Less exciting, a trio of pitchers hit the IL for Chesapeake, though reportedly none are expect to miss major time.
At the major league level, the Orioles have been trying to climb out of the hole they dug for themselves over the last few weeks. It’s helped not have this season feel like there’s nothing going on except for whatever might be happening down on the farm. Which is good, since a lot of the weeks of the farm this year have felt pretty bad. Was this another one? As I’m typing out these words, I haven’t looked anything up yet, so I don’t actually know. Let’s find out together.
Each Tuesday on Camden Chat, we look back on the last week of action from the Orioles minor league affiliates, with a particular focus on the performance of players from Camden Chat’s composite top Orioles prospect list.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Last week: 3-2 vs. Nashville (Brewers)
- Next opponent: at Memphis (Cardinals)
- Season record: 27-40, ninth place (18 games back) in International League East
This was not a good week for the outfield duo of Dylan Beavers and Jud Fabian. Beavers crashed back down to earth hard after superlative performance the week before, notching just one single over 16 at-bats. Fabian also only had one hit, a double, over 12 at-bats, and being Fabian, he struck out four times. One game in this series was canceled due to rain, so this is an even smaller sample size than the typical minor league week is, but still: Ouch.
Not on the struggle bus? Samuel Basallo. The 20-year-old just continues to lay waste to the International League compeition, adding another six hits to his tally in four games, including his 14th homer of the season. Yeah, he’s homered 14 times in 43 games. It’s something. Last year, Basallo had 19 homers in 127 games. Major improvement.
On the pitching front, this was another not particularly good week for Chayce McDermott, whose lone start saw him surrender four runs in 4.1 innings where he walked three batters while giving up four hits. He is not doing anything to make it seem like he should be the next guy to get a chance in the big league rotation.
Others
- IF Jeremiah Jackson – Not really a prospect (though he is just 25) but ten hits in five games is worth a mention; OPS of exactly 1.000 after 11 AAA games
- OF Tyler O’Neill – The rehabbing big leaguer played one game this week before he was shut back down with shoulder soreness and his rehab assignment was halted
- OF Heston Kjerstad – Demoted from the Orioles on Tuesday, Kjerstad didn’t play for the Tides until Sunday. He went 1-5.
Double-A Chesapeake Baysox
- Last week: 3-3 vs. Harrisburg (Nationals)
- Next opponent: at Erie (Tigers)
- Season record: 29-32, fourth place (11 games back) in Eastern League Southwest
A trio of pitching prospects landed on the injured list here over this past week: Braxton Bragg, Trace Bright, and Levi Wells. MLB.com’s Jake Rill said none of these three is expected to miss significant time, but with Bragg and Bright listed with forearm strains and Wells with shoulder inflammation, I’m less hopeful. Bragg was really in the middle of something interesting, so it’s a bummer to see that momentum halted.
Two pitchers who, knock on wood, did not get hurt this week and did well for themselves are Nestor German and Trey Gibson. German struck out six batters over six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk. Gibson, in just his second Double-A start, struck out five with just a hit and walk allowed over 5.2 innings. Neither of these guys has been with Chesapeake for long, but hopefully they can keep bringing some good in this rotation even while the guys from the last paragraph are on the IL.
This turned out to be a good week for the on-base percentage for Enrique Bradfield Jr., who added eight walks on top of 4-15 hitting, and parlayed all of those times on base into five stolen bases in six attempts. Bradfield has now stolen 12 bases in 27 games and is OPSing .732 for the season. I’d like to see him find some more extra-base hits, even if it’s “stretch a single into a double with speed.” All four hits this week were singles.
Hitting even better than Bradfield over these games were a pair of guys who aren’t really prospects to me but who are in the “maybe a future backup catcher or something” territory. Adam Retzbach led the way for the Baysox with three homers over five games, and Silas Ardoin wasn’t too far behind with two homers and six walks. Retzbach, who is more of a first baseman than a catcher, is now OPSing .829 in his age 24 season: Old for Double-A, but it’s something. Ardoin sits at a .644 OPS after this week.
