FCL Orioles 2024

[Tony-OH]

On 7/20/2024 at 9:37 PM, linedrive said:

Just curious to see if anyone has any info on today's 6-5 loss (7/20/24). Looks like the O's affiliate had a 5-4 lead going into the 7th inning, and they brought in their shortstop for the save. This was the second position player they used in this game. Are they short on pitchers? Or are they trying to find out if these position players can be converted to pitchers? Part of player development? Seems strange to lose a game like this. The team has been struggling and it kind of looks like they were giving it away.

I believe they had some double headers and may just be short pitchers. Wining and losing in the FCL is not a priority at all. They don't even charge to watch the games, or at least they didn't.

[seak05]

With the FCL season ending so early, even before the DSL season, I'm very curious what teams do with their 2024 draft picks 

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, seak05 said:

With the FCL season ending so early, even before the DSL season, I'm very curious what teams do with their 2024 draft picks 

I’m just guessing here but the Sarasota facility is, I believe, open year round.  I’d imagine the draftees would go there for workouts and some would eventually get sent to Delmarva.    

[Tony-OH]

8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I’m just guessing here but the Sarasota facility is, I believe, open year round.  I’d imagine the draftees would go there for workouts and some would eventually get sent to Delmarva.    

I would imagine the college position players will now debut in Delmarva vs the FCL and the high school guys will probably just stay in Florida through instructs. 

[Warehouse]

18 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I’m just guessing here but the Sarasota facility is, I believe, open year round.  I’d imagine the draftees would go there for workouts and some would eventually get sent to Delmarva.    

I think there will be unofficial complex games against other teams similar to what would happen with extended spring training in May.  One of the reasons for the change was a concern about running out of pitching due to new stricter roster limits.  With informal games, you can pull a pitcher after 30 pitches in an inning and then send him back out the next inning.  Or you can cancel the rest of the game if you run out of pitchers. 

[btdart20]

I bet college arms will be at the complex and not Delmarva.  

[Sports Guy]

 

[Frobby]

Final game of the season was a quiet one, ending in a 1-0 loss.  

2022: 16-39, -133 run differential, 19.1/20.3 average age

2023: 22-32, -59 run differential, 19.3/21.2 average age

2024: 23-36, -35 run differential, 19.1/21.0 average age

I guess if you squint you can see a little progress from 2023 to 2024, even though the W/L record was slightly worse.  Mostly, it’s the pitching that’s improved, going from 6.71 runs per game (1.86 worse than league average) in 2022 to 6.43 (1.79 worse than league average) in 2023 to 5.07 (.17 worse than league average) this year.  The league as a whole was much more pitcher friendly this year, but even so, that’s very significant progress.  Offensively the team scored 4.29 runs/game (.56 worse than league average) in 2022, 5.33 (.31 worse than league average) in 2023, and 4.47 (.43 worse than league average) this year.

Obviously, we are more concerned with developing individual prospects than with collective success of our farm teams, but I’d still say that the above suggests that our overall international talent pipeline is still below MLB average, although no longer embarrassing.

Just scouting the stat sheet, Miguel Rodriguez had the 8th best OPS in the FCL among the 18 and under crowd (36th overall), and he’s a catcher to boot.  1B Carlos Rodriguez (age 20) was 41st overall (38th among those 20 or younger).  RF/CF Elis Cuevas (19) was 45th (31st among those 19 or younger).  I’d easily say Miguel Rodriguez seems like the most promising of that group, especially if his defense is good (his CS% dropped from 34% in the DSL last year to 18% this year).

Honestly I don’t see a pitcher who really stands out, but if I had to pick out someone I’d go with 19-year old Jesus Palacios, who had a pedestrian 5.08 ERA but allowed only 6.7 hits per 9 while striking out 11.8.  As you might have guessed, he walked a lot of guys, 6.7 per 9, same as his hit rate.  Still, 19 is young for an FCL pitcher so I’d say there’s some promise there.  Palacios started the season strong (1.23 ERA in his first 5 games including a 10-strikeout game), but then pitched only once in 27 days and closed with a 9.22 ERA in his 5 remaining outings, so there may have been some arm issues there, though he didn’t miss any time in July.

Edited July 25 by Frobby

[Warehouse]

 

[Frobby]

A few observations about the defense of some of our top FCL prospects, just based on their stat lines.  

Top hitter Miguel Rodriguez (.840 OPS) was the principal catcher for the FCL O’s.  He wasn’t too good defensively, committing 6 errors and 7 passed balls in 26 games, and catching only 18% of base runners who attempted to steal (12 of 65).   He was better in the DSL the year before, making only 2 errors in 29 starts and catching 34% of runners.  

Carlos Rodriguez (.821) appears to be more of a 1B than a C at this point, as his 5 games caught was 4th on the team.  

OF Elis Cuevas played 26 games in RF (1 error) and 17 in CF (4 errors).   The latter stat suggests he’s not cut out for CF, but at least has decent speed (he also stole 33 of 40 bases).   His 5 assists led the outfielders, so it appears he has a decent arm.  

Edwin Amparo (.784) played 32 games at 2B (3 errors, .968 fielding %) and 11 games at SS (4 errors, .871).   Looking at his 3-year track record, I’d say he’s a 2B.

Luis Almeyda (.653) was the principal SS and made 4 errors in 24 games (.937).  A quick spin through the FCL tells me that 10 of the league’s principal SS’s had a better fielding % than Almeyda, while 5 were worse.  Almeida fared worse at 3B, where he had 3 errors in 18 games for an .842 Fldg %.

I’ll toss in Josh Liranzo, who had a tough offensive year (.612) while playing in the FCL at 17.   Liranzo played 17 games at 3B (3 errors, .909) and surprisingly, 6 at SS (2 errors, .889).   The fact that they tried Liranzo at SS a few times suggests that he moves pretty well.

Finally, I’ll mention Fernando Peugero, who mustered only .612 with the bat but was the principal CF, committing only one error there in 35 games (.988).   Presumably, it’s his solid glove that got him sent to Norfolk last week.