Schoop should be in AA Bowie.

[Sweet Kel]

Why are we force feeding Schoop into a level he's not ready for?

What is the goal here?

Look at his offensive stats:

Level / Team ------- Gms -- Ave

Low A /Delmarva ---- 51 -- .316

High A / Frederick --- 83 -- .269

AA / Bowie ---------- 124 -- .245

AFL ------------------ 21 ---- .270

World Games --------- 8 --- .214

AAA / Norfolk -------- 11 --- .128

Anybody see a trend here?

Schoop can defend at any level but his bat is still only 21 years old.

PUT HIM IN BOWIE AND LET HIM DEVELOP & BUILD CONFIDENCE!

[Tx Oriole]

Why are we force feeding Schoop into a level he's not ready for?

What is the goal here?

Look at his offensive stats:

Level / Team ------- Gms -- Ave

Low A /Delmarva ---- 51 -- .316

High A / Frederick --- 83 -- .269

AA / Bowie ---------- 124 -- .245

World Games --------- 8 --- .214

AAA / Norfolk -------- 7 ---- .174

Anybody see a trend here?

Schoop can defend at any level but his bat is still only 21 years old.

PUT HIM IN BOWIE AND LET HIM DEVELOP & BUILD CONFIDENCE!

But isn't it a bit too early to judge him? Wait and see if he can improve. IMO

[waroriole]

How can anyone argue with the results from 7 games?

[Tony-OH]

Why are we force feeding Schoop into a level he's not ready for?

What is the goal here?

Look at his offensive stats:

Level / Team ------- Gms -- Ave

Low A /Delmarva ---- 51 -- .316

High A / Frederick --- 83 -- .269

AA / Bowie ---------- 124 -- .245

World Games --------- 8 --- .214

AAA / Norfolk -------- 7 ---- .174

Anybody see a trend here?

Schoop can defend at any level but his bat is still only 21 years old.

PUT HIM IN BOWIE AND LET HIM DEVELOP & BUILD CONFIDENCE!

I had him pegged for a return to Bowie this off season so count me as one who is not too surprised of his struggles so far. It's still early though, but I would have preferred to see him start the season at Bowie, get off to a good start, and finish in AAA. Either way, hopefully he'll get on track soon.

[Gurgi]

The great ones get it together. If he is really going to be good he will figure it out in a little while.

[DrungoHazewood]

How can anyone argue with the results from 7 games?

If bad data is all you have you have to make decisions based on it.

Oh, and it's crazy to try to infer that scouts think Schoop is extremely talented and advanced for his age based on statements by Buck and Duquette and a host of top-100 prospect rankings.

[Tony-OH]

If bad data is all you have you have to make decisions based on it.

Oh, and it's crazy to try to infer that scouts think Schoop is extremely talented and advanced for his age based on statements by Buck and Duquette and a host of top-100 prospect rankings.

Well, there is more than just 7 games to go off of and that's what the OP was showing. Schoop has not been overly effective as a hitter outside of the extremely hitter friendly AFL since A-ball. I like Schoop as much as the next guy, but in this case, I think the Orioles have rushed him to AAA a bit. Do I think it is a career shattering move, absolutely not, but to me, it would have been better to give him chance to get off to a good start in Double-A. Duquette talks about prospects forcing their way from one level to another. I just don't think Schoop forced his way to AAA. I'm not too spun up over it, and I'm not too concerned over 7-games of stats, but I still would have preferred to start him at a level where he could get off to a good start.

[DrungoHazewood]

Well, there is more than just 7 games to go off of and that's what the OP was showing. Schoop has not been overly effective as a hitter outside of the extremely hitter friendly AFL since A-ball. I like Schoop as much as the next guy, but in this case, I think the Orioles have rushed him to AAA a bit. Do I think it is a career shattering move, absolutely not, but to me, it would have been better to give him chance to get off to a good start in Double-A. Duquette talks about prospects forcing their way from one level to another. I just don't think Schoop forced his way to AAA. I'm not too spun up over it, and I'm not too concerned over 7-games of stats, but I still would have preferred to start him at a level where he could get off to a good start.

