Both Jake Arrieta, and Brian Matusz were again in action on the same night last-night.
Arrieta went 6.1 innings, allowing 7 hits, 4 er, 1 bb, with 8 k’s for Norfolk. This was his 3rd consecutive start over 6 innings, and really is putting him on the verge of a call-up to the bigs.
Matusz was simply amazing at Bowie, and is showing himself to just be at another class vs the Eastern League hitters.
In 8 innings of work, Matusz allowed just 1 hit, 0 bb’s, with 11 k’s.
In 4 Double A starts, Matusz is 4-0, with a 0.34 era.
He has worked 26.1 innings at Bowie, allowing 11 hits, 1 er, 6 bb’s, with 32 k’s.
The O’s internal plan was likely to leave Matusz at Bowie for most of the 2nd-half, and start him at Norfolk in 2010.
They have talked about Matusz following the Wieters plan. What I get out of that, is that they would like to have Matusz in the Majors in June 2010, to potentionally avoid Matusz becoming a Super 2 Player.
Waiting that long might prove difficult. What I think we can all safely assume, is that Matusz will be in Norfolk for the first few weeks of April 2010, so the O’s gain a full-additional year of service-time.
The only question I have, is what if the O’s move him to Norfolk prior to the end of 2009? Does that change how the O’s plan to handle him?
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Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.