Jackson Holliday walked a lot, Chayce McDermott DIDN’T walk a lot, and other highlights from the past week
Here on Camden Chat, in addition to our daily minor league coverage, we’ll be stepping back every Tuesday morning to look at the bigger picture across a whole week of results and how the team’s prospects are faring so far. Most of the focus will be on players from Camden Chat’s composite top O’s prospects list, with mentions of some standout efforts from players who could be ranked on a future list.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
- Past week: 5-1 at Worcester Red Sox
- Coming week: vs. Gwinnett (23-28, Braves)
- Season record: 28-23, third place (6.5 games back) of ten teams in International League East
The Tides were completely demolished in the first game of this series, losing 20-4, before rallying to win the next five. Norfolk’s offense scored nine runs in their Friday, Saturday, and Sunday games.
You might be more excited if Jackson Holliday (#1) was more directly involved in some of these offensive explosions. Holliday was on base a lot since he walked seven times, and he hit for decent power, so his OBP and SLG numbers for the week look good. In his official at-bats, the stuff that makes up the BA, he was 5-22, which is a .227 average. I like the batting eye but we could be more excited with him hitting .300.
One guy whose week was unambiguously good was Heston Kjerstad (#5) who had 11 hits in 21 at-bats, including five doubles and a homer. That’s a hit in more than half of his ABs and an extra-base hit for more than half of his hits. He also walked more times than he struck out, 5-4. Is that good? I think that’s good. A brief nod to a handful of non-prospects who helped fuel the Tides offense in these games: Daniel Johnson, Nick Maton, and Terrin Vavra.
Not a particularly good week for the Norfolk pitching staff. One guy who kept the ERA low for the week is a reliever who was just promoted from Bowie: Trey McGough (unranked). This 26-year-old lefty struck out seven guys and walked just one in 5.1 innings across two outings. Of the pitching prospects here, Cade Povich (#9) notched the minimum quality start of six innings with three earned runs allowed. He struck out six and walked two.
Others of note
- IF/OF Connor Norby (#7) – Didn’t miss the boat for offense either with 8-25 hitting including his ninth homer; struck out 11 times in 25 at-bats.
- RHP Chayce McDermott (#10) – On the plus side, only walked one batter and struck out ten in a five-inning start. Three earned runs is tough on the ERA. The K/BB ratio is what I’m watching for him and for May he’s got 37/4 in four starts. That’ll play.
- RHP Justin Armbruester (#20) – Another tough week for the fringe righty who made some fans in the Orioles prospect-watching sphere; 9 ER in 7 IP over two games, six walks plus two hit batters. 9.32 ERA for the season.
- IF Coby Mayo (#3) – On the injured list with a fractured rib. Most recent game: May 16.
Double-A Bowie Baysox
- Past week: 1-5 vs. Richmond (Giants)
- Coming week: at Somerset (22-23, Yankees)
- Season record: 22-22, fourth place (4.5 games back) of six teams in Eastern League Southwest
A tough week for the team’s win-loss record. For the prospect enthusiast, there is this substantial silver lining: Samuel Basallo (#2) rocked again this week, with a .400 average in the five games he played, including his sixth and seventh homers of the season. Possibly of interest in his continuing progression from the stress fracture that kept him from catching for a month, he caught four games in this series, the first time he’s done so all season.
Joining Basallo in the two homer club against the Flying Squirrels was outfielder Dylan Beavers (#8), who only had four hits in 19 AB but made them count, hitting a triple and two dingers. Through 38 games, Beavers is batting .289/.388/.511. He’s a consensus top 10 prospect in the system, so it’s not like he’s totally anonymous, but I think he gets lost in the shuffle anyway and these are numbers that are worth keeping an eye on.
It’s been a tale of two seasons for Seth Johnson (#11) who was not very good in April, with a WHIP over 2 for the month. May has seen him cut that down to 1.109. This week’s five-inning start where he allowed just two hits and a walk played a part of that. It’s the first time this season that Johnson has gone five – at 68 pitches, this was a season high. I don’t know what to make of all of this, honestly, but it’s nice to see him have his best start of the year.
Others of note
- OF Jud Fabian (#14) – Crashed back to earth hard with just one hit in 17 at-bats. In un-Fabian-like fashion, this scuffling didn’t come with many strikeouts.
- IF Max Wagner (#15-t) – Second week at this level after starting out on the injured list; just one hit, a homer, in 14 AB.
