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Position Player of the Month: Henry Urrutia
.348/.417/.478 (32/92) with 9 2B, 1 HR, 13 RBI, 11 BB, 16 K (AA)
He just continues to hit. The 26 year old Cuban put together a strong May, showing many traits that are necessary at the MLB level. He has an open stance and keeps his hands a little higher than your average hitter. It looks like this allows him to lessen the noise in his swing. In return, the swing is easy and goes through the zone at a nice speed with minimal “extra” or “excess” movement. He demonstrated a solid approach at the plate in the times I saw him, and has shown that he can drive the ball to the opposite field and keep his back elbow up on the follow through. There are still troubles with pitch recognition, and he will get fooled on solid Sliders and Curves. This is natural though, as he still needs to time in the minors to really refine and tidy up his game after such a long layoff. The defense is still a work-in-progress as well. He’s been better than anticipated, but remember that there is still time for him to work on the little things.
Starting Pitcher of the Month: Eduardo Rodriguez
6 GS, 40.1 IP, 30 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 12 BB, 27 K (A+)
The 20 year old Venezuelan is starting to gain some buzz within the industry. My colleagues Kevin Ebert and Luke Jackson both were able to see him this month, and both had very positive things to say. They both relayed the same information about his velocity, stating that he sat mostly 90-92 while touching 94-95. Luke mentioned his repeatable delivery and fast arm speed. I know from past experiences that Rodriguez does a terrific job keeping the ball low, and both mentioned this as well. Luke especially mentioned that he was inducing a lot of weak fly balls and pop ups. The only knock on Rodriguez is that he does not have that “superb” out-pitch that he can rack up strikeouts with and miss many bats. This has raised some concern from the people I have talked to. Overall though, Eduardo Rodriguez has been strong this season and is showing the exact type of success that was necessary at A+ ball.
Relief Pitcher of the Month: Mike Belfiore
9 G, 16.0 IP, 18 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 14 K (AAA)
Belfiore ran into some control problems in April, but has seemed to really find his groove in May. His pitches are much more crisp and he is back to fooling LHP with his deceptive delivery. Surprisingly enough, he has done well against RHP this month too. This is imperative for his success at the MLB as anything more than a LOOGY, so it is great to see Belfiore handling more than just the simple lefty masher. I’ve said it before, but he is great depth in case something happens to Troy Patton or Brian Matusz.
Other Notables:
Lucas Herbst – OF – (A) .303/.349/.434 (30/99) with 3 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 3 BB, 22 K
Nik Balog – 1B – (A) .340/.387/.515 (33/97) with 11 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 20 K
Adrian Marin – SS – (A) .315/.379/.427 (28/89) with 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 BB, 22 K
Tucker Nathans – 2B – (A) .275/.343/.538 (25/91) with 3 2B, 3 3B, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 7 BB, 13 K
Christian Walker – 1B – (A+) .333/.388/.487 (26/78) with 6 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 5 BB, 15 K
Jerome Pena – 2B – (A+) .293/.386/.535 (29/99) with 7 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 13 BB, 28 K
Ty Kelly – 2B/3B – (AA) .297/.398/.446 (30/101) with 13 2B, 1 3B, 20 RBI, 16 BB, 15 K
L.J. Hoes – OF – (AAA) .280.385/.350 (28/100) with 5 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 14 BB, 17 K
Brady Wager – RHP – (A) 5 GS, 31.2 IP, 3.69 ERA, 32 H, 41 R, 13 ER, 5 BB, 25 K
Josh Hader – LHP – (A) 5 GS, 26.2 IP, 2.70 ERA, 22 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 14 BB, 28 K
Matt Hobgood – RHP – (A) 7 G, 21.1 IP, 17 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 9 BB, 19 K
Juan Guzman – RHP – (A) 4 G, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER 6 BB, 8 K
Matt Price – RHP – (A) 7 G, 9.1 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 9 K
Lex Rutledge – LHP – (A) 8 G, 15.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 BB, 12 K
Zach Davies – RHP – (A+) 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 29 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 8 BB, 20 K
Tyler Wilson – RHP – (A+) 5 GS, 3.90 ERA, 30.0 IP, 25 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 10 BB, 29 K
Trent Howard – LHP – (A+) 6 G, 2 GS, 2.16 ERA, 16.2 IP, 14 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 11 K
Mike Wright – RHP – (AA) 6 GS, 34.0 IP, 30 H, 13 R, 7 ER, 8 BB, 37 K
Devin Jones – RHP – (AA) 6 GS, 34.1 IP, 36 H, 20 R, 17 ER, 10 BB, 33 K // May 24 Game Scouting Report
Jason Gurka – LHP – (AA) 8 G, 18.1 IP, 13 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 21 K
Clay Schrader – RHP – (AA) 8 G, 14.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 10 BB, 13 K
Tucker Blair was born and raised in the Baltimore area and currently lives in Elkridge, Maryland. He graduated from York College of Pennsylvania with a B.S in Entrepreneurial Studies and is currently a Project Analyst for a Management Consulting Firm in Federal Hill, Baltimore. Tucker was previously the Managing Editor at Orioles Nation, where he worked on prospect lists, reports, and analysis on the Orioles minor league system. He also previously wrote his personal blog, The EntreprenOriole.