Tony-OH

That's why I don't like extreme positioning against hitters. If you are going to throw cutter/slider outside to a RHB, you can't have the 2B playing up the middle.

If the orioles challenged it, yes!

Need Gunnar to have a better at bat there.

He's 6-foot-4 and 200 plus pounds already, and while he runs well for his size, he won't be center field fast. He's better suited for corner outfield.

I would agree with this. Not much trading happens this time of year and the Orioles are 14-7, so no reason to make a trade, but I do think those kinds of guys have to be on the table at the trading deadline. the problem is team are going to try and hold out for a Kjerstad, Mayo, Basallo type.

Basallo is off to a very poor start this year and the 0-16 BB-K ratio is shocking after what he did last year. I don't know if he's pressing or the elbow is bothering him, but he's not driving the ball much at all this year. Not sure anyone expected him to be slashing .237/.233/.322/.555 after 60 PAs with just one homer. I would bet a lot of money he would not be walkless at 60 PAs. Just really, really disappointing so far. He's looked really off balanced and out of sorts and his hits have been a lot ground balls. Hopefully he'll get it going soon.

I was going to say the same thing. Cowser and Beavers both can handle left field in Camden Yards, Kjerstad can not. His below average to poor throwing doesn't make him a great option in RF either. The way the Orioles value defense, Kjerstad is probably the guy who they would move in the right deal.

I was looking to see if Soto was back in Norfolk and saw he was claimed by the Reds. He's on his 3rd AAA team this year alone. lol For a guy no one wants, he sure is wanted. The Orioles have really lost a lot of infield depth in AAA.

It's a very heavy International program offense since the Orioles rarely draft high school hitters. This is the first time many of these guys have hit in cold weather, so they get a bit of a pass so far. Saying that, the struggles are pretty disappointing, especially for Tavera and Arias, but they are at least not doing too bad in controlling the strike zone so far. Arias in the 7-day IL and hasn't played since April 13th. Sosa has hit a lot of doubles, but the K's are too high. He's been walking more this last week so that's good. Acevedo has been a disappointment for me. I keep waiting for him to breakout, but I think he just may be who he is, a toolsy guy that just doesn't have enough hit tool. Mordan can hit a little bit but doesn't have a position. The defense overall has been pretty bad too, with 4th most errors (25) in the Carolina League leading to 19 unearned runs and a lot of extra pitches.

Good to see the arm accuracy on that one.

The fact that he has played one inning of CF this year tells us what they think of his ability to play there. He's controlled the strike zone well, but doesn't hit the ball with much authority. He's like a 2B version of Bradfield, but Bradfield at least drives the ball occasionally.

Bencosme will need to earn a rise by continuing to hit and hit with some pop. He doesn't belong anywhere near SS and has proved that, but they keep running him out there because they don't have any good shortstops. He's basically a second baseman or will need to play the outfield to provide defensive value. What do you not like about DeLeon? They are still babying his pitch count and maybe they seem him a reliever long term, but he's getting those ground balls out and missing bats.

Ritchie is off to a nice start to his college career at Oklahoma State.

Got to wonder is the Orioles dodged a bullet on not going over slot with Witt. Not off to a good start with Texas this year. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=witt--001tan

Agreed. I get the thinking that he has "nothing left to learn" at AAA because of the numbers he put up there, but the problem with that is it ignores the fact that big league pitchers are showing that he might have more to learn. There are some quality pitchers in AAA, so it's not like they are all awful. He's too good to to look this bad, so there is certainly a chance this is all in his head right now. That 3-2 take definitely gave me pause because it showed he was guessing. Good major league hitters don't guess on 3-2 pitches.

Ben has been very, very reluctant to criticize Holliday during these struggles. Then again Ben has been "Orioleized" a bit over the years anyways. Don't get me wrong, I like him and Brown for the most part, but when he was guest announcer, he was way more willing to say it like he saw it. Now, he's a little more reluctant to say anything that could be seen as negative. I mean, he's not Hunter or Bordick, but he's more willing to just kind of ignore players who are struggling.

Hader is going to be fine. 1) Houston is not going to panic and trade a guy they signed to a 5-year, $95 million contract 2) No way would Elias trade for a reliever signed to a 5-year contract like that.

1. Not much more really. It's not that I don't think he's going to hit, but no matter who he is and how "cool" he seems to remain, at some point he needs to just relax and get a reset. Every statcast metric showed he was ready for the big leagues but damn, I'm not sure I've ever seen a top prospect come up and get dominated like he has. It has not been pretty in almost anyway. I don't want to see the kid set a futility record and he's got to be close in starting a big league career. 2. Could be, but man is he pulling off the ball. He's guessing now and that's never a good thing. Watching that 3-2 center-cut fastball tells me he was literally guessing slider instead of see ball, hit ball. How can this kind of whiff and futility not get into any non-robot's head? 3. I'm not a hitting mechanics guy, but I can see his front half leaking out, even on fastballs. He's pulling off everything right now instead of letting the ball travel and trying to go the other way. He leaked at times in the minors too, but he hit the ball to all fields there. Nobody expected him to look this way at the major league level. The kid is too talented to not hit, but he may need a reset. The Orioles are doing fine with him struggling, but I'd hate to see him end up putting up historically bad numbers to start a major league career. I'd probably send him down and bring up Norby to play 2B. But they know him better than I do so I can't get too upset over what they do or don't do. But it's hard to watch right now.

I posted this in the Westburg thread but thought it was appropriate to post here. Norby is not a huge EV guy. Last year he was very similar. So while he's doing well and has had success, he does not hit the ball consistently as hard as players like Westburg, Gunnar, or Cowser and is behind Mayo, Kjerstad, Holliday and many non descript Norfolk teammates. Now is he far behind? No, but it's just worth noting.

Here are the Norfolk AVG EVs this year. Norby is ok, but pretty far behind Westburg and Westburg is doing it against major league pitching.

The 2021 draft is looking a little sketchy and I remember not liking the outfield heavy approach to that draft. I had no issues with Cowser, but just didn't like taking that many outfielders in a row. So Far Trimble, Rhodes and Donta Williams have not impressed and look like misses. Saying that, that draft has not produced much talent in that 2nd-through 4th rounds yet with RHP Bryce Miller (Mariners) the only one to put up some decent WAR. Still too early to call this draft anything yet, but it certainly looks like Cowser was a hit even when some thought he was an ovedraft. Elias' ability to hit on 1st rounders is pretty amazing. So far, they really haven't missed and yes, I know they were top 5 up until last year's draft when they had the 17th overall pick and took Bradfield, but still impressive. Plus, I never do any real research on amateur players until the Orioles draft them. So I never have strong opinions against guys unless I can't understand their selection.

I agree, they seem so natural together with their different personalities. Let's hope we're talking about them for the next ten years or so!

Westburg consistently hits the ball harder than Norby. I'm not against Norby getting a shot, in fact I would send Holliday back to AAA and give him a shot until Holliday can reset a bit, but Westburg definitely hits the ball harder more consistently than Norby.

I mean, besides that!

With his success this year, Westburg seems so much more relaxed and affable. This was a great interview between the two of these guys.