Others
- C/1B Creed Willems – Did not take his OPS higher this week, 3-20 hitting with two doubles
- RHP Keagan Gillies – One run allowed in 1.2 IP, but it’s a 1.30 ERA for the season and since it’s his age 27 year I again wonder why they don’t just give him a shot at Norfolk and see what happens
Chesapeake season-to-date stats.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Last week: 2-3 at Jersey Shore (Phillies)
- Next opponent: vs. Brooklyn (Mets)
- Season record: 24-38, sixth/last place (18.5 games back) in South Atlantic League North
Regular readers of this space may recall my first question for Aberdeen every week: How many times did Vance Honeycutt strike out this week? The answer is a lot: Ten strikeouts in four games. This is not exactly unrepresentative of his season, where he’s now struck out in 38% of plate appearances. The hitting ability isn’t there yet and neither are the dingers.
Now, my favorite obscure guy Aron Estrada, on the other hand, did great over four games played, picking up seven hits, three of which went for extra bases. The 20-year-old infielder collected another pair of stolen bases. This dude is hitting .268/.348/.412 – a .760 OPS when Aberdeen’s team OPS is .632 and the whole South Atlantic League is batting to a .685 OPS. And he’s stolen 23 bases.
The Orioles are easing Michael Forret back into action after he missed about a month with a back injury. He pitched three innings in a start this week – only 40 pitches – and struck out six guys while allowing one run on one hit. Another guy is here working his way back up to his normal level: Brandon Young, who is on Norfolk’s IL, allowed two runs on six hits in 3.1 innings.
Others
- IF Griff O’Ferrall – Only struck out twice but 2-16 hitting for the week is still pretty bad, as is his season line of .208/.307/.307.
- RHP Blake Money – Allowed one run in a seven-inning start this week, with just three hits and one walk allowed compared to eight strikeouts.
Aberdeen season-to-date stats.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Last week: 4-2 vs. Salem Red Sox
- Next opponent: at Hickory (Rangers)
- Season record: 26-37, fifth place (15 games back) in Carolina League North
The Shorebirds pulled themselves out of last place in the division, and sent Salem into last place for now, by picking up a win over this week’s series. It hasn’t been a great season in the standings for this team, but it’s not too late for them to reverse that, especially since the minors separate first half and second half records in the way that MLB does not.
A trio of teenagers freshly arrived with Delmarva this week after getting promoted up out of the Florida Complex League. Two of these guys made a big positive impact right away: Luis Almeyda, a former seven-figure international amateur signing, picked up six hits over his first five games, and stole two bases. Last year’s 14th round pick, Nate George, also had six hits over five games, and he stole six bases in eight tries. Welcome to full season ball, gentlemen. I hope you keep enjoying it.
Another guy who had six hits in five games is infielder Elis Cuevas, who is 20 and whose hits included two home runs – his first two homers of the year, in fact. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much exciting to write about recently-fascinating prospect Yasmil Bucce, who skidded to a 3-18 at the plate over the course of this week. On the bright side, there were three walks mixed in.
Delmarva season-to-date stats.
Florida Complex League
The lowest US-based Orioles affiliate has a 16-15 record in its season so far. There aren’t as many guys to watch down here after those promotions to Delmarva, but here are two outfielders who are interesting to me:
- Jordan Sanchez – The 19-year-old Cuban is batting .274/.432/.534 through 28 games
- Stiven Martinez – Just 17 and batting .239/.400/.388 through 23 games
Monday’s FCL Orioles game was postponed. The team provided a statement to The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka which said that “some of our players were involved in a jet ski accident” on Sunday. Kostka’s reporting said that two people have been hospitalized. Best wishes for recovery for those who were injured in this accident.
**
Last week’s player of the week poll was nearly unanimous for Dylan Beavers, who won with “it’s functionally illegal to vote for the other candidate” numbers in a 96-4 margin. That was the first win of these weekly polls for Beavers, joining this list: Trey Gibson, Brandon Young, Vance Honeycutt, Alex Pham, Adam Retzbach, Samuel Basallo, and Yasmil Bucce. We’ve had one two-time winner, Braxton Bragg.
Will there be a repeat winner this week? This week’s poll is largely made up of less-heralded minor leaguers, of whom one is a past winner. The choice is yours if Retzbach can win another.