Delmarva Shorebirds 2023

[Alasdaire]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Saw that.  It’s almost thread-worthy, but let him stay hot a longer.  

Young had as many hits in the last two days as he had in the entire month of April (in 74 PA).   
 

They're not at the same level, but Young's OPS (.651) is just a smidge below Beavers' (.663).

Maybe he's just slapping the ball and letting low-A pitchers walk him on, but that you can even compare his slash line with Beavers is encouraging given the tone surrounding Carter to start the season.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Alasdaire

[bobmc]

18 minutes ago, Alasdaire said:

They're not at the same level, but Young's OPS (.651) is just a smidge below Beavers' (.663).

Maybe he's just slapping the ball and letting low-A pitchers walk him on, but that you can even compare his slash line with Beavers is encouraging given the tone surrounding Carter to start the season.

He’s the next Luis Arraez!  

[Frobby]

I’m always on the lookout for some unheralded pitcher who might someday help us, so now I’m focused on 20-year old Edgar Portes, who is repeating Delmarva.   His 3.84 ERA is good not great, but 11.5 K/9 vs. 3.8 BB/9 is pretty enticing.  His 7.8 H/9 and 0.6 HR/9 are both pretty low.  Basically, he’s improved significantly by pretty much every statistical measure, and 20 is far from old to be pitching in the Carolina League (average age 21.7).   He’s been used mostly in long relief, with 5 starts in 17 appearances but usually throwing anywhere from 3-5 innings regardless of whether he starts or not.   He looks to me like a young guy who they could move to a starting role as he matures.   He’s listed at 6-2, 165, so he needs to grow into his body a bit, but he couid be interesting.  Has anybody had eyes on him?

[RZNJ]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m always on the lookout for some unheralded pitcher who might someday help us, so now I’m focused on 20-year old Edgar Portes, who is repeating Delmarva.   His 3.84 ERA is good not great, but 11.5 K/9 vs. 3.8 BB/9 is pretty enticing.  His 7.8 H/9 and 0.6 HR/9 are both pretty low.  Basically, he’s improved significantly by pretty much every statistical measure, and 20 is far from old to be pitching in the Carolina League (average age 21.7).   He’s been used mostly in long relief, with 5 starts in 17 appearances but usually throwing anywhere from 3-5 innings regardless of whether he starts or not.   He looks to me like a young guy who they could move to a starting role as he matures.   He’s listed at 6-2, 165, so he needs to grow into his body a bit, but he couid be interesting.  Has anybody had eyes on him?

Could be.  I’ve seen him and nothing stands out.  I have a feeling Deivy Cruz, a smallish LHP is probably the best pitching prospect on that team right now.    

[mlrhode]

19 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Could be.  I’ve seen him and nothing stands out.  I have a feeling Deivy Cruz, a smallish LHP is probably the best pitching prospect on that team right now.    

 

33 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m always on the lookout for some unheralded pitcher who might someday help us, so now I’m focused on 20-year old Edgar Portes, who is repeating Delmarva.   His 3.84 ERA is good not great, but 11.5 K/9 vs. 3.8 BB/9 is pretty enticing.  His 7.8 H/9 and 0.6 HR/9 are both pretty low.  Basically, he’s improved significantly by pretty much every statistical measure, and 20 is far from old to be pitching in the Carolina League (average age 21.7).   He’s been used mostly in long relief, with 5 starts in 17 appearances but usually throwing anywhere from 3-5 innings regardless of whether he starts or not.   He looks to me like a young guy who they could move to a starting role as he matures.   He’s listed at 6-2, 165, so he needs to grow into his body a bit, but he couid be interesting.  Has anybody had eyes on him?

See new Tweets

Conversation

Prospect Tilt

@Prospect_Tilt

A name to keep an on: Edgar Portes (20) (A) (BAL) 2022(A): 57IP - 49K ->6.32 ERA | 6.17 xFIP 2023(A): 58.2IP - 75K ->3.84 ERA | 3.30 xFIP Portes' last 10 outings: 54K to just 13BB in 41IP 33.1% K% | 8.0% BB% ERA: 2.85 | FIP: 2.30 #Birdland

[Frobby]

Luis De Leon, previously with the FCL O’s, made his Delmarva debit today, tossing 4 scoreless innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, 3 K’s.  

The 20-year old was excellent in the FCL: 27.1 IP, 1.65 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 11.85 K/9, 4.6 K/BB.  He’ll be an interesting follow at Delmarva.  

Moises Chace, who has struggled this year, followed De Leon with 5 shutout innings, striking out 8.   His control is erratic (7.7 BB/9) but he’s missing a lot of bats (13.8 K/9).   

 

[Sydnor]

On 7/19/2023 at 10:57 PM, Frobby said:

Luis De Leon, previously with the FCL O’s, made his Delmarva debit today, tossing 4 scoreless innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, 3 K’s.  

The 20-year old was excellent in the FCL: 27.1 IP, 1.65 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 11.85 K/9, 4.6 K/BB.  He’ll be an interesting follow at Delmarva.  

Moises Chace, who has struggled this year, followed De Leon with 5 shutout innings, striking out 8.   His control is erratic (7.7 BB/9) but he’s missing a lot of bats (13.8 K/9).   

