Billy Rowell: Seems about Over

[tilgaham]

Well. Billy seems to be a complete nonprospect at this point. He's getting obliterated by AA pitching.

Tm Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB

Bowie AA BAL 25 79 73 2 15 1 0 0 5 2 0 3 25 .205 .244 .219 .463

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=rowell001wil#standard_batting::22

Pretty sad to see the guy fail at AA so miserably after a halfway decent year in Frederick.

[Crazysilver03]

You can't keep running him out there with numbers like that. Do you demote him or just release him?

[ThisIsOurHouse]

Well you do not want to have him take at bats away from Townsend so you do not want to demote him. I guess you can bench him at AA if you have to. His contract has to be expiring soon right?

[TJ Wrangler]

I'm no scout and I was still too young to follow too closely when he was drafted, but I almost wonder if we'd be better off giving him the ball and pitching him in middle relief. A quick google search has him listed as best infield arm by BA a few times. I wonder if he can possibly throw 90 with movement and maybe develop a 2nd pitch and make it as a reliever. Crazier things have happened, right?

[NewMarketSean]

He's toast. Cut bait with him.

[ccbird]

If we're being honest, it was over two years ago.

[Gurgi]

Makes you wonder what we were looking at all those years ago.

[Crazysilver03]

Well you do not want to have him take at bats away from Townsend so you do not want to demote him. I guess you can bench him at AA if you have to. His contract has to be expiring soon right?

He would still be under club control for one more season before he would be a minor league free agent.

[Can_of_corn]

He would still be under club control for one more season before he would be a minor league free agent.

No incentive to not hold onto him. It is not as if he is taking at bats away from prospects that have a realistic chance to make an impact on the big club.

[ccbird]

He would still be under club control for one more season before he would be a minor league free agent.

I'll assume he didn't play enough in '06 to qualify as a 6 year FA??

[ccbird]

No incentive to not hold onto him. It is not as if he is taking at bats away from prospects that have a realistic chance to make an impact on the big club.

I guess you can look at it that way. My guess is if he continues this badly all year he'll be released at some point before next year.

[dognittany]

I suffered through five Bowie Baysox games in Harrisburg over the weekend. Bowie is one of the worst minor league teams that I have ever seen. Avery, Hoes, Klein certainly have potential and Rowell had a good series. His bat looked much better than the last time I watched him and his fielding at 1st and 3rd were pretty good. The rest of the Bowie roster (Bascom looked good) look overmatched.

[BaysoxFan39]

Agreed. I took the trip up Saturday. This Bowie team does not match up to past teams. Quite simply these guys have no clue at the plate. They have very little power and are struggling to hit AA pitching. I hope they can find a way to turn things around. L.J. Hoes looks like a good young player, they miss Mahoney, Brandon Waring has fallen off a cliff at the plate and other than Caleb Joseph and Xavier Avery the rest are hanging by their finger nails in the batters box. Get some instructional help down to Bowie as quick as possible.

[Slappy]

Disappointing to have him and Hobgood completely falter. Those are both top 10 picks.

[BaysoxFan39]

I see Oriole management giving Rowell a long look at the AA level. Being a 1st round pick he will get a lot of rope as we have seen already. I don't see him released because his problem is not physical but mental. The day this kid's light bulb pops on he could be a terror at the plate. It is better for it to be in our uniform than someone elses. The minute we give up on him and release him there will be 10 other teams willing to gamble a minor league contract on him.