- RHP Alex Pham (#24) – Absolutely blistered by the opposition in his start this week, giving up nine runs on seven hits and five walks in four innings. Similar to Armbruester, had some people excited for him before the season and the results are no good so far.
High-A Aberdeen IronBirds
- Past week: 3-3 vs. Jersey Shore (Phillies)
- Coming week: at Hudson Valley (21-21, Yankees)
- Season record: 23-22, fourth place (three games back) of six teams in South Atlantic League North
Note: Aberdeen played the first game of its series yesterday to coincide with Memorial Day. Those game stats are not included here.
To all the people out there who think Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#7) can’t hit, this one goes out to you: He had eight hits in 24 at-bats over this series. The dedicated haters are probably already aware that included just one extra-base hit. For the season, Bradfield is up to a .720 OPS, having struck out in just 18.1% of plate appearances.
Bradfield’s compatriot in the Aberdeen outfield, 10th round pick from last year Matthew Etzel (unranked) has been the season-long performer for the IronBirds and that continued across these games. Etzel collected another five hits in 18 at-bats, including two doubles and a homer, and he added two stolen bases to his season tally – now up to 23, one more than the speedy Bradfield.
This was the first week at High-A for freshly-promoted Luis de León, a 21-year-old lefty who earned the way up from Delmarva. He got into two games in his first week for the IronBirds, one multi-inning relief outing and one start. It’s a solid tally when combined, allowing three runs in 7.1 innings – with most of the damage coming from a pair of home runs. He issued two walks while striking out seven. That’ll work.
Others of note
- RHP Moisés Chace (unranked) – Chace had to be hospitalized on Friday night after a collision when covering first base and has been diagnosed with a concussion and placed on the injured list. Wishing him a speedy recovery and that he can pick up where he left off (1.41 ERA) when he gets back.
- IF Mac Horvath (#12) – Four hits, including a double and a dinger, in 18 AB. No help to his OBP as he drew no walks. .673 OPS through 34 games this season.
- RHP Jackson Baumeister (#15-t) – A scoreless 4.2 innings, scattering four hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. For the season, 40 K in 29.2 IP is nice, 22 BB is less nice.
Aberdeen season-to-date stats.
Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds
- Past week: 2-4 vs. Columbia (Royals)
- Coming week: at Carolina (26-17, Brewers)
- Season record: 15-29, last place (11.5 games back) of six teams in Carolina League North
Now that de León is up in Aberdeen, the highest-ranked prospect in the system who’s on the Shorebirds is Braylin Tavera (#15-t) … who’s on the injured list since May 15 due to a shoulder sprain. Continuing down the list, shortstop Leandro Arias (#18) is the highest-ranked guy who’s active right now.
With Delmarva’s offense being what it has been so far this season – the worst in the Carolina League – any kind of success is worth celebrating. Arias had a nice week, picking up four doubles as part of his 6-19 batting. Continuing to merit some attention with an even better week than that is outfielder Thomas Sosa (#27-t), who went 8-19 over five games, with three walks to three strikeouts. Age and performance taken into consideration, the 19-year-old Sosa might be the best hitter on this roster. A few more light strikeout weeks would be good for a guy who’s struck out in 30% of plate appearances to date.
No one on our top prospect list is on the Shorebirds pitching staff now. The guy currently most worth keeping an eye on might be last year’s 14th round pick Michael Forret (unranked), who made two starts in this Columbia series and struck out 12 batters over 8.2 innings of work. For the season, Forret has a 3.44 ERA, but nice a nice K/BB ratio with 47 strikeouts to 14 walks.
Others of note
- C Aneudis Mordán (unranked) – The 19-year-old catcher leads the team with seven home runs. He hit two of them over the previous week.
Delmarva season-to-date stats.
Florida Complex League Orioles
Wins have been hard to come by for this 5-12 squad, but they picked one up on Monday with a 2-1 win over the FCL Rays. Held hitless in three at-bats in the game was shortstop prospect Luis Almeyda (#19), who’s OPSing .610 through 15 games.
FCL Orioles season-to-date stats.
**
The winner for last week’s minor league player of the week poll was Beavers, who took down 65% of a three-way poll for his first victory of the season. There have been six different winners across the six weeks of this series, as Beavers joins Fabian, Etzel, Povich, Kjerstad, and McDermott with his victory.
The choice is yours as to whether we get our first repeat winner.