What is up with Bowie?

[LookinUp]

I want to be as excited as possible about our prospects, but I also want to be real. Is something else going on in Bowie? Is it the field? Is their league trash? Is it a league with a bunch of hitting environments?

What Henderson, Westburg, Cowser, Ortiz and Norby (amongst others) have done for that team this year would give the appearance that we have several elite hitting prospects.

Then there's Drew Rom, who's just been pretty good this year. If something is going on in the league, maybe he's actually been better than it seems?

So what's the deal? Are we over-rating our own guys based on some extraneous factors? There's enough weird results going on to make me wonder.

[btdart20]

40 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I want to be as excited as possible about our prospects, but I also want to be real. Is something else going on in Bowie? Is it the field? Is their league trash? Is it a league with a bunch of hitting environments?

What Henderson, Westburg, Cowser, Ortiz and Norby (amongst others) have done for that team this year would give the appearance that we have several elite hitting prospects.

Then there's Drew Rom, who's just been pretty good this year. If something is going on in the league, maybe he's actually been better than it seems?

So what's the deal? Are we over-rating our own guys based on some extraneous factors? There's enough weird results going on to make me wonder.

Agreed.  Missing the Covid year impacted pitcher development more than hitters?  

[LookinUp]

It just doesn't add up to me. I'm not saying our prospects aren't good prospects, but the results in Bowie are almost absurd.

[UMDTerrapins]

Bowie is just a hitter friendly park that produces misleading stats (ex. Snyder, Montanez, Dorrian). But the contrast with Aberdeen is fairly absurd. Our hitters aren't as good as they look in Bowie, or as bad as they look in Aberdeen. I don't mind Bowie skewing as it does, but Aberdeen has got to be messing with prospects' confidence. 

[btdart20]

Bowie pitchers are about league average ERA and top 3 HR allowed.  

Bowie hitters are league average HRs and fourth in SLG.  #1 runs but we're also #1 in OBP.  

I don't know enough about the historical stats/park factor.  

[justD]

3 hours ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Bowie is just a hitter friendly park that produces misleading stats (ex. Snyder, Montanez, Dorrian). But the contrast with Aberdeen is fairly absurd. Our hitters aren't as good as they look in Bowie, or as bad as they look in Aberdeen. I don't mind Bowie skewing as it does, but Aberdeen has got to be messing with prospects' confidence. 

While this may be true, and I know it’s SSS, the last 6 games were in Hbg, not Bowie. They scored a total of 51 runs over that span vs 12 by the Senators.  PG Stadium played no role in that. They looked that good. 

[justD]

2 hours ago, btdart20 said:

Bowie pitchers are about league average ERA and top 3 HR allowed.  

Bowie hitters are league average HRs and fourth in SLG.  #1 runs but we're also #1 in OBP.  

I don't know enough about the historical stats/park factor.  

Can you post those stats for first half vs second?  The team roster is a lot different now than, say, May or June. 

[RZNJ]

Westburg went up to Norfolk and was on fire.  Henderson went up and hardly skipped a beat.  Vavra went to Norfolk and hit better.  When real prospects start struggling from Bowie to Norfolk then I'll start listening.  Until then, no big deal.

By the way, Ortiz hit like crap for 3 months and now is a .400 hitter with power.  Same parks all year.  Don't sweat it.

And Cowset started putting it together his last month at Aberdeen!

Is Bowie more homer friendly than Aberdeen?  Without a doubt.  Should we disregard what Norby, Ortiz, and Cowser are doing or take it with a grain of salt?   Not me.  I haven't seen any evidence that they are going to nosedive when they go to Norfolk. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by RZNJ

[Sports Guy]

Remember, Bowie didn’t have a good first half record despite what Henderson and Westburg were doing.

IIrC, Bowie plays like a pretty neutral park.

[emmett16]

Jon Meoli wrote an article last week about how they run BP.  Sounds like Aberdeen is set up as a hitting “lab” - they are learning, changing, adjusting, and being challenged.  Sounds like they need to “graduate” that program before going to Bowie, and once graduated the players  have a much better skill set and approach to tackle AA.  

[seak05]

Tonight will be an interesting test. They're playing in Akron and the opposing pitcher is a top prospect having a very good year

(also they currently have the bases loaded with no outs in the first)

[waroriole]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:39 PM, emmett16 said:

Jon Meoli wrote an article last week about how they run BP.  Sounds like Aberdeen is set up as a hitting “lab” - they are learning, changing, adjusting, and being challenged.  Sounds like they need to “graduate” that program before going to Bowie, and once graduated the players  have a much better skill set and approach to tackle AA.  

Jon Meoli really is the best writer covering this team.