Here He Comes: Matt Wieters Coming Up, as is David Hernandez

Andy MacPhail has made the move; Matt Wieters will be brought up from Norfolk for his major league debut on Friday against the Tigers. Also coming up for Thursday will be David Hernandez according to the Baltimore Sun, as Koji Uehara will be heading to the DL.

For Orioles fans, Wieters coming up is big. The best prospect in the entire minor leagues has been hyped up the last two years, and will play in Camden Yards Friday. He has done well with the Tides, batting above .300.

What is important to know is that Wieters is not going to be a savior this season or next season. For all of his talent, it is very unlikely that he will have a great season. He could have a decent one, this will not make the Orioles a winning team this season. But it is exciting to finally see him in the orange and black. The Orioles had been waiting to bring him up because of arbitration issues, but now he is ready to go.

But also, David Hernandez is coming up. There had been rumors that he might be the next person, and for the Orioles the hand is forced due to Uehara's injury. Check out Windsor's Prospect Report on him here. So far numerous pitchers from Norfolk have been needed. To name them, Brad Bergeson, Jason Berken, Radhames Liz, Matt Albers, and now David Hernandez. Let's just hope that Chris Tillman is not added to that list anytime soon.

(Photo credit: MASN)

Brandon Erbe: In Control (ATH and Scout.com Report)

Before the summer ends, I traveled to Frederick to see the Keys for orioles.scout.com. My friend Michael Jaffe sent me to check out Brandon Erbe on Thursday, and we chose the right day. You can check out the article here. Hopefully I'll be checking out a few more games before seasons end.

Brandon Erbe: In Control

Brandon Erbe made a good first impression in his full season debut in 2006 leading to lofty expectations in what turned out to be a disappointing 2007. This year, Erbe is reaching those expectations, putting 2007 behind him. Inside, find out what has contributed to Erbe's turnaround.

Brandon Erbe, Baltimore’s 3rd Round pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, had a disappointing 2007 despite the high expectations a solid full season debut in 2006 created. In his second year with Frederick, the 20-year-old has worked on his complimentary pitches and sharpened his mechanics, greatly improving from last season. In one year’s time, he has dropped his ERA from 6.26 in 2007 to 4.71 this season.

Thursday night, Erbe threw six shutout innings, notching six strikeouts in a 2-1 extra innings victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats. Though 97 pitches were thrown, only five runners reached base, two on walks, the fifth consecutive start Erbe has walked three or fewer batters.

Already armed with a powerful mid-90s fastball, a lot of the year has been spent working on refining Erbe’s other pitches, including his changeup, curveball, and slider. The Carolina League has solid fastball-hitting squads, giving Erbe the chance to work on the latter pitches.

“I’m gonna need my changeup in the future, and you really don’t get better with it unless you throw it, that’s what I did tonight,” Erbe said about tonight’s performance, “By the end of the game they were looking for changeups, looking for curveballs, so I threw a few sliders.”

Erbe said that today’s win “gives me confidence in my other pitches like my changeup and my slider, so I know I can throw them when I need to.”

Frederick pitching coach Blaine Beatty, who has worked with Erbe his entire time with the Keys, has been helping Erbe change his delivery while improving his pitches, and was very happy about Erbe’s performance Thursday night.

“Tonight when he went into the game, we wanted to establish the fact that this is a good fastball-hitting team, and he had to use all of his pitches, especially his changeup,” Beatty explained “That changeup was a key pitch tonight.”

In addition to improving command, a stress this season has been working on the slider and change. One stat that generally indicates an improved change is the batting average against for left-handed batters against right-handed pitchers, and vice versa. Erbe has limited lefties to a .236 average, more than 50 points lower than last year.

Though the ERA may seem high, Erbe has established solid control during the season. He leads the Keys with 142 strikeouts to only 47 walks in 143.2 IP, reducing his walks per nine innings to the lowest of his career, 3.06 BB/9 IP.

Coach Beatty isn’t worried about the high pitch-count. Erbe does have two complete games, the only ones Frederick has this season.

