The Shorebirds’ offense

[Frobby]

Averaging 7.83 runs per game.   They’ve played 18 games and failed to score at least five runs only three times.   

We talk Henderson and Westburg a lot, and I started a thread on Hudson Haskin today.  But what about J.D. Mundy?   All this undrafted free agent does is hit!
 

[NCRaven]

Draft was only 5 rounds.  Lots of UDFAs from the last draft are going to make the bigs eventually.

[Sports Guy]

Servideo is off to a solid start too.  Lots of talent on that team but they need to move guys up.

[glenn__davis]

They did get to face the Fredricksburg Nationals for 6 games.  Who are 1-17 with an amazing -123 run differential.

[Hank Scorpio]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

They did get to face the Fredricksburg Nationals for 6 games.  Who are 1-17 with an amazing -123 run differential.

Holy crap that is unbelievable!!! 

Still, it's really heartwarming to see so many young guys off to a fast start. It's tough for me to remember the last time I had so much fun pulling up the MILB boxscores for the organization (sans Norfolk.) I guess when Wieters was killing it? Maybe Bundy's ludicrous Delmarva run?

 

[MurphDogg]

They are among the oldest teams in the league, only Augusta, Delmarva and the Fred Nats (lol, old and terrible) have an average batter's age over 22. The league average is 21.4. That said, they are so far and away the best hitting team that I'm not sure how much that discredits them.

Delmarva's team OBP is .401, the league average is .334, the next best team is .362.

Those 6 games against the Fred Nats make a difference though, as their team ERA is 7.67 compared to the league average of 4.23

[LTO's]

42 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Holy crap that is unbelievable!!! 

Still, it's really heartwarming to see so many young guys off to a fast start. It's tough for me to remember the last time I had so much fun pulling up the MILB boxscores for the organization (sans Norfolk.) I guess when Wieters was killing it? Maybe Bundy's ludicrous Delmarva run?

 

It’s great to see Hall and Grayrod continue to cement their status as top prospects. What’s been the most encouraging for me is seeing many of Elias’ high round draft picks off to great starts. All of the 2020 guys who have debuted are off to fantastic starts. Many of the top 2019 guys like Adley, Gunnar, Stowers, Ortiz etc. seem to be progressing. That’s without mentioning trade guys like a Bradish, Smith, Vavra. The overall talent level in the org seems to be on fast uphill trajectory. 

[wildcard]

The Shorebirds played 6 games vs Carolina last week winning 4 of 6.   They average 8.7 runs a game in that series.  Carolina is 10-8 so far this year.

[Just Regular]

Lynchburg in Delmarva this week - their pitching has been near league best.   I feel like there won't be much left for the experienced bats to prove in the Low-A East/Sally after this week if they can keep it going.   

Probably even if they can't.

Two 13-5 teams facing off for the Tuesday to Sunday its own kind of developmental experience.   Other than Grayson, Aberdeen feels a little thin.   If/when whatever happens, it'll be interesting to see if one of Gunnar or Westburg gets first bump or they go together.

I guess Welk, Ortiz, Hall are the Ironbirds infield incumbents affected when moves begin.

[ChuckS]

5 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

Lynchburg in Delmarva this week - their pitching has been near league best.   I feel like there won't be much left for the experienced bats to prove in the Low-A East/Sally after this week if they can keep it going.   

Probably even if they can't.

Two 13-5 teams facing off for the Tuesday to Sunday its own kind of developmental experience.   Other than Grayson, Aberdeen feels a little thin.   If/when whatever happens, it'll be interesting to see if one of Gunnar or Westburg gets first bump or they go together.

I guess Welk, Ortiz, Hall are the Ironbirds infield incumbents affected when moves begin.

Welk and Ortiz could both get moved up to Bowie.  If they can't hit Double A pitching at ages 23 and 24, then they are likely just org guys anyway. 

Dorrian and Vavra to Norfolk. 

[MurphDogg]

13 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

Welk and Ortiz could both get moved up to Bowie.  If they can't hit Double A pitching at ages 23 and 24, then they are likely just org guys anyway. 

Dorrian and Vavra to Norfolk. 

Ortiz turns 23 in July and already skipped low-A ball. 80-ish minor league games between short season and high-a before going to AA is quite a jump.

[ChuckS]

5 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Ortiz turns 23 in July and already skipped low-A ball. 80-ish minor league games between short season and high-a before going to AA is quite a jump.

I'm not sure what the other solutions could be.  Hall needs to stay in Aberdeen.  You have four infielders for three spots even assuming you just promote Welk.  I supposed they could keep trying Hall in the OF and that might not be a bad idea for Ortiz either to add some versatility. 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, MurphDogg said:

Ortiz turns 23 in July and already skipped low-A ball. 80-ish minor league games between short season and high-a before going to AA is quite a jump.

It’s very challenging due to the surplus of middle infield guys we’ve acquired in the last two years, combined with not having had a 2020 MiL season to help sort out the pecking order.    Add to that the fact that the MiL season didn’t start until May 4.  I can’t blame the team if they want more than 3-4 weeks of data before they start reshuffling the deck.   At the same time, they absolutely need to be more aggressive than usual with promoting guys who are dominating their level.   

As has been mentioned elsewhere, the other confusing factor is the schedule that has the teams facing the same opponent for an entire week.   You face a couple of weak opponents in the early going (or a team that has either good or bad pitching or hitting relative to other teams) and you can get a very incorrect impression of how good your players are.  Aberdeen already has played Wilmington 12 times in 18 games.   Similarly, Norfolk has played Jacksonville 12 times in 18 games.  
 

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

As has been mentioned elsewhere, the other confusing factor is the schedule that has the teams facing the same opponent for an entire week.   You face a couple of weak opponents in the early going (or a team that has either good or bad pitching or hitting relative to other teams) and you can get a very incorrect impression of how good your players are.  Aberdeen already has played Wilmington 12 times in 18 games.   Similarly, Norfolk has played Jacksonville 12 times in 18 games.  
 

I wasn't aware of this. It's a sneaky big deal. Aside from normal sample size issues, it really could mislead and I think generally argues for some more time before over reacting about performance.

[BohKnowsBmore]

One interesting thing (at least in my mind) on the other side of the ball… tonight battery of shorebirds pitchers were all 2020 UDFA signings  in Ryan Watson, Thomas Girard, and Shane Davis.