Rowell Moves to Outfield

[Crazysilver03]

Good to know that you think the Orioles player development system has been right a lot over the past several years.

Good to know that you hold current regimes responsible for past regime's maneuvers.

[ScottieBaseball]

Hate to interrupt, but Doc did a pretty nice job of interviewing Billy Rowell over here in his latest report.

[Sports Guy]

Good to know that you hold current regimes responsible for past regime's maneuvers.

Lots of issues about the way guys looked when they came up here last year as well..Pretty sure AM was the GM at that point.

And Stockstill has been here for a while and this is his job.

[Crazysilver03]

Lots of issues about the way guys looked when they came up here last year as well..Pretty sure AM was the GM at that point.

And Stockstill has been here for a while and this is his job.

I don't remember all the changes, but I thought our development system had some re-alignments last season?

One of the things that, IIRC, has been new in past years is promoting managers with certain players up the rings of the organization. Now I don't know if that is effective or not.

Olson, looked good in the minors, but then for whatever reason he couldn't turn it on in Baltimore. I don't know if that is really player development's fault.

[Stotle]

This is really a non-issue, isn't it? Prospect change positions all the time, and Rowell is probably a better fit at 1B/COF than he is at 3B. Get his bat going -- that's what the draft pick was spent on.

[mcpd]

Hate to interrupt, but Doc did a pretty nice job of interviewing Billy Rowell over here in his latest report.

Sounds like from the interview he doesn't have a problem switching positions. Seems to me that switching him now while he is in the lower minors instead of AAA or mlb is the time to do it. Isn't that what player developement is all about.

[Crazysilver03]

I agree...If Rowell feels this way, it is a good move...If he doesn't, it is a stupid move.

Well, according to the interview, Rowell even says that learning the OF is easier and has taken a lot of stress off of him, so it seems this will be serve him moving forward.

[Frobby]

Hate to interrupt, but Doc did a pretty nice job of interviewing Billy Rowell over here in his latest report.

Well, right from the horse's mouth, he says he's feeling comfortable in the OF, it's easier than 3B and will allow him to concentrate more on his hitting.

Let's get Rowell's bat in gear, and everything else will fall into place eventually.

[Three Run Homer]

If the idea is to let him focus on hitting--not a bad idea--why not just let him DH this season, so he doesn't have to worry about fielding at all, let alone fielding a new position?

[hoosiers]

Is this for real?

Years and years of total ineptitude is plenty of basis.

Just because some pitchers had trouble adjusting to the majors last year and because our player development had previously been know to be mediocre, it does not mean the current staff in place is mediocre as well.

It has been a long, long time since we've moved guys through the system like we have recently. I'm sure Joe Jordan gets a lot of the credit as well. Think of the guys moving through the system from the lower levels - DHernandez, Bergesen, Olson, Liz, Reimold, McCrory, Hoey, Reimold, Blake Davis, etc. Others are moving up as well - like Snyder, Britton, Erbe.

I think criticism based on "years and years of total ineptitude" is living in the past. Our player development system appears to have improved by leaps and bounds. I can not comment with certainty whether our current player development team is average or not today, but my guess is that it is above average.

[oriolescrew]

We'll see how easy outfield is when the game is tied with two outs and bases loaded, a line drive down the line in right field...hope Rowell can get there.

[Old Beta]

We'll see how easy outfield is when the game is tied with two outs and bases loaded, a line drive down the line in right field...hope Rowell can get there.

He didn't say it was easy, he said it was easIER (for him than third). I think we all know the things that can happen in baseball games.

[jerios55]

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.

I worry moving him to a position that he hasn't played before lowers he confidence by questioning his abilities. Hopefully, I am mistaken.

[jerios55]

Hate to interrupt, but Doc did a pretty nice job of interviewing Billy Rowell over here in his latest report.

This was awesome. The article sounds like he is maturing a bit. Fingers crossed it's more than words.