Three of the four full-season Orioles affiliates had a bad night for the pitchers. Oh, and Mayo was hitless.
Triple-A: Lehigh Valley (Phillies) 9, Norfolk Tides 5
This was another clunker of an outing in the 2024 season for Justin Armbruester, who entered the year as a potentially intriguing arm but hasn’t lived up to that at all. He was blasted for five runs, four earned, across a 4.2 inning outing. Most of that damage was done as Armbruester surrendered a couple of homers to Lehigh Valley’s Weston Wilson, a 30-year-old who’s never made it to MLB. Following Armbruester, reliever Carlos Tavera also gave up four earned runs, in his case across 3.1 innings.
Tuesday’s game marked the return to Triple-A for Coby Mayo. I’d like to tell you that he hit for the cycle or did something fun but he was 0-4. Recently fun guy Billy Cook was likewise hitless. Heston Kjerstad had a 1-5 night. In terms of the actual prospects, only Connor Norby had multiple hits, going 2-2 with a stolen base out of the leadoff spot. Norby was pulled for a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, which MASN’s Roch Kubatko flagged as a possible reaction to Jordan Westburg being run into by Juan Soto in last night’s major league game.
Double-A: Bowie Baysox 3, Altoona (Pirates) 2
The two teams combined for just ten hits in this game and neither one was able to collect a hit in a situation with a runner in scoring position. The Baysox managed to come out on top on the strength of a two-run home run hit by Collin Burns, who I thought was a coach (had him mixed up with Collin Woody,) and a sacrifice fly hit by Jud Fabian. Bowie pulled back over .500 for the season in notching this victory.
Two of the seven Baysox hits were collected by Matthew Etzel. He’s batting .318 through his first Double-A action, though he’s yet to notch an extra-base hit here. Samuel Basallo had a 1-3 night and drew a walk, as did Frederick Bencosme, who served as the leadoff hitter.
Bowie’s pitchers deserve some credit for making sure these three runs could stand up. Starting pitcher Cameron Weston allowed no earned runs (two unearned) across a 5.1 inning outing where he gave up just one hit and two walks while striking out eight batters. The righty, drafted in the 8th round in 2022, has a 3.15 ERA and 0.90 WHIP since getting bumped up to Bowie this season. Dan Hammer and Dylan Heid combined for 3.2 scoreless to finish off the game.
High-A: Wilmington (Nationals) 12, Aberdeen IronBirds 7
These teams combined for 19 runs while also combining for 16 hits, which is very, very, A-ball. That’s because there were also 17 walks in the game. Aberdeen’s pitchers handed out 11 of those 17 walks. Definitely one way you can lose a baseball game.
As is often, though not universally, the case in minor league losses, there was still some good stuff from some of the prospects. Last year’s second rounder Mac Horvath was on base three times, a single and a pair of walks. Catcher Creed Willems collected two hits; he’s OPSing .804 for the season, which is interesting enough performance for a 21-year-old at High-A. Enrique Bradfield Jr. was 0-5, though.
Low-A: Fayetteville (Astros) 16, Delmarva Shorebirds 8
It wasn’t all bad, as evidenced by the Shorebirds scoring eight runs. The top three guys in the lineup accounted for seven of Delmarva’s 11 hits. That’s outfielder Thomas Sosa, 19, with a single and a double in five at-bats. It’s fellow 19-year-old Aron Estrada, an infielder, who walked and picked up two hits including his sixth homer of the year, and it’s also 20-year-old infielder Anderson De Los Santos with three hits (homer #7) and four runs driven in.
Estrada received a $175,000 signing bonus from the team two years ago. This is his first year of full-season action and he’s batting .276/.339/.411 in 56 games at this level. If you have space in your life for a new favorite low-level Orioles prospect, maybe he should be your guy.
Bonus Florida Complex League: Twins 7, Orioles 3
Of note in this rookie-level game is that infield prospect Joshua Liranzo, who received a $500,000 signing bonus a year ago, made his US minor league debut by appearing in this game. Liranzo, who doesn’t turn 18 until August, picked up two hits and drove in a run for the FCL team. These were two of just three hits for the O’s rookie squad.
Wednesday’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: at Lehigh Valley, 7:05. Starter: Chayce McDermott
- Bowie: vs. Altoona, 6:35. Starter: Trace Bright
- Aberdeen: at Wilmington, 6:35. Starter: TBD
- Delmarva: at Fayetteville, 4:05. Starter: Trey Gibson