaay too early. I got there just after 9 AM but on this particular day, the team meeting wasn't even happening until 9:45. At 9:15, this is all you were going to see. Orioles roving catching instructor Minor League Catching Coordinator Don Werner testing out the JUGS machine with C Wally Crancer as they tested out a new training method.




Granted, this is some real "inside baseball" and I really only recorded a bit because Werner said he had never tried it before and I thought something funny might happen but I got a kick out of seeing little drills like this and how things are run on a professional level.

At 9:45, all the players gathered on one field and were given the schedule for the day. After that, calisthenics began.



Then long toss...




Then they broke up into groups for the drills. The pitchers were working on fielding drills and throwing a short bullpen sessions. The catchers were working on glovework and footwork. Here's catching prospect Michael Ohlman facing the JUGS machine:



A side note about the pitching drills: P Ryohei Tanaka came over from Japan last season but unlike Koji Uehara, Tanaka was not a star in Japan and does not travel with his own interpreter. He seems to know some English but does not appear to be fluent. So when the air horn would sound and everyone would move from field to field, Tanaka would sometimes start toward the wrong station as if he didn't fully understand the instruction given at the morning meeting. RP Brandon Cooney would always make sure he got to where he needed to be. "Tanaka! Over here! This way!" was heard more than a couple times. Cooney instantly became one of my favorite Baby Birds. (Cooney is also on Baseball America's list of Top 30 Oriole prospects.)

After about an hour and a half, the pitchers were done and the batting practice started. It was not time for hitters to report yet but there were a few notable prospects there. Xavier Avery...



LJ Hoes, Brandon Waring and Mike Flacco...


We came back on Monday to watch some more batting practice and more hitters had reported by then. A couple of interesting notes from BP...

CF Xavier Avery and 2B L.J. Hoes were 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2008 and are very similar looking players, same size, same build. Avery took BP and looked how you thought he would; light-hitting, shooting flares and sharp grounders to all fields. Hoes was a different story. The ball jumped off his bat and he was showing good gap power. It was only BP but Hoes is only 20. You might want to look for increased power from him this season.

3B Brandon Waring showed the most consistent power during the sessions I watched. But who showed the most raw power? OF/1B Jacob Julius. 23-year-old Julius only posted a .228/.304/.345 line for Delmarva last year but he was launching ball all over the field and over the fence during BP. Lots of fun to watch.

On Monday, I brought the kids since they wanted to get some autographs. As the guys headed for the clubhouse, many obliged. P Vito Frabizio threw them each a ball from the practice field.

Overall, it was a good atmosphere. I was usually one of maybe 5 or 6 people at most and the complex is wide open. You have to watch out for batted balls because drills are happening everywhere. My only regret is that I'm not here later in camp for live BP, scrimmages or games. That's something I'll have to remedy next year.

Baby Birds: The Notable Minor League Performances of 2009: Part 2

Part 1 was last week and covered the low minors. Now, we look at Frederick, Bowie and Norfolk.

Frederick Keys - High A

1B/3B Brandon Waring

         G    AVG    OBP    SLG    BB   K    2B    HR   SB
Waring   128  .273   .354   .520    45  120   35    26    5

At 23, Waring tore up the Carolina League. Waring came over from Cincinnati in the Ramon Hernandez trade in the offseason and had the best year of his professional career. Waring took home the Caroline League MVP award and continued to hit well in a brief stint in Bowie to finish the season.


OF Robbie Widlansky

            G    AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   K   2B   HR   SB
Widlansky   86   .340  .395  .506   29  48   31    7    5

An 11th round draft selection out of Florida Atlantic in 2007, Widlansky won the Carolina League batting title with a .340 average and showed some good gap power. At 24, Widlansky was a bit old for the league too but he and Waring should make the Baysox lineup a bit more formidable in 2010.


SP Zach Britton

          IP    ERA   BB   K    HR   WHIP
Britton  140.0  2.70   55  131    6   1.27

A 21-year-old lefty sinkerballer who was named Carolina League pitcher of the year, struck out nearly a batter per inning and induced groundballs 65% of the time. Yeah, it's time to start getting excited about Zach Britton. The 3rd round pick in the 2006 draft is paying dividends.


RP Pat Egan

           IP    ERA    BB    K   HR   WHIP
Egan       92.2  1.94    16   75    2   0.96

The stats above are cumulative from stints in Delmarva, Frederick and Bowie but the bulk of it was as a Key. A 36th round pick in 2006, Egan keeps the ball in the park, walks damn near nobody and can strike you out to boot.


Bowie Baysox - AA

3B Josh Bell

          G     AVG   OBP   SLG   BB    K    2B   HR   SB
Bell      127   .295  .376  .516   61   98    35   20    3

The stats above are the combined numbers from his time in Chattanooga and his time in Bowie but he was equally good on both teams. Only 22, Bell came to the Oriole organization in the George Sherrill trade and looks to be on the fast track to Baltimore. He's the best hope for a "home grown" solution to Baltimore third base vacancy.


SP Steve Johnson

          IP    ERA   BB   K    HR   WHIP
Johnson  145.1  3.41   62  154   18   1.28

While we're on the Sherrill trade, Johnson was the second half of the haul. Johnson's a flyball pitcher but the righty mowed down hitters while pitching for three teams at two levels in '09. May stay at Bowie to begin 2010 but should be in Norfolk shortly.


RP Eddie Gamboa

         IP    ERA   BB    K    HR   WHIP
Gamboa   83.2  1.08   17   75     5   1.17

Another late round pick (21st round in 2008), Gamboa started the year in Delmarva and ended up in Bowie. He's moved fast and seems to be getting better. He's part of the good relief pitching depth in the Oriole system.