I think the Orioles are more aggressive about their promotions than you might be. They have shown a tendency to push their highly-talented guys. They promoted Machado when he wasn't exactly destroying AA, they moved up Schoop, they pushed Bundy through four levels last year. I don't know if it matters, or is more/less effective. But different teams have different philosophies.

[Tony-OH]

I think the Orioles are more aggressive about their promotions than you might be. They have shown a tendency to push their highly-talented guys. They promoted Machado when he wasn't exactly destroying AA, they moved up Schoop, they pushed Bundy through four levels last year. I don't know if it matters, or is more/less effective. But different teams have different philosophies.

True, but we all knew Bundy and Machado were going to move quickly. They also promoted Avery aggressively and to me, that's done him a dis-service. Overall, I haven't had a problem with how the Orioles promote guys and in fact, I've been in favor of them starting a guy out at lower level then moving him once he gets off to a hot start (Bundy, Machado, Schoop). This is why I don't understand the rush with Schoop this year? He did not put up overwhelming stats last year and he was still ironing out mechanical issues with his swing late in the year last year at Bowie. I guess I just would have preferred to seen him sent back to Bowie where he hopefully would have gotten off to a good start, then moved him to AAA. Instead, he gets off to a slow start (albeit only 7 games).

[Frobby]

I had him pegged for a return to Bowie this off season so count me as one who is not too surprised of his struggles so far. It's still early though, but I would have preferred to see him start the season at Bowie, get off to a good start, and finish in AAA. Either way, hopefully he'll get on track soon.

I'm with you, Tony. But now that he's in Norfolk, I don't think the O's should overreact to 7 games. If he's struggling after a month, they can reevaluate.

On a similar note, after pushing Xavier Avery very quickly (I'd say, too quickly) for several years, they pushed him back to AA and he's responded with .351/.400/.459 so far.

[Tony-OH]

I'm with you, Tony. But now that he's in Norfolk, I don't think the O's should overreact to 7 games. If he's struggling after a month, they can reevaluate.

On a similar note, after pushing Xavier Avery very quickly (I'd say, too quickly) for several years, they pushed him back to AA and he's responded with .351/.400/.459 so far.

His K-BB is not very good though and Avery always gets off to hot starts. Either way, it's good to see him get off to a good start.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm with you, Tony. But now that he's in Norfolk, I don't think the O's should overreact to 7 games. If he's struggling after a month, they can reevaluate.

On a similar note, after pushing Xavier Avery very quickly (I'd say, too quickly) for several years, they pushed him back to AA and he's responded with .351/.400/.459 so far.

If Avery is any kind of a prospect I'd expect him to hit well in AA after getting a year of AAA in with some MLB experience. We'll see if his quick start continues.

[gfrank]

World Games --------- 8 --- .214

While I don't totally disagree with your overall point, it's worth pointing out that this stat is somewhat misleading. Despite a low batting average, Schoop put up a .777 OPS in the WBC with two home runs and 6 RBI across those 8 games. Only ten guys in the WBC hit more than one home run, and he was one of them. I don't really know what sort of practical value can be applied to WBC stats, but I still don't really think his numbers there suggest he was in over his head.

Still, I don't totally know what to think about Schoop's assignment. I've wondered if his moving back to shortstop in earnest suggests that the front office sees Schoop as the primary internal candidate for replacing Hardy on the 25 if he gets injured. That's where this line of thinking gets pretty iffy for me.

But what I do know is that 7 underwhelming games of Triple A isn't enough to panic, particularly when 4 of those came against Durham, who have a lot of pitchers that should be on the parent team if it wasn't already so stacked. Too early to call this a particularly bad personnel move, I think.

[vab]

If I've learned one thing watching Machado it's that it's not just about the numbers. Machado was hitting about .250-.260 with modest power at Bowie when he got the call-up. I was checking Machado's numbers at Bowie last year almost daily and was on this board constantly wondering if he was really that great. And I certainly wouldn't have been against trading him for help at the deadline last year. I couldn't have been more wrong. Moneyball and all these advanced stats are fine but you still have to lay eyes on these guys to find out what's really going on.

[Can_of_corn]

If the brain trust says Norfolk is best I am fine with it. It would, however, be nice to have someone at Bowie that could catch the ball.