Tony-OH

This was a great appearance for McDermott overall and shows when he commands his stuff, he's quite good when it comes to missing bats. A 40% Whiff rate is pretty impressive especially the 38% rate on the fastball alone. @nvpacchi had a great post earlier on why the fastball plays despite the fact that the velocity readings are average. Now, he still throws too many uncompetitive pitches but he did have a nice 20% whiff rate in the zone which means it's not all about getting chases for him. That shows quality of stuff. A few more outings without walking a bunch of guys could make him a promotion candidate for the pen if an opportunity arises. I could see him fulfilling Baumann's or Baker's role if they went down for some reason. Yesterday it only took him 77 pitches to get through 5 innings but typically it takes a lot more, so I still see him as a guy heading for relief. But even if they still want to develop him as a starter, there's no reason they can't give him some big league time this year out of the pen if a need arises. I certainly rather see him than Gillaspie again. But either way, it was certainly a nice outing for him.

As a former big leaguer, he probably should look like a man vs boys. I'm sure once he's considered fully ready they will move him up to AAA.

Best thing about when pitchers get promoted to AAA, statcast data!

He's certainly going to be developed like a starter. I haven't seen many changes yet so something to keep an eye on.

Not sure. He's a December signee so it was left over money so not much. Looks like a great investment right now though.

Since he's on my top 30 in the power rankings, I thought he deserved his own thread. DeLeon, who was signed in December 2021 with left over bonus pool money by the Orioles before the 2022 Signing period, has made as big a jump as anyone on the list. Ranked as the #43 prospects coming into this season, the 6-foot-3, 175 pound lefty has found the strikezone as his body has matured. In his last outing in Delmarva in which he struck out 8 and allowed just one hit one walk over 5 IP, he hit 95 MPH several times to go along with a decent slider. The arm is quick and there's likely more velocity in the tank for this 20-year old as he fills out. He's definitely a pitcher to keep an eye on in Delmarva.

5 to 6 years is the typical time where you can get a real "final" grade for the draft, but after about 2 or 3 years you can get a good feel based off the performance of the players.

The only thing that makes me feel a little better about Bradford's arm is how bad Mullins' was at one time then it became at least playable in CF. I'm hoping they can help him unleash a little more of that arm because if not he's going to need cut off guys to go out very deep.

That's where he's going for me once he plays. That's not a knock on him but the strength of the guys 1-7 on the list. Westburg and Cowser should graduate though by Mid-August.

You would think the Orioles would target more of these guys in the later rounds since there's very little difference in a 15th rounder and UDFA talent wise unless they are potential overslot guys. Good to know though. Thanks.

Believe who want. Be concerned about what you want. I'll have him much higher.

I thought once the deadline hit team's no longer had any control over the player. Did that change in the last collective bargaining agreement? I don't recall a draft and follow being put into the system again, but I could be wrong.

Why are you worried about where an evaluator put him after the draft? Let me say this, I have zero against Longenhagen or any other national evaluator, but if they put the kind of stuff Baumeister brings to the mound after a pitcher like Rom or Denoyer (who's stuff has taken a step back this year) then I'll just say they use a different evaluation criteria than me. The Orioles didn't give him $1.6 million because they think he might be a as good as Denoyer or Rom.

Keep an eye on DeLeon. Tall and lanky Left-hander with a quick arm who is up to 95 now and throwing strikes. He is a nice story on the pitching side.

Has to be "more to the story" as they say.

I'm assuming his agreement with the Orioles gave him the option to resign with a Japanese club if he decided to once again. Just weird. I can't remember an Orioles minor leaguer leaving to go play in Japan during a season before.

He could step in a Ubaldo pothole, and have him in case of emergency. But he may not allow that since somebody will take him off waivers and he'll get to stay in the big leagues.

Well he's on the "Development list" which is a taxi squad thing. Seems strange though unless the Orioles are allowing him to be "borrowed". Not sure what's going on here.

Damn, totally missed that. Wonder how he was able to get out of his Orioles contract? Guess the Orioles weren't going to bring him up or something. Thanks for the info though.

Well, who else do you feel good about in those situations with the current pen? Coulombe has allowed runs in 4 of his 8 July appearances and batters are hitting .345/.367/.517/.884 off him with just 4 ks over those 7 innings. Baker has been pretty good in July if you take away the Dodgers meltdown, but he's allowed 47% of his inherited runners to score in July so he needs to come in with a clean inning. He's probably the guy I'd consider giving some 8th innings too if Cano keeps getting barreled. Baumann has bee pretty dominant over his last 12 games going back into June, but he can give you some length and walks can be an issue for him at times. Perez is clearly a box of chocolates. Fuji was really good the last time but I need to see him be consistent before I'm trusting him in those situations in anything other than an absolute need like the other day. So really there are not a lot of other options for Hyde and right now, Cano is still getting guys out just not like he was earlier in the year.

The Orioles are looking for impact relief pitching and there is a guy in the system who has major league experience and is pitching very well and that's Norfolk left-handed reliever Darwinson Hernandez. Right now, he's throwing 96-97 and touching 98 with a high spin fastball that garners swings and misses. He's holding AAA batters to a .144/.325/.244/.569 line overall which is driven by his absolute dominance of left-handers hitters (.054/.239/.054/.293). Now, what are the current concerns? Well, he struggles to throw strikes at times, especially with his offspeed pitches and right-handers have put up a .208/.382/.377/.760 driven mostly by walks allowed to them. I don't necessarily think he's an impact guy at the major league level unless he can throw consistent strikes, but over his last ten games he's held batters to a .125/.282/.125/.407 line with 13 Ks and 5 walks in 9.2 IP. The question is, would he just be another Cionel Perez at the major league level? Perhaps. Either way, he could be a guy who could come up and be a surprise injection for the bullpen but who would go? Well they could jettison Irvin back to the minors because they Baumann and Fujinama who can provide some length if needed or they could finally decide that Perez is just not consistent enough and have him step in a Ubaldo pothole and give Hernandez a look.

Not sure I agree. They keep the inning going. Now if you want to argue that he's a not a run producer in those situations because of taking walks, then I agree, but they're not outs so they count for me.

Hyde has absolutely made an adjustment on how he's using his relievers for multiple innings now vs using a bunch for one or less than one for matchups. I was very critical of that and I do see that Hyde is using his relievers differently in those 6th and 7th innings.

I don't necessarily disagree with your thoughts here as a valid way to go, but I think Hyde was just using the best odds of getting McCann in scoring position with a very bad hitter at the plate and no Gunnar to be able to replace him at SS. So I'm guessing Hyde didn't want to lower his infield defense in order to bring in Frazier for Mateo at that point. On top of it, this offense lately does not give anyone a lot of hope of playing for big innings, particularly with Gunnar and Mullins out of the lineup.

This is where I was with that move. Bautista has thrown a lot of innings and is the most valuable relief pitcher the Orioles have. If Mateo makes a routine major league SS play Cano doesn't lose the game. He really only made one or two bad pitches overall. Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war and maybe getting Bautista four days off going into the Yankees series is not the worse thing in the world. It stinks because they lost the game then Bradish came out and couldn't stop giving away leads so they lost two out of three to a good Phillies team in Philadelphia. I really had no qualms at the time with Cano being out there in the 9th but it does highlight the need for more impact arms in that pen.