So while I was on vacation, visiting places like this and this, the Orioles were making loads of changes to their roster and actually put together a nice little string of victories. Of course, as soon as I returned home the O’s reverted back to playing poorly which leads me to think that for the O’s benefit I should either: a) stop paying any attention to the team, or b) get paid by the Orioles to go on many more vacations across the globe. I’ll go with b) as long as the O’s are up for it.
Matt Wieters finally got the call
Anyway, during the 10 days I was out of the country, the Orioles called up the already legendary and #1 prospect in all of baseball Matt Wieters, another member of the calvary in David Hernandez (he’s since been optioned back to AAA), and less heralded pitching prospect Jason Berken. To make room for Wieters, Chad Moeller was placed and waivers and eventually sent down to AAA. Hernandez was called up to fill the rotation spot of Koji Uehara who had to be placed on the DL with a strained left hamstring, and Berken took the rotation spot of Adam Eaton who was finally cut after putting up an ERA of almost 9 (!) throughout the first month and a half of the season. Oh, and to go along with those moves, former closer Chris Ray was sent down to AAA to get his problems corrected, and Lou Montanez was lost until probably September with torn ligaments in his right thumb. So yeah, lots of moves. Meanwhile, Luke Scott was activated off the DL and responded by winning the AL Player of the Week after hitting 6 homers and driving in 14 runs while hitting .444. Oh, and while all this was happening, Nolan Reimold was solidifying his spot as the O’s leftfielder and putting himself in the AL rookie of the year race. Whew! So man, I missed a lot while I was gone, but lets break it down a little:
First off, I’m not real sure the circumstances behind the Wieters call up and why it happened since I wasn’t around to hear all the news. But maybe it was because he was starting to rake in AAA after a slow start, or maybe because the Orioles catchers at the time (Greg Zaun and Moeller) were each struggling to hit above the Mendoza line. Whatever the case, I was still a little surprised to see Wieters get the call this soon as I was expecting a mid-June call up so he wouldn’t have the chance to be considered a “Super 2”. Since his call up, he has struggled a bit only hitting .229 with 0 homers and 0 RBI, but he’ll be fine. What hasn’t struggled is his play behind the plate. He calls an exceptional game for a 23 year old and the pitchers all rave about throwing to him. His offense has started to turn around in recent games, so it’ll be fun to watch what he can do once he gets on a roll.
Jason Berken
The Adam Eaton release was pretty much expected as he was absolutely horrible for the O’s this season. He was signed to be a veteran starter to bridge the gap until the younger guys showed up, but after putting up an ERA of 8.56 in 8 starts there was no reason to have him taking a roster spot of one of the youngsters. So when he was cut, the O’s turned to Jason Berken who had a very nice season in AA Bowie last year and started out there this year before being promoted to AAA once Bergesen was called up to the majors. Berken dominated in a five AAA starts with an ERA of 1.05 and earned the chance to get the next call up. The former 6th round draft pick out of Clemson is really a poor man’s Brad Bergesen and honestly I don’t see him hanging around the rotation since there are about 7 or 8 pitching prospects with more upside than him at this point. He could surprise me, but with the rotation getting mighty crowded in the next year or so, I just don’t see room for him. He’ll give the O’s some innings this year and hopefully boost his trade value or become a bullpen guy…but I could be wrong. He’s on the second tier of pitching prospects behind the calvary…speaking of the which:
David Hernandez has been an under the radar prospect for the O’s for the last couple years. He’s kind of a cult hero among O’s fans who don’t understand why he doesn’t get more love from the national media as a legit prospect. But his year in AA last year put him up in the same class as the top tier pitching prospects (Tillman, Arrieta, Matusz, Bergesen, Patton, Hernandez…aka, The Calvary). He’s a big time strikeout pitcher tossing 166 of them last season at Bowie and 60 in AAA Norfolk this year before his call up. He’s certainly got the stuff to miss some bats, but the big issue with him is going to be his command. He looked pretty good in his brief time with the O’s but after a couple starts and a relief appearance he was just sent back down to make room for Uehara who was just activated from the DL. He’ll be back up later this season, no doubt, but similarly to Berken I would love for him to boost his trade value so the Orioles could try to fill some of the holes they are going to have at 3B or SS in the next few seasons. Hernandez is much more of a prospect than Berken so there’s no doubt he would draw major interest from teams around the league.
David Hernandez
And finally, it looks like the Orioles have found their left-fielder for the next few years. With his play, Nolan Reimold has cemented his spot in the O’s lineup (save for a few starts from Pie here and there) and also has jumped into the race for AL Rookie of the Year. In just 80 or so at bats, Reimold has 7 HRs and 16 RBI and absolutely looks like a veteran at the plate. He’s still learning left-field but it is scary to think of an outfield of Reimold, Jones, and Markakis for the next 6 or 7 years in Baltimore. At this point Reimold and Luke Scott are the only Oriole players showing up on offense. The last 14 home runs the O’s have hit have been by either Reimold or Scott. That says something about how hot those two are, but also says something about how ice cold the rest of the line up is. Reimold’s ascent to the full time LF has made Scott the full time DH, which is pretty much the best case scenario the O’s could have hoped for.
In other news: Jake Arrieta and Troy Patton each were promoted to AAA giving Norfolk four of the calvary members in their rotation (along with Chris Tillman and Hernandez again). Taking their spots in AA are Tim Bascom and last year’s first round pick Brian Matusz, who was absolutely owning A ball. It might be a while before any of those guys get the call (except Hernandez of course), but if I had to guess, Patton will be the next one up. He already has major league experience and is really just rehabbing his shoulder after surgery and missing all of last season. He’s been un-hittable so far, and could still end up being the key part of the Tejada trade after all.
Matt Hobgood
Draft update: The Orioles had the 5th overall pick in this years draft and took high school right handed pitcher Matt Hobgood. With a lack of many top notch position players available, the O’s did the right thing by taking a high school pitcher. The rotation is going to be set for the next few years, so taking a high school kid who can serve as the leader of the next wave of pitching prospects in 4 or 5 years should work out just fine for the O’s. And you can never have too much pitching…especially in the AL East. This kid was a bit of a reach for the O’s at #5, but from what I’ve read he has major upside and the O’s scouts loved him. This is a great video of his draft day and how excited he was to become an Oriole. Notice his reaction after Dustin Ackley was picked 2nd because the Orioles told Hobgood they would take him if Ackley wasn’t available. He seems like a great kid and stud player who should be a nice addition to the O’s organization. As with any baseball draft, it’ll be 3, 4 or 5 years before we know if it was the right pick, but at this point it seems fine to me.
A Round of Sound 