Orioles optioned RHP David Hess to Triple-A Norfolk

[Tony-OH]

The Orioles will probably keep starting him at Norfolk, but I'd love to see how his stuff plays in a relief role along with how fast he can recover. Maybe even use him in the Miguel Castro long relief role at Norfolk.

There's a good arm in here, but not sure he's got the consistency to be a starter. Now that he's on the 40-man, I'd put him in relief and use him as potential reliever depth. 

[Enjoy Terror]

Crichton, Yefri Ramirez, and Michael Kelly got optioned too.

[Tony-OH]

19 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Crichton, Yefri Ramirez, and Michael Kelly got optioned too.

Yeah, that was the day before I believe. i think we just had something up on a twitter on that. Sorry, didn't have time for analysis yesterday.

[sportsfan8703]

13 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

The Orioles will probably keep starting him at Norfolk, but I'd love to see how his stuff plays in a relief role along with how fast he can recover. Maybe even use him in the Miguel Castro long relief role at Norfolk.

There's a good arm in here, but not sure he's got the consistency to be a starter. Now that he's on the 40-man, I'd put him in relief and use him as potential reliever depth. 

That’s how you find the next Brad Brach,  and like we saw with Miguel Castro, it’s not so bad to see a guy throw 70 IP out the the MLB bullpen and try and earn rotation spot. 

[OrioleRedenbacher]

On 3/7/2018 at 10:03 AM, Tony-OH said:

The Orioles will probably keep starting him at Norfolk, but I'd love to see how his stuff plays in a relief role along with how fast he can recover. Maybe even use him in the Miguel Castro long relief role at Norfolk.

There's a good arm in here, but not sure he's got the consistency to be a starter. Now that he's on the 40-man, I'd put him in relief and use him as potential reliever depth. 

There's probably a couple extra ticks on the fastball too.  He could sit 93-94 into the fifth and sixth innings in Bowie.  No reason to think he couldn't run that up to 95-96 or higher in one or two inning outings.  He hit 96 with his first fastball in his last ST appearance before settling down.

[Frobby]

While I’d say it’s more likely that Hess turns out to be a reliever at the big league level, I’d still like to use him as a starter this year at Norfolk and see if he develops further.    He finished last season well (2.87 ERA over his final 13 starts spanning 81.2 innings) and acquitted himself pretty well this spring.   It’s not that hard to shift gears and move to the pen if need be.

[MDtransplant757]

On 3/7/2018 at 10:08 AM, Enjoy Terror said:

Crichton, Yefri Ramirez, and Michael Kelly got optioned too.

Yefrey needs a year in Norfolk IMO. I think he can be solid here from what I've seen in ST next year

[Tony-OH]

52 minutes ago, Frobby said:

While I’d say it’s more likely that Hess turns out to be a reliever at the big league level, I’d still like to use him as a starter this year at Norfolk and see if he develops further.    He finished last season well (2.87 ERA over his final 13 starts spanning 81.2 innings) and acquitted himself pretty well this spring.   It’s not that hard to shift gears and move to the pen if need be.

Depends on the role. If you plan to use him as a long guy then probably not a big shift, but if you suddenly expect him to pitch every few days and perhaps back to back, it sure is better to know how he reacts and how much rest he needs in the minor leagues to that role vs the majors. 
I'm all about developing major league prospects as starters first if you can, but when they get close, I think it behooves everyone involved if he's not used in the same kind of role envisioned for him in the major leagues.