Rowell Moves to Outfield

[blakesta]

http://masnsports.com/2009/03/os-prospect-billy-rowell-is-le.html

Interesting he's moving to Right Field. We will see how he does this year and maybe he will be used as a trade piece.

As reported by Steve Melewski.

[Crazysilver03]

I know it was touched on by Doc but I like everything I have heard about Rowell so far.

I hope people don't bombard this thread though saying "we don't have any 3B prospects, why is he in the OF????"

Really, we need Rowell to develop and it doesn't really matter where. We will either find a spot for him or he will be traded, but we need him to develop first. If all of a sudden he is a hot OF prospect, well then that is a good problem to have.

[brvn52]

Very interesting.

I wonder why RF? We have Markakis locked in there for the next 6 years so he has no way of breaking into the league as a RFer. In LF we have Pie/Reimold/Scott, but none of them are sure things to be here in 2011/2012 when Rowell is knocking on the door.

I understand them wanting to move him to the OF due to defense, but at least give that bat who has more potential than anyone (aside from Weiters) in our farm system in a place where we can play through the minors and into his professional career at. If Rowell makes it to the big club, he's automatically gonna have to change his position to LF (or 1B). It just doesn't make sense to me why they'd do that when they could just put him at LF or 1B now and get him some practice there before he has to do it in the big leagues (assuming me makes it there).

[Crazysilver03]

Very interesting.

I wonder why RF? We have Markakis locked in there for the next 6 years so he has no way of breaking into the league as a RFer. In LF we have Pie/Reimold/Scott, but none of them are sure things to be here in 2011/2012 when Rowell is knocking on the door.

I understand them wanting to move him to the OF due to defense, but at least give that bat who has more potential than anyone (aside from Weiters) in our farm system in a place where we can play through the minors and into his professional career at. If Rowell makes it to the big club, he's automatically gonna have to change his position to LF (or 1B). It just doesn't make sense to me why they'd do that when they could just put him at LF or 1B now and get him some practice there before he has to do it in the big leagues (assuming me makes it there).

I am not overly worried with him being placed in RF for now. He is still at Frederick. He won't sniff the majors until at least the end of 2010, if not 2011 at the earliest. Let us just focus on him building his maturity, confidence, and offensive prowess.

[DrShorebird]

Technically, RedDevil00 may have scooped everyone at 03-09-2009, 04:21 PM today when he commented that he noticed the change in the Roster we posted at 03-09-2009, 03:58 PM in the thread 2009 Minor League Roster.

This is why they held up on the roster until all reported.

The MASN report was not posted by Steve Melewski until March 9, 2009 11:10 PM. Think they may have read RedDevil00 comments? Just Kidding.

[Old Beta]

I wonder why RF? We have Markakis locked in there for the next 6 years so he has no way of breaking into the league as a RFer. In LF we have Pie/Reimold/Scott, but none of them are sure things to be here in 2011/2012 when Rowell is knocking on the door.

The article said his arm. He's too far away from the majors to worry about who's playing left field now.

[Lt Melmo]

I know it was touched on by Doc but I like everything I have heard about Rowell so far.

I hope people don't bombard this thread though saying "we don't have any 3B prospects, why is he in the OF????"

Really, we need Rowell to develop and it doesn't really matter where. We will either find a spot for him or he will be traded, but we need him to develop first. If all of a sudden he is a hot OF prospect, well then that is a good problem to have.

I'm not gonna say we need him at 3B, it's clear he isn't a good enough fielder to stay there... but I'll say that I don't really understand why they're sticking him in the outfield over 1B though.

[McNulty]

Technically, RedDevil00 may have scooped everyone at 03-09-2009, 04:21 PM today when he commented that he noticed the change in the Roster we posted at 03-09-2009, 03:58 PM in the thread 2009 Minor League Roster.

This is why they held up on the roster until all reported.

The MASN report was not posted by Steve Melewski until March 9, 2009 11:10 PM. Think they may have read RedDevil00 comments? Just Kidding.

I believe RedDevil00 is a chick. Good on her for noticing.

[PapaRick]

I'm not gonna say we need him at 3B, it's clear he isn't a good enough fielder to stay there... but I'll say that I don't really understand why they're sticking him in the outfield over 1B though.

Too athletic and too good an arm to limit his value by making him a 1B now. RF is the next highest value position for him after 3B. Like Snyder, his ticket to the bigs will be his bat and it makes sense to develop him at the highest value position possible for him.

[birdman57]

I too don't understand this move to the OF. If he is 2-3 years away as we suspect, why not play him at 3B and see if he improves on his defense?? If he doesn't this season, he's still two years away and you move him to 1B where he might be a more natural fit. This seems to me another case of the Orioles mishandling a top prospect:)

[Stotle]

Very interesting.

I wonder why RF? We have Markakis locked in there for the next 6 years so he has no way of breaking into the league as a RFer. In LF we have Pie/Reimold/Scott, but none of them are sure things to be here in 2011/2012 when Rowell is knocking on the door.

I understand them wanting to move him to the OF due to defense, but at least give that bat who has more potential than anyone (aside from Weiters) in our farm system in a place where we can play through the minors and into his professional career at. If Rowell makes it to the big club, he's automatically gonna have to change his position to LF (or 1B). It just doesn't make sense to me why they'd do that when they could just put him at LF or 1B now and get him some practice there before he has to do it in the big leagues (assuming me makes it there).

This is a pretty easy one. He has the arm for RF so you play him there. LF should generally be reserved for the OF that doesn't have the range/tracking/arm for CF or the arm for RF.

[PapaRick]

I too don't understand this move to the OF. If he is 2-3 years away as we suspect, why not play him at 3B and see if he improves on his defense?? If he doesn't this season, he's still two years away and you move him to 1B where he might be a more natural fit. This seems to me another case of the Orioles mishandling a top prospect:)

Or maybe as Stockstill said they think he will relax more as an OFer

"This should take some pressure off him, he put some pressure on himself playing third. We think he'll be more comfortable in the outfield and he has an outstanding arm for right field. This doesn't mean he could not switch to another position down the road, but he's an outfielder now for us."

http://masnsports.com/2009/03/os-prospect-billy-rowell-is-le.html

and be able to concentrate more on his real value long term which is his bat. IF his bat develops as originally projected, we will be able to find a spot for him in the lineup somewhere.

[stnwall00]

Pretty sure I scooped this weeks ago actually.

[Singleton]

I too don't understand this move to the OF. If he is 2-3 years away as we suspect, why not play him at 3B and see if he improves on his defense?? If he doesn't this season, he's still two years away and you move him to 1B where he might be a more natural fit. This seems to me another case of the Orioles mishandling a top prospect:)

Isn't 3 years long enough to decide that he doesn't have the skills to play 3rd? Why keep running him out there if we've determined this already? I also agree about trying him in the outfield. First is the position of last resort. In the meantime, lets see if his bat even makes this an issue.

[Hank Scorpio]

Pretty sure I scooped this weeks ago actually.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1657220&postcount=16

You sure did, Chief.

This Bud's for you.