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Reminder: The Aberdeen Ironbirds begin play tonight. Their Opening Night Starter will be RHP Sebastian Vader. He has a smooth delivery to go along with his deceptive fastball that sat around 89-92 in 2012 when I saw him. The deception helps play up his average arsenal.

The rest of the roster (as of 6/16/13):
LHP Steven Brault
RHP Jose Figuereo
RHP Michael Joseph
RHP Williams Louico
LHP Harry Marino
RHP Luc Rennie
RHP David Richardson
LHP Jorge Rivera
LHP Alex Santana
RHP Janser Severino
RHP Austin Urban
RHP Jimmy Yacabonis
C Jack Graham
C Scott Kalush
C Tanner Murphy
INF Jared Breen            
INF Jeff Kemp
INF Kristopher Richards
INF Hector Veloz
OF George Barber
OF Conor Bierfeldt
OF Manny Hernandez
OF Sam Kimmel
OF Anthony Vega

Position Player of the Week: Jerome Pena – 2B

.367/.457/.600 (11/30) with 4 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K (A+)
Players like Pena come and go, and often are on the outside looking in. He may not have a great tool-set as a player, but he does bring that “grinder” mentality and plays the game hard. He has a short swing with decent bat speed, and sprays the ball well around the diamond. He has grown some surprising pop in the past year, which was non-existent beforehand. Like I said, Pena has an uphill battle, but he has been producing. At a position that is fairly thin in the Orioles system, Pena has been a nice little story this year.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: Parker Bridwell – LHP

2 GS, 13.2 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 15 K (A)
It’s about time. Bridwell has been a disappointment this year, but the stuff has been there. He finally displayed some domination. I talked to someone whom was in attendance, and they said he looked like the “great” pitcher that we have all been waiting for. He’s been inconsistent this year and is repeating the level, but there is still ability here. He still flashes swing-and-miss stuff and he should not been cast aside fully just yet. The process has not gone as planned with the former multi-star athlete and he still may be learning many aspects of pitching. At the very least, welcome back Parker.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Oliver Drake – RHP

2 G, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (AA)
Drake is back and in action. He missed quite some time the past two years and it has really set him back within the organization. This week, he displayed some solid stuff in his return. He is a fastball/slider pitcher with an average change thrown in as his third selection. The arm may not quite be back to hitting 95 mph, but he can still sit 90-93. The fastball sinks, and this was a terrific pitch when he was on his game. I am not sure whether the Orioles plan to have him start anymore, but as of now he seems to be working well back as a reliever.

Other Notables:

Nik Balog – 1B – (A) .300/.333/.433 (9/30) with 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
Tucker Nathans – OF – (A) .464/.531/.679 (13/28) with 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, 1 SB
Torsten Boss – 2B – (A) .320/.346/.440 (8/25) with 3 2B, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 SB
Michael Ohlman – C – (A+) .276/.333/.621 (8/29) with 1 2B, 3 HR, 3 BB, 8 K
John Ruettiger – OF - (A+) .290/.324/.290 (9/31) with 2 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 7 SB
Henry Urrutia – OF – (AA) .417/.462/.417 (5/12) with 1 BB, 2 K // Scouting Report
Caleb Joseph – C – (AA) .522/.539/.783 (12/23) with 3 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Ty Kelly – 2B/3B – (AA) .350/.439/.400 (7/20) with 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K
L.J. Hoes – OF – (AAA) .444/.583/.722 (8/18) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 6 BB, 4 K

Josh Hader – LHP – (A) 1 GS, 6.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Juan Guzman – RHP – (A) 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K
Lex Rutledge – LHP – (A) 2 GS, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 13 K
Sander Beck – RHP - (A) 2 G, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Zach Davies – RHP – (A+) 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 13 K
Zach Fowler – LHP – (A+) 2 G, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Jesse Beal – RHP – (A+) 2 G, 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Miguel Chalas – RHP – (A+) 2 G, 4.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Jason Gurka – LHP – (AA) 2 G, 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K
Oliver Drake – RHP – (AA) 2 G, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Mike Belfiore – LHP – (AAA) 1 G, 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Chris Jones – LHP – (AAA) 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K