 

De Leon followed up his debut with 5 shutout innings on Tuesday giving up no hits and one walk while striking out 8. Have you evaluated him or heard anything about him @Tony-OH? 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Sydnor

[Just Regular]

Edgar Portes had a big game over the weekend to push his k-bb >20% in a length role - on the year for the Carolina League at the 80 innings he's attained, he's 3rd in k-bb, and plain counting stats he's 6th in strikeouts.

[Hazmat]

It’s interesting to see Horvath play 2B and 3B the last two nights.  Horvath also went 4/4 last night with 4 singles.

[Frobby]

The Delmarva Shorebirds ended their season at 56-74.  It was really multiple teams, as 43 position players and 42 pitchers cycled through.  At the start of the year, star prospects like Jackson Holliday and Samuel Basallo were on the roster; by August, high 2023 draftees like Enriqure Bradfield, Jr., Mac Horvath and Matthew Etzel had cycled through before getting promoted to Aberdeen, while others like Tavian Josenberger remained with Delmarva through the end.

Three posiition players who played all year in Delmarva were Stiven Acevedo (20), Anderson De Los Santos (19), and Adam Cramption (22, 2022 9th round pick).  Acevedo, who spent somt time with the Shorebirds in 2022 as well, led the team in PA, AB, hits, triples (tied), homers (14) and stolen bases (33), hitting .239/.304/.411.  De Los Santos, coming off a pretty strong FCL season in 2022, hit .228/.288/.339 in his initial Delmarva campaign, though he did lead the team in doubles with20.  Crampton, who saw a bit of time in Delmarva in 2022 after being drafted, struggled mightily at .196/.272/.256.   My guess is that Acevedo will start next year with Aberdeen, De Los Santos will repeat at Delmarva, and Crampton either will repeat or find another line of work.   OPS leaders among those with at least 100 PA were Creed Willems (1.056 in 120 PA), Basallo (.887 in 352 PA), Trendon Craig (.851 in 168 PA), and Randy Fioentino (.802 in 112 PA).   Carter Young led the team in runs with 53 in 85 games, and Basallo led the team in RBI with 60.

On the pitching side, 19 year old Deivy Cruz led the team in IP (97) and starts (16), while posting a 3.62 ERA (best among starters with at least 10 starts), 1.278 WHIP and 9.6 K/9.  21 year old Juan De Los Santos, who repeated Delmarva, kind of stagnated, as his 4.60 ERA, 1.544 WHIP and 8.9 K/9 were all down from his previous season.  20-year old Edgar Portes, also repeating at Delmarva, showed some promise, leading the team in strikeouts (106) at an 11.9 K/9 rate, posting a 4.24 ERA and 1.314 WHIP.  Moises Chace threw a scoreless July but was forgettable the rest of the time, posting a 4.50 ERA and missing much of August, though he did average 13.2 K/9 in 68.0 IP.  20-year old Luis De Leon was promoted from the FCL later in the season and was pretty dazzling, throwing to a 2.39 ERA, 1.253 WHIP and 10.6 K/9 in 26.1 IP.  Juan Nunez (22) posted a 3.93 ERA before earning a midseason promotion to Aberdeen.  Jared Beck (22) posted a 3.86 ERA and was promoted to Aberdeen late.   

The Shorebirds finished the year 6th/12 in runs per game at 4.78 and 4th in OPS at .703, and 10th of 12 in ERA and runs allowed per game.   The offensive runs per game dropped drastically after Jackson Holliday (1.183 OPS in 67 PA) and Creed Willems (1.056 OPS in 120 PA) got promoted.  The team was 8-7 with Holliday on the team and 23-21 while Willems was there (including the 15 games with Holliday).  They were pretty anemic thereafter despite Basallo's efforts and the late contributions by the 2023 draftees.

Overall, among the international prospects, I think Cruz, De Leon and Chace look the most promising.  Acevedo and Anderson De Los Santos have not taken themselves out of the running either, though both have more work to do.  I'd be interested to hear what others think about the prospects on this team.

[Frobby]

One other thing about Deivy Cruz that caught my eye.  He only allowed 1 unearned run all year, on a team where about 16% of all runs allowed were unearned.   Now, that may be just luck of the draw, and the team just played better defense when he was on the mound.   That can happen in a 100 inning sample.   But it's also possible that, unlike a lot of young pitchers, Cruz didn't get rattled when his defense made a miscue, but just found a way to deal with it.   Notably, last yeat Cruz allowed 9 unearned runs in about half the number of innings as he threw in 2023 at Delmarva.   So the results this year may have been luck, or may have been maturation.   

A little further down the rabbit hole: about 18.5% of the runs allowed by Delmarva in 2022 were unearned.  The team cut its errors from 203 in 2022 (worst in the league by a good margin) to 158 in 2023 (close to league median).  So, it was a better defensive team this year, at least so far as errors go.  Still, you typically get a lot of errors and unearned runs at this level, so Cruz's avoidance of unearned runs this year is still notable.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Frobby

[RZNJ]

Next years outfield at Aberdeen should be interesting.  I don’t think Acevedo is a sure thing to be promoted.   Bradfield is a lock in CF.  Does Horvath continue to play IF?   Etzel seems a good bet to man another OF spot.   Then you’ve got Jonesburger and Cunningham, not to mention Elio Prado,Trendon Craig and Reed Trimble.   

Edited September 12, 2023 by RZNJ