Mike Wright

[accinfo]

All the excitement, rightfully so, has been pretty much focused on Dylan Bundy here but I think Mike Wright has kind of slipped under the Oriole fandom's radar. He is 22 and has me encouraged that he can be thrown into the Oriole not so distant future starting pitching depth chart. I am anxious to see how well he does in Bowie. By the end of the season he could pitch his way into the 2013 roster options.

[weams]

Michael Wright is very nice pitcher.

[bobmc]

He was doing well in Frederick but hardly dominant. I am surprised they promoted him so soon.

Had to make room for D-man and get him ready for future bullpen duty once he "fails to project" as a TOR starter (not hating on the ECU hurler, just guessing on what might happen).

[linedrive]

I saw Wright pitch on May 12 and wasn't very impressed. I don't think he threw harder than 87. He was drafted in the 3rd round so I was expecting to see a better performance. But that was just one game and maybe he's better than that.

[allstar1579]

I know some people on here don't project Wright as a future starter but I would guess that the Orioles certainly do. This is an aggressive promotion and it's not because of some plan to put him in the bullpen in the near future.

College pitcher, they can go high A or AA, just never know. He was doing ok enough at A that it's not going to hurt him to go to AA. I still think he hits a wall here and ultimately is better served in the pen, he could surprise me.

[allstar1579]

Some 1st rounders start at AA but most college pitchers start at high A or even low A. It's a pretty quick promotion for a 3rd rounder. I think he got out of Frederick faster than Matusz and Arrieta (5th rounder paid like supplemental 1st rounder) did. Gerrit Cole is still in High A. I think you have to admit that it's an aggressive promotion.

Depends on what they are working on. Matusz was working on not pitching backwards and using FB command. Jake was working on his slider I think. Wright has a couple complete pitches, just none that are great. If it's as good as they are going to get and he's just learning the competition, then I don't really see the harm in moving him up to AA. It's usually the really advanced 1st rounders that go there so early, but like I said, if his stuff isn't going to get any better, might as well let him learn how to pitch to pros that he actually has to work at.

[allstar1579]

Okay, it's not an aggressive promotion.

AAA I'd agree in a second, but AA, I can kinda see the reasoning. We'll see if he starts getting shelled though.

[Frobby]

Some 1st rounders start at AA but most college pitchers start at high A or even low A. It's a pretty quick promotion for a 3rd rounder. I think he got out of Frederick faster than Matusz and Arrieta (5th rounder paid like supplemental 1st rounder) did. Gerrit Cole is still in High A. I think you have to admit that it's an aggressive promotion.

Arrieta spent a full season at Frederick. Matusz was

promoted around now. This is definitely aggressive.

[bobmc]

Thanks. I got someone to agree to the obvious. Matusz started 11 games in Frederick and was a bit more dominant, plus he was a 1st rounder (4th overall). Wright had 9 starts in Frederick and of course is not nearly as highly regarded as Matusz was.

It's aggressive if they think he's a starter prospect. If they just want to move him out of the way of true prospects, then move him up and let him settle in vs. pro hitters as allstar said. He seems to have good reliever stuff from the small sample I saw in ST, which Buck and Adair also saw.

[weams]

Depends on what they are working on. Matusz was working on not pitching backwards and using FB command. Jake was working on his slider I think. Wright has a couple complete pitches, just none that are great. If it's as good as they are going to get and he's just learning the competition, then I don't really see the harm in moving him up to AA. It's usually the really advanced 1st rounders that go there so early, but like I said, if his stuff isn't going to get any better, might as well let him learn how to pitch to pros that he actually has to work at.

I guess they have that slot that Klein was going to fill that they are hoping Mike Wright at age 22 can handle. But who knows. Maybe Peterson sees something.

[Tony-OH]

Wright has struck out 16 and walked one in his last three starts while pitching to a 2.45 ERA. Combined with the fact that Frederick will be going to a six-man rotation to accommodate Bundy, and I think they just wanted to keep Wright in a five-man rotation and probably saw something of late that suggests he could handle the move. At the end of the day, he needs to pitch so the orioles can evaluate whether he can stay as a starter. I don't have a problem with the promotion when you take all the situation into consideration.

[eb45]

He's not walking anyone, which might be a sign that he's either getting hitters to swing at pitches out of the zone a lot or he's overpowering them in the zone. That would probably mean he's too advanced for the competition at A+ and would be challenged more at AA. This promotion makes sense to me.

[eb45]

Okay, then who else in the Frederick rotation would go to Bowie? Howard and Wilson just got there, Simon, Moore, and Copeland haven't been good. I think you have to look at the move in context rather than comparing it to past guys. Maybe Wright has met all the objectives the O's had for him already? It's slightly faster than Matusz went, but Matusz was walking more guys. They needed to make room for Bundy and Wright going up makes by far the most sense.

[allstar1579]

I thought the report said that Bowie would also be going to a six man rotation?

No I think it said that Frederick would because of Bundy, but it doesn't make any sense to move Bowie to one unless they are sending Bundy there.

[allstar1579]

All I ever said was that it was an aggressive promotion. His numbers aren't dominant at Frederick. I stand by those points. If you and others want to rationalize why he's getting promoted that's a different ballgame. First you said he earned it. Now you're saying it's more necessity. It's speculation at best as what the real reason is. The fact remains the same. It's a quick promotion for a 3rd rounder drafted in 2011 whose numbers are good, not great in High A ball.

To answer your question though. They could have easily put Zagone to Bowie instead of Wright.

I'm pretty sure they wanted to send him to Bowie to start the year and the way the trickle down worked they didn't in the end. I know I heard in ST, that they were really leaning that way but they went FRD instead.