Prized Oriole prospect Troy Patton has had a strong appearance tonight for AA Bowie, after missing all of 2008 with a Torn Labrum.
The Southpaw went 5 innings, allowed 0 er, with 3 walks, and 3 k’s.
You can expect Patton to have numerous ups and downs as the year progresses, and he looks for consistency; but him being able to provide 5 innings of work this early is very exciting.
Even if he had not had the labrum surgery, there would have been a great argument he was not ready for the Majors to start 2008…. After missing all of 2008, I would like to see him go log 100 innings or so between AA and AAA… not very worried about results… just want to see him regularly take the ball… and by year end 2009, and going into 2010 have him as a potential rotation option…
A 21 year-old that has a season where they go from AA to the Majors, is a pretty good prospect… Baseball America thought so as well, as he was in their Top 100 lists.. I think a guy that did not rely on his velocity, is a good candidate to rebound from his injury….but even though he had ascended to the Majors in 2007, I take some issue with the idea that he would have been fully ready for a starting job to start 2008 if he had been healthy..
I am not risk adverse, or hesitant to give kids a chance… but if you look at his AA numbers in particular… he was missing some bats, as evidenced by his hits per IP, but his K rate was just ok, and the walks were a bit of a concern… I think he can help us going forward… maybe even by the end of 2009….. and if it becomes apparent he can help sooner, all the better.
2007 Season Age 21
AA: 6-6 2.99 ERA 102.1 IP 96 hits 68 k’s 33 walks 10 homers
AAA: 4-2 4.59 ERA 49 IP 44 hits 25 k’s 11 walks 5 homers
MLB: 0-2 3.55 ERA 12.2 IP 10 hits 8 k’s 4 walks 3 homers
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