vs. RED SOX, 4/17

o

BALTIMORE O RIOLES

Ubaldo Jimenez -RHP (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Alejandro DeAza - LF

Steve Pearce - 1B

Travis Snider - RF

Adam Jones - CF

Chris Davis - DH

Manny Machado - 3B

Caleb Joseph - C

Everth Cabrera - SS

Jonathan Schoop - 2B

BOSTON RED SOX

Mookie Betts - CF

Dustin Pedroia - 2B

David Ortiz - DH

Hanley Ramirez - LF

Pablo Sandoval - 3B

Mike Napoli - 1B

Shane Victorino - RF

Xander Bogaerts - SS

Ryan Hanigan - C

Joseph William Kelly - RHP (1-0, 1.29 ERA)

http://www.baseballpress.com/lineups

o

SUNDAY, APRIL 19th

***********************

PRESS BOX:O How Dylan Bundy dong, and what are the plans for him ???

TONY:O He's down with AA-Bowie right now. . The velocity was down earlier this spring, so there was some concern from organization. Subsequently, they put him on a 3-inning limit. He's has 1 start so far. I saw him pitch. I didn't get velocity numbers on him, but he has pitched well. The bottom line is that he DOES have the chance to make it to the majors this season, because he is on the 40-man roster. It really comes down to how well he is throwing, and with the MLB bullpens being what they are these days (injuries and overuse), you could see him as early as this summer.

PRESS BOX:O But, would you consider him (Bundy) a disappointment at all so far, or is that too harsh ???

TONY:O I think it's too harsh because of the injuries, particularly the Tommy John surgery. Not everybody just bounces back from that right away. He has NOT performed poorly. He's a hard worker, and the Orioles are still very high on him. Perhaps they no longer see him as a #1 starter, but they certainly still see him as at least a solid # 3 or #4 starter in the Big Leagues.

PRESS BOX:O Hunter Harver has really superseded Bundy as the Orioles' top pitching prospect, hasn't he ???

TONY:O I think that a lot of people would agree with that statement. He hasn't had the injury history that Bundy has, although he did get shut down briefly last year. he came back this spring and looked very, very god. The velocity numbers were up. He's built precisely how you would want from a young starter. He's tall and lanky like Chris Sale, there is no effort in his delivery, the ball jumps out of his hand. You'll see him run all the way up to 94,95,96 MPH with good movement on the fastball ...... so, it's not like you're looking at a guy with just a straight fastball. he also has a good curveball, and the change-up is something that he is starting to work on, also. He still has a great upside. He's still projected to be a #1 or a #2 starter in the major leagues if everything goes well for him.

PRESS BOX:O And Harvey certianly has good blood lines, with his father (Bryan Harvey) having been an excellent closer in the major leagues himself at one time.

TONY:O Correct.

PRESS BOX:O Mike Wright doesn't have the name recognition that Bundy and Harvey has, but he is starting to make some waves, isn't he ???

TONY:O Mike Wright is an interesting guy. He has been in the organization for about 4 or 5 years now, and he's really taken a little while to get there. In his history, he has struggled to have the proverbial "put-away pitch", and that has always been the downside to him. But this spring, the velocity has jumped up. We've seen him as high as 97 or 98 MPH. He's typically been between 90 and 93 MPH, so that is a major increase.

I personally think that he is going to be a lot like Jim Johnson was for us ...... if we take him out of that starting role and put him in the relief role, I think that he will eventually be a really good 8th or 9th inning guy for the Orioles.

PRESS BOX:O Christian Walker ...... Considering that Chris Davis will be eligible for free agency at the end of this season, will Christian Walker push the issue on whether or not the Orioles decide to try to re-sign Davis, and/or be a factor as to how much money we will offer Davis, should we decide to try to re-sign him ???

TONY:O That's an interesting question. Last year, Walker had a very good season. He added the power to his game that a lot of people thought that he needed to add (26 HR and 96 RBI combined at AA-Bowie and AAA-Norfolk.) Unfortunately, he also has a couple of downsides. He's an average to below-average defender. He has trouble digging balls out. You know the way Buck is with his defense. He's like Earl used to be, he wants everybody out there to be above-average (defensively), so that is something that he is going to have to keep improving upon for the organization to seriously consider him as a regular with the big club in the future. Also, there is still questions about his bat speed. A lot of scouts that have been following him are not sure if he is going to be able to handle a major league fastball on a consistent basis, so he is going to have to keep improving that also (in addition to improving his defense.) The only that that he can do is put up big numbers again this year (at AAA-Norfolk), and force the issue and make them make a decision with him.

PRESS BOX:O You know we're getting old when we are talking about a guy whose grandfather we remember well. Mike Yastrzemski

TONY:O Yastrzemski is a guy that really stepped up last season. He had a great college career at Vanderbilt. He's not a great "toosly" guy ...... not a guy that the souts go out and fall in love with. BUT, if you watch the guy over a long period of time (140 or 150 games), you realize that he's a guy that can help you. He's a great defensive outfielder. He has a little bit of pop, he hits the ball to all fields. He's a guy that I can see eventually becoming perhaps a 4th outfielder, and help a ball club.

PRESS BOX:O Because of time constraints, we didn't get to talk about one of your favorites ...... Zach Davies. We'll do that later in the summer.

TONY:O Great.

o

Some observations: Flaherty started the first three games, have we seen him since? Did anyone think Davis would DH so much with Pearce at first? How much of a look will Lough get?

Also, I like when they have Schoop hitting behind Machdo. I'd move him to 7 and drop the other two putting Cabrera and De Aza back-to-back.

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Jimmy Paredes is playing third base and batting second tonight at Double-A Bowie. He's slated to move up to Triple-A Norfolk on Friday.

Norfolk outfielder Nolan Reimold has hit safely in seven of eight games, batting .333 (10-for-30) with a home run, five walks and a .429 on-base percentage.

Catcher Steve Clevenger is batting .364 (8-for-22) with a home run, four RBIs and a .481 OBP. He's 4-for-14 throwing out runners attempting to steal.

Roch Kubatko

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="enmz"><p>Brandon Kline's final pitch of first inning clocked at 97 mph. Allowed a run on a walk, a hit batsman and a single.</p>— Peter Schmuck (@SchmuckStop) <a href="

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="enmz"><p>Brandon Kline's final pitch of first inning clocked at 97 mph. Allowed a run on a walk, a hit batsman and a single.</p>— Peter Schmuck (@SchmuckStop) <a href="

">April 17, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Spelled Branden wrong, no?

btw, hello guys, , think I'll be able to join you for the game thread today for the first time in a while.

Spelled Branden wrong, no?

btw, hello guys, , think I'll be able to join you for the game thread today for the first time in a while.

Yes. He did. But he is Schmuck. He doesn't really need to know about the players. Josh Price homered off of him.

Dr. O'Day?

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Didn't know this about O'day...pretty cool

He's Polish not Irish. Never would have guessed.

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I thought he may be a distant relation of Hall of Fame ump Hank.

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Looks like a big strike zone for Kelly tonight. We'll see if that extends to Ubaldo.

Nice to see extended at bats from De Aza

Pesky DeAza.

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Eight pitches.