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Michael Aubrey Invigorated?


RVAbird

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As of July 5th, he is hitting .345/.375/.517 in 29 at-bats for Norfolk after being acquired from the Cleveland Indians organization.

On the season, he is up to .299/.328/.456 in 241 International League at-bats.

Aubrey is a former big time first base prospect who has seen his power sapped by numerous nagging injuries. From 2005 to 2008 he has struggled to stay on the field for any amount of time and hasn't developed the kind of HR power one would like at first.

Despite the injuries and inconsistent playing time, Aubrey has managed a career .295 average in the minors. Simply staying healthy for over 300 at-bats last year for the first time since 2004 was an accomplishment in its own right.

The Indians decided to cut bait with the now 27 year old first baseman in June when he was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles and sent to AAA Norfolk.

He seems to be fully healthy now and is certainly a guy who could benefit from a change of scenery.

At age 27, he's too old to have an impact career, but if his health enables his power numbers to return he could have a few productive major league seasons.

The switch to Norfolk seems to be working well for Aubrey. Though he has only 5 home runs on the season, and none since joining the Tides, he has racked up 21 doubles and a triple, which may be the precursor to a return in HR power.

His ISO-P is at .172 and rising since coming to Norfolk.

Though he still has a ways to go before justifying a spot on a Major League roster, it will be interesting to see how he can produce when fully healthy.

He will be one to watch, and a possible fill in if Aubrey Huff is traded before the deadline.

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I'm not really impressed by a sub .800 OPS from a guy who's been in the minors that long.

He's organizational filler at best.

What I was getting at in the OP was that you kind of have to discount his numbers, or at least put them into context, due to his injuries.

The hope is that as he regains his health and strength, the power will increase. That is why I will be watching closely to see if he sees a spike in isolated power over the next few weeks.

His chances of being a major league contributor are still marginal, but he's a guy who had very good raw power before his injuries, so I consider there to be some upside there if he's healthy.

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I would give Aubrey a look in September if he can continue to be productive at Norfolk.

I hope this September giving a guy looks means more than starting them on Sundays. The O's should give a lot of guys a lot of looks the remainder of the year, imo. This might mean less starts for someone like Mora, but I think most of us could live with that.

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If Huff is traded, I would expect Oscar to get a real shot before Aubrey would.

It's good to have depth like this, however. Especially depth in which even though this player is likely to just be organizational filler, he still does have some upside left. AM has been really good at finding players like this.

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As of July 5th, he is hitting .345/.375/.517 in 29 at-bats for Norfolk after being acquired from the Cleveland Indians organization.

On the season, he is up to .299/.328/.456 in 241 International League at-bats.

Aubrey is a former big time first base prospect who has seen his power sapped by numerous nagging injuries. From 2005 to 2008 he has struggled to stay on the field for any amount of time and hasn't developed the kind of HR power one would like at first.

Despite the injuries and inconsistent playing time, Aubrey has managed a career .295 average in the minors. Simply staying healthy for over 300 at-bats last year for the first time since 2004 was an accomplishment in its own right.

The Indians decided to cut bait with the now 27 year old first baseman in June when he was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles and sent to AAA Norfolk.

He seems to be fully healthy now and is certainly a guy who could benefit from a change of scenery.

At age 27, he's too old to have an impact career, but if his health enables his power numbers to return he could have a few productive major league seasons.

The switch to Norfolk seems to be working well for Aubrey. Though he has only 5 home runs on the season, and none since joining the Tides, he has racked up 21 doubles and a triple, which may be the precursor to a return in HR power.

His ISO-P is at .172 and rising since coming to Norfolk.

Though he still has a ways to go before justifying a spot on a Major League roster, it will be interesting to see how he can produce when fully healthy.

He will be one to watch, and a possible fill in if Aubrey Huff is traded before the deadline.

Based off of his performances, its not that he enevr developed the power, because he did develop it, the injuries sapped the power from his swing. He is no Rowell or Hayden Penn meaning that he never has lost his skillset or abilities, he just never has been able to stay on the field healthy. He is definately an awesome guy to take a flyer on because he has potential. Its not that we are takinga look to see if mayb he can search deeply and find the old skills that he lost, he still presently has those skills and tools, we just gotta be able to keep him on the field healthy and we will all be surprised....hopefully :)

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I hope this September giving a guy looks means more than starting them on Sundays. The O's should give a lot of guys a lot of looks the remainder of the year, imo. This might mean less starts for someone like Mora, but I think most of us could live with that.

By September, I hope Mora is a part time player, at most. 3-4 starts a week is enough for him.

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Completely. He was getting rocked at AAA so I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm happy that he seems to be pitching with good control now but I'm under no illusion that his stuff is going to be good enough to translate to the majors. Hopefully, someone from another organization still sees something in him and we can deal him for someone useful, like Michael Aubrey. Oh, wait! Well, you know what I mean.

Aubrey bares watching. Aubrey being good enough to become the O's starting 1B next year is just semi insane.

I think sometimes guys might need a change of scenery. I'd much rather see him on this team than Huff. He's 5 years younger and may actually be here for a bit, even as a role player.

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Completely. He was getting rocked at AAA so I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm happy that he seems to be pitching with good control now but I'm under no illusion that his stuff is going to be good enough to translate to the majors.

His stuff has never been an issue. His stuff is electric. His problem was fastball command and lack of a good third pitch.

Unlike some fans, teams are usually reluctant to give up on talented players. I am sure that when Liz was sent to AAA he became a project for Mike Griffin. A lot of times pitchers will struggle when they start tinkering with mechanics or working on new pitches, so his early numbers there may be deceiving.

He is talented and still young enough to make adjustments. It wouldn't shock me at all to see him up in Baltimore at some point, if not this year then competing for a bullpen job next spring.

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I just wish the organization had Liz working out of the pen and figuring out what kind of ability he has in that role. I also am ready to see them move Beato into this role. You look at what a guy like JJ has done since being moved to the pen, and wonder what a few mph or less innings would do for others that don't have what it takes to be starters.

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Well, it's my contention that they improved Liz's mechanics a bit this spring and he's been pitching a lot differently. Even at AAA he was exhibiting good control but was mostly getting lit up. I believe that his stuff is not so electric with the improved mechanics. Hence, why is able to get AA hitters out but was having so much trouble with AAA hitters.

Maybe he's still making adjustments.

That said, I never bought the Liz hype and I don't think there's much he can do to change that for me.

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