Wieters promoted to Bowie

[Peace21]

Yep. I talked with David Stockstill tonight. Wieters is the only move here at the break besides some injury spot start stuff. He'll be in Bowie tomorrow night.

Thanks Tony. How do you think Wieters will do in Bowie?

[Frobby]

How do you think Wieters will do in Bowie?

This should be very interesting. His Frederick numbers were very close to his collegiate numbers. He has great plate discipline. I'd definitely be disappointed if his OPS was below .850, and frankly I'd even be a tad disappointed if he didn't keep his OPS up around .900 or even higher.

The Eastern League is more advanced, but it is a better hitters' environment than the Carolina League. We've had a few players who actually did better in Bowie than at Frederick - notably, Nick Markakis who had an .859 OPS in Frederick and then, after mid-season promotion, put up .993 at Bowie. Val Majewksi, prior to his injury, had an .846 OPS in Bowie after .828 in a partial season at Frederick the year before. Nolan Reimold followed .834 in Frederick with .910 in Bowie.

So overall, I'm not expecting a big drop-off from Wieters at Bowie.

[DuffMan]

This should be very interesting. His Frederick numbers were very close to his collegiate numbers. He has great plate discipline. I'd definitely be disappointed if his OPS was below .850, and frankly I'd even be a tad disappointed if he didn't keep his OPS up around .900 or even higher.

The Eastern League is more advanced, but it is a better hitters' environment than the Carolina League. We've had a few players who actually did better in Bowie than at Frederick - notably, Nick Markakis who had an .859 OPS in Frederick and then, after mid-season promotion, put up .993 at Bowie. Val Majewksi, prior to his injury, had an .846 OPS in Bowie after .828 in a partial season at Frederick the year before. Nolan Reimold followed .834 in Frederick with .910 in Bowie.

So overall, I'm not expecting a big drop-off from Wieters at Bowie.

It will be interesting to see how the pitchers handle him as well. Towards the end of his run at Frederick it seemed like they didn't even want to pitch to the guy. I'm also interested to see if his presence in the line up can help provide some protection for Reimold.

[tywright]

This should be very interesting. His Frederick numbers were very close to his collegiate numbers. He has great plate discipline. I'd definitely be disappointed if his OPS was below .850, and frankly I'd even be a tad disappointed if he didn't keep his OPS up around .900 or even higher.

The Eastern League is more advanced, but it is a better hitters' environment than the Carolina League. We've had a few players who actually did better in Bowie than at Frederick - notably, Nick Markakis who had an .859 OPS in Frederick and then, after mid-season promotion, put up .993 at Bowie. Val Majewksi, prior to his injury, had an .846 OPS in Bowie after .828 in a partial season at Frederick the year before. Nolan Reimold followed .834 in Frederick with .910 in Bowie.

So overall, I'm not expecting a big drop-off from Wieters at Bowie.

Don't forget that Markakis went on his annual July/August tear while in Bowie.

I actually think Wieters might be even more impressive in Bowie since he won't get pitched around as much.

[NCRaven]

they might as well just start referring to Bowie as the launching pad - our best prospects seem to stop there before launching into the majors.

although, i cannot help but notice that McPhail seems to be pushing that some of these kids get some time at Norfolk - am I imagining this or do other people feel that Norfolk is becoming something more than a AAAA stash?

MacPhail certainly seems committed to not pulling young pitchers directly from AA to the bigs. And since we now have only two hitting prospects above A ball, and I don't think they'll pull Wieters up to the majors this year, even in September, I doubt we'll see any hitters rushed either. I don't want to see a bunch of 28 year old rookies like Guthrie last year, but it will be good to see pitchers who are really prepared when they make it to the bigs. Cabrera and Loewen suffered by being rushed through the minors. Olson and Liz both benefited by starting this season in AAA after a rough taste of the majors at the end of last year.

Trachsel served his purpose by helping to keep those kids at AAA long enough to be better prepared when they got another shot in Baltimore.

[LookinUp]

MacPhail certainly seems committed to not pulling young pitchers directly from AA to the bigs. And since we now have only two hitting prospects above A ball, and I don't think they'll pull Wieters up to the majors this year, even in September, I doubt we'll see any hitters rushed either. I don't want to see a bunch of 28 year old rookies like Guthrie last year, but it will be good to see pitchers who are really prepared when they make it to the bigs. Cabrera and Loewen suffered by being rushed through the minors. Olson and Liz both benefited by starting this season in AAA after a rough taste of the majors at the end of last year.

Trachsel served his purpose by helping to keep those kids at AAA long enough to be better prepared when they got another shot in Baltimore.

Ha. I just started another thread endorsing this approach.

[Tony-OH]

Thanks Tony. How do you think Wieters will do in Bowie?

I'd be shocked if he doesn't hit well there. He's probably going to strike out a little bit more often, but I see him putting up a .850 OPS or better.