“That might be his M.O. for a while until he really settles in gets it doing with his new delivery.”

Though Erbe is improving, he knows he has work to do, but tonight was a good sign for the future.

“Tonight is what I kind of approach, I have to throw my off-speed stuff for a strike and be consistent around the zone. If I can keep guys off my fastball and guessing a little bit, that’s when success is going to come.”

There is no word on whether or not Erbe will pitch in the fall or winter for the Orioles. But for now, he’s focused on the remainder of the season, as the Keys are currently 4 games out of a playoff spot with 9 games remaining.

Orioles get Matusz, draft signings successful

Like many first rounders, Brian Matusz waited until the last day to sign the dotted line, but eventually did. The lefty starter from San Diego caps the August 15th deadline for the Orioles, signing a 3.2 million dollar signing bonus in his major league deal (Dan Connolly, Baltimore Sun). Only two first rounders, Aaron Crow for the Nationals and Gerrit Cole for the Yankees, didn't sign.

With the signing, the top nine picks plus picks 11-15 have been signed to the Orioles farm system. Along with Matusz, notables include:
--Xavier Avery: 2nd round, CF, had committed to play football for Georgia
--L.J. Hoes: 3rd round, 2B/OF, local phenom who had committed to UNC
--Kyle Hudson: 4th round, OF, hit .411 for Illinois in 2008
--Gregory Miclat: 5th round, SS, solid contact hitter with speed for UVA
--Jesse Beal: 14th round, P, had committed to Maryland (I reserve judgement on this one, Maryland really, really needs pitching)
--Brian Conley: 16th round, OF, from Towson
--Chad Durakis and Oliver Drake: 38th and 43rd rounds respectively, both played for local colleges (Maryland and Navy)

Overall, this draft was very successful for the Orioles, They landed their top nine picks, mainly focusing on prospects that were likely to join the Orioles and not head to college (Avery, Hoes) as well as already established college juniors (Matusz, Hudson, Miclat). They didn't go for high-risk players who didn't want to sign, and they got paid off by getting who they wanted.

The only thing that would have made the draft perfect for the Orioles would have been to sign Kevin Brady, a player taken in the 44th round who had 3rd round talent, but didn't want to sign for 3rd round money. The Orioles had a throw away draft pick, and tried to entice the fireballer, but couldn't. But no big loss. The fact is the Orioles had a solid signing time and they should be real happy with the new crop of players.

(Photo credit: Collegebaseballinsider.com)

Looking at the Future

I'll go ahead and introduce myself, I'm windsor and one of the things I'll be doing is periodically reporting on the O's minor league teams and, in particular, their prospects. I'll forgo babbling about myself (I'm sure everyone is very disappointed) and get right to it.

Setting the stage for future posts I want to paint a general picture of the Orioles farm system, overviewing its strengths and weaknesses.

The strength of the Orioles farm system is by far it's pitching talent and depth. This isn't the farm system of your youth, boys and girls, it has improved by leaps and bounds from past years in the pitching department. There is a good deal of debate as to how the prospects stack up against one another within the system, but in my estimation there are six pitchers who can be considered "upper level" prospects. These include: Chris Tillman, David Hernandez, Chorye Spoone, Brandon Erbe, Brian Matusz (upon signing), Jake Arrieta, and possibly Bradley Bergesen who has emerged from relative obscurity (2.53 ERA and a 10-2 record through only 14 starts at Bowie this year). This list excludes other pitchers who could grow into major contributors (Tim Bascom, Luis Noel, Hayden Penn, among others). In short, pitching is in vogue.

Out of vogue (?) is hitting, unfortunately. The one blue chip position prospect is Matt Wieters, who has exploded in his first season both behind and at the plate. Other notable prospects include Nolan Reimold who has made a strong case for a callup to the majors, Brandon Snyder, Billy Rowell, and Luis Montanez (although he is 27 years old). There are a littany of mid-level prospects, and the organization is hoping that someone outside of Reimold and Wieters (particularly Snyder and Rowell) step up in a big way this season.

Moving forward I'll be giving periodic prospect profiles and players on the rise and the decline.