Who are our top five pitchers below AAA?

[Coker]

Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward. Frobby let's talk about all the crow your going to be eating. I bet your 40+ years old and I bet you live in your Mothers basement. Let's here about all your kids accomplishments. Oh I'm sorry as negative as you are if you have any they will not be successful. Bridwell is fine and will prove so in time. Until you know all the facts don't comment.

What other facts does Frobby need to know? We're all ears. Bashing Frobby for basing his opinion on stats and performance thus far, is rather ridiculous.

We all want him to succeed.

[stef]

Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward. Frobby let's talk about all the crow your going to be eating. I bet your 40+ years old and I bet you live in your Mothers basement. Let's here about all your kids accomplishments. Oh I'm sorry as negative as you are if you have any they will not be successful. Bridwell is fine and will prove so in time. Until you know all the facts don't comment.

1. Family members should avoid visiting fan message boards. Undoubtedly, they will find something that offends them.

2. Given that this post is from someone who appears to be, at least chronologically, an adult, its tone is depressingly immature.

3. Obviously, the author knows little of Frobby's thorough baseball knowledge and of his generally supportive posts regarding prospects.

Quite a trifecta.

[weams]

1. Family members should avoid visiting fan message boards. Undoubtedly, they will find something that offends them.

2. Given that this post is from someone who appears to be, at least chronologically, an adult, its tone is depressingly immature.

3. Obviously, the author knows little of Frobby's thorough baseball knowledge and of his generally supportive posts regarding prospects.

Quite a trifecta.

I loved having Rick Hernandez as part of this community. Rick loved being part of it as well and formed friendships that will continue throughout his life. I will admit, it is real tough if your family player struggles a bit.

[accinfo]

I loved having Rick Hernandez as part of this community. Rick loved being part of it as well and formed friendships that will continue throughout his life. I will admit, it is real tough if your family player struggles a bit.

It is very tough read the internet if you are the parent or close relative of an athlete whether it is professional, college, good or bad. One of my best friends is a really successful head college basketball coach and I get so pissed off at some of the things I read year after year on message boards. I know he doesn't read it because he is just that confident of a guy. However I know his parents read it and we have had to discuss it many times. One of the great things about Oriole Hangout is that you guys do way better then most of balancing decent opinion and commentary with the nonsense. The nonsense is still there but the good here way outweighs the bad. All that said I would never recommend a parent to read this stuff even though we all know most of them do. I try to tell anyone I ever talk to about internet posting is before you write something consider if that was your child someone was talking about or even better would you say that to someone live if they were standing in front of you instead of behind a keyboard.

[weams]

It is very tough read the internet if you are the parent or close relative of an athlete whether it is professional, college, good or bad. One of my best friends is a really successful head college basketball coach and I get so pissed off at some of the things I read year after year on message boards. I know he doesn't read it because he is just that confident of a guy. However I know his parents read it and we have had to discuss it many times. One of the great things about Oriole Hangout is that you guys do way better then most of balancing decent opinion and commentary with the nonsense. The nonsense is still there but the good here way outweighs the bad. All that said I would never recommend a parent to read this stuff even though we all know most of them do. I try to tell anyone I ever talk to about internet posting is before you write something consider if that was your child someone was talking about or even better would you say that to someone live if they were standing in front of you instead of behind a keyboard.

Very good post. Thanks.

[EagleOriole]

Revisiting this now that Gauzman and Kline have pitched. Top 10 pitching prospects below AAA.

1. Dylan Bundy

2. Kevin Gausman

3. Devin Jones

4. Mike Wright

5. Parker Bridwell

6. Branden Kline

7. Bobby Bundy

8. Tyler Wilson

9. Eduardo Rodriguez

10. Tim Berry

Interesting with Bobby Bundy 7th still...I would go:

1. Dylan Bundy

2. Kevin Gausman

3. Devin Jones

4. Mike Wright

5. Eduardo Rodriguez

6. Tyler Wilson

7. Branden Kline

8. Sebastian Vader (rebounded nicely from tough start)

9. Parker Bridwell

10. Oliver Drake

[EagleOriole]

1. Bobby Bundy was really good at Frederick last year, terrible at Bowie this year. However, part of the reason could have been the bone chips in his elbow and that's not a really bad injury to have and come back from.

2. I think I went for stuff (Bridwell, Kline) over performance/results (Wilson) or age (Rodriiguez/Vader).

3. Drake would have been on my list except he's had arm issues for two years running (missing significant time) and this year it was the shoulder. Not sure what his current status is with that injury.

4. Vader has finished well but a) he's way down the ladder b) no glowing reports on his stuff c) hasn't proven himself in full season ball yet

5. I can understand having Bridwell 9th but I just can't see dropping him that far down, YET.

6. My gut tells me that Eduardo Rodriguez is rated high by most because of his age, but again, no great reports on his stuff and the numbers are good, not great.

All valid points.

[weams]

1. Dylan Bundy

2. Kevin Gausman

3. Devin Jones

4. Mike Wright

5. Parker Bridwell

6. Tyler Wilson

7. Branden Kline

[Frobby]

I'm thinking maybe Josh Hader needs to go on the list somewhere.

[eb45]

That's a lot of people with Devin Jones at #3. That's a bit surprising to me, considering he has a 4.8 K/9 at Frederick. Even for a guy who's known as a power sinker guy (which Jones isn't, really), you want better K numbers than that.

Also, I'll throw some love out to Sebastian Vader. He's got a good fastball with life that sits 90-92, a slider with late bite, and he's made some good strides on a changeup this year. He's got strikeout stuff, it's just a matter of not leaving it up in the zone, where it flattens out and is hittable. When he's locating down in the zone, he's really good, and he's been able to do that late this year.

[eb45]

1. Jones has a 2.15 GB ratio at Frederick and 1.90 for the year. Not sure if he has a power sinker but that's a pretty good ratio. I've heard reports that he can get it up into the mid 90's. Not sure where he sits as a starter though.

2. As for Vader's swing and miss stuff, I'd expect more than 49K's in 70 IP in the NY Penn League. He's 2 years younger than Jones but 2 levels lower. Just turned 20, there's lot of room for a huge jump forward but I don't see anything to get excited about yet.

When I saw Jones last year his fastball was pretty flat, though really hard. Maybe he's developed a sinking two-seam this year and that's where the GBs are coming from. He wouldn't be the first Orioles pitcher to do that. He's having a great year for sure, and I'm a lot more excited about him than I was a year ago.

Yeah, Vader doesn't really have the K numbers I'd expect having seen his stuff. But in his last five appearances, he's got 26 K in 26 IP, for what that's worth. The only one of those I saw was the August 8th start against Tri-City and he got all five of his strikeouts early in the game, mostly on offspeed stuff, then got a ton of groundouts with his fastball the rest of the way. Gary Allenson likes to stretch guys out so maybe he started pitching to contact more as the game went on?

[Tank]

1. Bundy

2. Gausman

3. Rodriguez

4. Wright

5. Kline

6. Jones

7. Davies

8. Wilson

9. Bridwell

10. Hader