Break Up the Baysox: Week 6
The Fremulon Insurance Prospect of the Week
There were a number of exciting pitching performances this week, but the honors belong to Bowie first baseman Brandon Snyder. We haven’t talked much about Snyder, but he has really turned his bat on in 2009. Last year in the Carolina League, Snyder hit 13 home runs with an .848 OPS. So far in the Eastern League, Snyder has dwarfed those numbers with a 1.033 OPS and 6 homers already. This week alone Snyder had a .447 wOBA and 2 home runs against Erie and Akron – the top two teams in the division. Snyder has had a rough time as a prospect: drafted as a catcher, he got hurt and moved to first, but didn’t hit well until he met Wieters in Hawaii in fall 2007. Now we might have to seriously start considering Snyder as a future cornerstone bat for the franchise.
The Norfolk Tides (23-12, 1st IL South, 2 GA)
If you didn’t see my field trip reports from Syracuse and Buffalo, go find them in the comments. There is definitely something more meaty about getting to see the players than simply seeing the results. It was good to see Jason Berken (4.2 IP, 3 BB, 5 K) struggle and understand why. On the other hand, it was actually good to see Chris Tillman (6 IP, 2 BB, 10 K) really start to dominate like we all know he can and will. David Hernandez (11.1 IP, 6 BB, 11 K) has stumbled a little with the walks, but Matt Wieters (3 HR) is finding his stroke and Justin Turner (.519 wOBA) even got in on the hitting action.
The Bowie Baysox (17-18, 4th EL South, 10 GB)
Outside of Snyder, the Baysox don’t have any real positional prospects. The demotion of Mike Costanzo changes that a little, but not really. Instead we’ll settle for Jake Arrieta, who rebounded from a bad start for a rain-shortened complete game with 10 strikeouts, and Troy Patton, who turned in a mediocre start for the first time as an Oriole (6 IP, 2 BB, 2 K).
The Frederick Keys (17-19, 3rd CL North, 6 GB)
Nate Nery (6 IP, 1 BB, 6 K) and Zach Britton (6 IP, 2 BB, 6 K) picked up the slack for Brian Matusz (5.2 IP, 4 BB, 6 K), who couldn’t repeat his outstanding pitching from last week. Billy Rowell (2 for 23 with a walk) took a couple of steps back after a good start to his season (he sits at .738 OPS), but fellow outfielder Matt Angle (.471 wOBA with 2 for 2 stolen bases) made a good impression in Rowell’s absence.
The Delmarva Shorebirds (17-16, 3rd SAL North, 2 GB)
The Shorebird pitching let the team down this week, with bad showings from Rick Zagone (3.2 IP, 1 BB, 3 K) and Cole McCurry (9.2 IP, 4 BB, 9 K). There unfortunately remains nobody standing out offensively. L.J. Hoes and Xavier Avery led the “attack” with 3 extra base hits, all doubles, between them. Of course, they also had a combined .326 OBP, so it isn’t all bad (it’s just mostly bad).
(Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)
Jake Arrieta has been honored as EL Pitcher of the Week. Outstanding, and it will match nicely with his Carolina League Pitcher of the Year award from last year.
The calvary inches closer every day…
“Snyder has had a rough time as a prospect: drafted as a catcher, he got hurt and moved to first, but didn’t hit well until he met Wieters in Hawaii in fall 2007.”
Did Wieters give him advice or tips and/or did Snyder learn a lot by watching and playing along side/with him? I can’t recall much from when they played together on that team. Simply more of the “Wieters magic touch”? Sounds like another “Matt Wieters fact…lol
Let’s see if we can put together a 25-man roster of all “farm system” Orioles, just for shits and giggles:
C – Matt Wieters
1B – Brandon Snyder
2B – Brian Roberts
3B – Scott Moore
SS – Blake Davis
LF – Lou Montanez
CF – Nolan Reimold
RF – Nick Markakis
DH – Oscar Salazar
BENCH – Justin Turner (IF)
BENCH – Joey Gathright (OF)
BENCH – Guillermo Rodriguez (C)
BENCH – Justin Christian (OF)
SP – Brian Matusz
SP – Chris Tillman
SP – Jake Arrieta
SP – Troy Patton
SP – Brandon Erbe
P – Chris Ray (CLOSER)
P – Jim Johnson (SET-UP)
P – David Hernandez (SET-UP)
P – Wilfrido Perez (LOOGY)
P – Kam Mickolio (MIDDLE)
P – Jim Miller (MIDDLE)
P – Brad Bergesen (LONG)
And that’s not even including Jason Berken, who would probably be alright as a bullpen guy. That’s a starting rotation and overall pitching staff to drool over, though.
Hehe… I’m bored.
I highly doubt that Wieters had any effect on Snyder that year in the Hawaiian Winter League, but Snyder did lead the league in batting average at .378 and hasn’t really looked back since then. It’s just a coincidence, but I’m all in favor of making Wieters seem like a real God in any possible way.
Dan, I’m fairly certain that Reimold can’t play center. You’d probably have to go with Christian or Gathright out there (gulp). Fun rotation, there, though.
Off to see the Nats play the Pirates…should be a healthy reminder of just how much worse we could have it.
Nice roundup as always, Andrew.
The Mets need a new first baseman…Aubrey Huff might be valuable to them. Thoughts?
Like I said before, I think the Mets are a club that MacPhail could get a lot from. They are always in “win now” mode and when you’re in that mode, you’re at the mercy of the club with the player that you want.
Also: Snyder.
The problem with the Mets and Huff is that the Mets don’t have anything the Orioles need (that is, an upper level shortstop or corner infielder). I figure any deal would be based on someone like Nick Evans and a pitcher or low level infield prospects, and it would be very good to get something back for Huff…but I’m not sure that that particular package does it for me. The Mets system just doesn’t have that much going on in it.
I think it’s kind of really funny that on the exact day I decide Snyder is the guy to talk about both MASN and the Sun decide to talk about him, too. So I must be locked into the Baltimore Sports vibe or something. He’s turned into an exciting prospect very quickly, but I’d like to see him still have a plus .900 OPS in July before we anoint him the next anything except the next Calvin Pickering.
Yeah I have no idea what’s in the Mets system. At this point, we need infield and pitching and if they have neither then I’ll wait for someone who does. And he’s the one guy on the team that the O’s could really get somebody good for. You can get spare parts for Baez, Walker, Mora, Scott, etc., but Huff should be commanding real talent.