RP Luis Lebron

          IP     ERA   BB    K    HR   WHIP
Lebron    60.1   2.54   33   91     5   0.99

The 24-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic was absolutely filthy striking out 13.06 per 9 and saving 20 games between Frederick and Bowie. He throws in the upper 90's and can throw a slider for strikes.


Norfolk Tides - AAA

OF Jeff Fiorentino

             G    AVG    OBP    SLG   BB    K   2B   HR   SB
Fiorentino   102  .312   .387   .510   48   62   26   12   13

At the age of 26, Fiorentino finally put together a season the Orioles were hoping for when they drafted him in the third round in 2004. He led the Tides in average, on base percentage, homers and RBI. Let bloomer? Fluke season? Who cares? It was a hell of a performance.


SP Jake Arrieta

           IP    ERA    BB    K    HR    WHIP
Arrieta   150.2  3.40    56   148   13    1.37

The stats above are combined and he dominated at Bowie but by season's end he had his legs under him in Norfolk and posted a 3.60 ERA over his last 10 starts. He'll start the season in Norfolk but could be in Baltimore by the All-Star break.


RP Josh Perrault

           IP    ERA    BB    K    HR    WHIP
Perrault   72.0  2.13    18   74     7    1.01

He's 27 but he was lights out in his first year in the Oriole organization. Stats include his Bowie stint and he's heading to the AFL and if he performs well, he may be in position to make the Oriole bullpen out of Spring Training.

Baby Birds: The Notable Minor League Performances of 2009: Part 1

With the minor league season wrapping up this week, I wanted to shine a spotlight on some fine performances from players in the Oriole minor leagues. Not all of these guys are considered prospects but they all had good seasons in 2009. Part 1 will cover the lower leagues up to low A Delmarva and Part 2 will cover high-A Frederick through AAA Norfolk. I will not be talking about guys like Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz who made the jump to the majors...everyone knows about them already.


Bluefield Orioles - Short Season Rookie

RHP Vito Fabrizio

           G   IP    ERA   BB   SO  HR  WHIP
Fabrizio  12  70.0  2.96   16   64   5  1.04

Hats off to you if you can find any background on this guy. (Feel free to leave it in the comments if you do.) Great name though.

He doesn't appear to have been drafted but the 20-year-old righthander tore up the Appalchian League and was the only Oriole named to the 2009 Appy League All-Star team. Batters hit just .223 against Fabrizio in '09. I expect he'll be with Delmarva next season.


SS Gary Helmick

          G    AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Helmick  43   .282  .346  .479   15   22   10    4    5

Severn native Gary Helmick had a solid season with the glove and the bat for Bluefield. He's 21 and displayed a well-rounded game. Sadly, this was the best offense performance for any batter in Bluefield this year.


RHP Sam Taveras

            G    IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR   WHIP
Taveras    19   23.0  2.74    7   19    0   1.23

Here's an interesting relief arm. 21-year-old Taveras saved 4 games for Bluefield, posted a nice strikout rate and is an extreme groundball pitcher who has only given up 1 homer in 75 professional innings. I'm curious to see if he can keep the ball in the park at the higher levels.


Aberdeen Ironbirds - Short Season Low A

3B/DH Levi Carolus

           G   AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Carolus   44  .320  .346  .426    8   38   13    1    9

Another great name! 21-year-old Curacao native is a free swinger but hit .320 with some gap power and stole 9 bases while being caught only 3 times. He has continued the good work in Delmarva for the 9 games since his call up. Sadly, (again) he is the only bat of note at Aberdeen this year.


LHP Nick Haughian

            G    IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR   WHIP
Haughian   13   74.2  2.05   20   54    2   1.08

22-year-old lefty who was drafted out of Washington in the 8th round of the 2008 draft. Not a ton of strikeouts but he got the job done ranking 4th in ERA among New York-Penn League starters.


RHP James Brandhorst

             G   IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR    WHIP
Brandhorst  19  24.0  1.50    6   26    0    1.04

21-year-old righty drafted in the 20th round this year saved four games for the Ironbirds and struck out more than 10 per 9 IP in relief. Another guy to keep an eye on out of the Delmarva bullpen in 2010.


Delmarva Shorebirds - Low A

OF Ronnie Welty

          G    AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Welty   114   .294  .373  .422   41  113   24    9   12

21-year-old outfielder showed a well-rounded game with very good onbase skills. Drafted in the 20th round in 2008, Welty has progressed well for a later round draft pick. He was the sole Shorebird to be named to the 2009 South Atlantic League All-Star Team.


LHP Cole McCurry

           G    IP    ERA   BB   SO  HR   WHIP
McCurry   24  125.2  2.86   42  128   1   1.23

Another late round pick, (43rd round in 2008), McCurry's strikeout rates continue to grow. The Tennessee Wesleyan product struck out more than 1 per inning in 2009 and is still just 23. He ranks in the top five in ERA among SAL starters.


RHP Brandon Cooney

        G   IP    ERA  BB  SO  HR  WHIP
Cooney 47  54.2  2.47  19  45   2  1.24

The stats above are his combined numbers between Delmarva and Frederick but he spent most of the season as a Shorebird. Cooney is enormous at 6'6" and 240 pounds and was drafted in the 30th round in 2007. His strikeout rate is decent but he was killing worms this season as he groundball to flyball ratio was more than 2 to 1.


Next time, Frederick, Bowie and Norfolk...