Number Two prospect: LHP - Zach Britton

[Tony-OH]

http://www.orioleshangout.com/article.asp?ID=2323

[Singleton]

http://www.orioleshangout.com/article.asp?ID=2323

Pretty exciting stuff when you think about how soon we are likely to see him in a rotation with Matsuz, Tillman, Bergy and perhaps Arrieta. Tony and others, what is the explanation for his increased velocity?

[clarence]

Two above average lefties in the rotation will be nice to see. Would be sick if Loewen had stayed healthy and progressed to have 3 with BB and Tillman.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I think you should have posted this one as Matusz, just to see the fallout

[Mooreisbetter27]

I was high on Britton before, but just reading this synopsis gets my hopes really high.

It would be so cool to have 2 dominant lefties on our roster in Baltimore.

[wildcard]

Tony, You're gushing!!

[Os_Watcher]

Nice write up Tony (no really it was an exciting read)

I am really warming up to your thinking on placing him ahead of Arrieta. But in short 2010, is all about him improving his change up and lowering his BB/9

I suspect the GO/AO won't hold up so greatly once he moves up... But that doesn't mean it will completely collapse either.

[Frobby]

This is a very big year for Britton, but you have to like his progress to this point. Other than being left-handed, his profile reads similarly to Spoone's from two years ago. Hopefully Britton stays healthy and continues to thrive.

[thundercleetz]

As good as Britton was last season, I have been looking at all the Oriole top prospect lists over the past ten years and have seen many of our pitchers near the top after only a season at A (Lewis, Stahl, Bautista, Lowen, etc.) only to fizzle out due to injury or higher competition. The fact that Arrieta has already dominated A and AA shows how close he is to the majors. Britton still has awhile to go, but I'm loving the groundball numbers. However, I still have to go Arrieta because of the less risk involved.

[Frobby]

As good as Britton was last season, I have been looking at all the Oriole top prospect lists over the past ten years and have seen many of our pitchers near the top after only a season at A (Lewis, Stahl, Bautista, Lowen, etc.) only to fizzle out due to injury or higher competition. The fact that Arrieta has already dominated A and AA shows how close he is to the majors. Britton still has awhile to go, but I'm loving the groundball numbers. However, I still have to go Arrieta because of the less risk involved.

I don't see how you can downgrade a prospect because he is more of an injury risk because he's further from the majors. While it is certainly true that there is a higher chance that a guy in A ball will get hurt before reaching the majors than a guy in AAA, that doesn't relate to how good a prospect they are.

Lewis and Stahl, IMO, are remnants of a time when our farm system was paper thin. There's no comparison between being ranked highly on the '09 list and being ranked highly on the lists from early in the 2000's. Bautista's ranking was largely based on the false information that he was 20 years old and already in AA; he was actually 23 and would not have been ranked that highly if his true age had been known. Loewen's ranking, IMO, was completely deserved, and injuries that were sustained once he was already in the majors really can't denigrate from the fact that he was a very good prospect.

I don't have any problem with ranking Arrieta above Britton, because they are close IMO. I'd go with Britton, but both are very good prospects.

[Tony-OH]

Nice write up Tony (no really it was an exciting read)

I am really warming up to your thinking on placing him ahead of Arrieta. But in short 2010, is all about him improving his change up and lowering his BB/9

I suspect the GO/AO won't hold up so greatly once he moves up... But that doesn't mean it will completely collapse either.

I'd imagine you are right here since if it did, he'd be one of the best pitchers in baseball. Britton is not just a ground ball pitcher, he was the best groundball pitcher in the Carolina League and one of the best in all of the minor leagues. When you add in a 4-seam fastball that can reach the mid-90s and an improved slider that can be plus at times, you have a guy who is better than a lot of folks give credit to.

Part of the reason guys like Britton fly under the radar is that GO information and stats are fairly new for the common fan and even for a lot of scouts. When you go and watch Britton you don't walk away with a wow factor. But at the end of the night you notice he got 16 ground outs and now you notice he's striking out almost a batter an inning,

I personally think even BA will have him ranked fairly high this year, especially if they talk to some of the same scouts I did.

[waroriole]

Tony, do you think he has #1 starter potential? What are the chances that the slider or change turn into plus pitches?

Also, it's been said on here before, but I'll say it again, he should see even more improvement, because he's such an extreme GB pitcher, when he gets a defensive IF behind him that isn't so prone to errors.

[Frobby]

I'd imagine you are right here since if it did, he'd be one of the best pitchers in baseball. Britton is not just a ground ball pitcher, he was the best groundball pitcher in the Carolina League and one of the best in all of the minor leagues. When you add in a 4-seam fastball that can reach the mid-90s and an improved slider that can be plus at times, you have a guy who is better than a lot of folks give credit to.

Part of the reason guys like Britton fly under the radar is that GO information and stats are fairly new for the common fan and even for a lot of scouts. When you go and watch Britton you don't walk away with a wow factor. But at the end of the night you notice he got 16 ground outs and now you notice he's striking out almost a batter an inning,

I personally think even BA will have him ranked fairly high this year, especially if they talk to some of the same scouts I did.

Tony, how would you say Britton stacks up with the 2007 version of Chorye Spoone? They are both GB pitchers who also had their fair share of strikeouts.

[stef]

Just as a reminder, here are their stats at Frederick:

Yr	Age	IP	FIP	 BF	H	2B	HR	W	IW	K 	AVG	BABIP	WHIP	 GB%	LD%	FB%	IF/F	HR/FSpoone2007	21	175.3	3.62	 690	121	23	9	68	0	150	0.199	0.249	1.08	65.8%	6.7%	25.6%	16.2%	7.4%Britton2009	21	140.7	3.17	 573	118	21	4	52	0	127	0.230	0.298	1.21	65.0%	9.8%	18.2%	2.6%	5.3%

http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?pl=502154

http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?pl=461870

[Hooded Viper]

Kind of amazing how many innings Spoone threw. Maybe it's just a coincidence that his shoulder gave out the next year.

Not to derail the thread but is there any update on Spoone? Is he taking the winter off or pitching anywhere?