Down on the Farm – June 14, 2021

Welcome to ‘Down on the Farm’, a minor league spin-off of my weekly article ‘3 Up, 3 Down’. Every week I will highlight the three hottest and three coldest players in the Orioles minor league system from the previous week. Hopefully this will help in keeping track of the progress of the prospects playing for the Norfolk Tide, Bowie Baysox, Aberdeen Ironbirds, and Delmarva Shorebirds. Also be sure to check out my threads on the message board that are tracking both pitching and hitting statistics for our prospects.

(You can discuss this on the BSL board here.)

On Fire

Domingo Leyba – .333/.364/.762 (1.126), 4 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 21 AB (AAA Norfolk)

The Orioles claimed Leyba off of waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks after he went hitless over 22 at bats (spread out over 13 games). He is an infielder who can play all over the infield although hes not known for a particularly strong glove. He was crushing the ball in AAA for Reno before his stint in the majors, batting .471 with two doubles, a triple, and four homeruns over 35 at bats. He got right back to doing that with AAA Norfolk last week, at one point hitting a homerun in three straight games. With the Orioles season long struggle finding someone to play second base at the major league level I would expect Leyba or the next player on this list to find themselves in Baltimore before too long. He doesn’t walk much but he clearly has some pop in his bat, its just a matter of proving he isn’t a AAAA player and can do it at the major league level. I’ve heard him be compared to a switch hitting Hanser Alberto which would obviously be appealing to O’s fans. Leyba was suspended 80 games before the 2020 season after testing positive for a steroid that helps build lean muscle mass but you have to think he isn’t on it anymore and is still hitting for power. He would at least serve a better purpose on the Orioles roster than Stevie Wilkerson.

Jahmai Jones – .313/.421/.625 (1.046), 2 R, 2 doubles, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, 16 AB (AAA Norfolk)

If Leyba doesn’t get called up to the majors soon then you have to think Jones will. Honestly there is room for both with Wilkerson and Pat Valaika both expendable on the big league roster. Jones could play everyday at second base with Leyba providing a bench bat and occasional fill in for the infield. Jones looked poised to get the call earlier in the season but instead found himself on the injured list for a few weeks. He was rehabbing with Aberdeen during the first week of June before finally rejoining AAA Norfolk’s lineup last week. He picked up right where he left off, stinging the ball all over the field. He hit a homerun on Saturday that got out of left field in a hurry. He has a walk rate of 12.7%, a wRC+ of 172, and is barely striking out (10.9%). The bat is as ready as its going to be. Mike Elias has said he is just waiting for his defense to get up to par before bringing him up and as far as I can tell from the diving catch he made last week that shouldn’t be an issue. With the Orioles on another losing skid his arrival would give fans a jolt of interest in the team again, lets hope it happens soon.

Darell Hernaiz – .412/.421/.471 (.892), 2 R, 1 double, 2 RBI, 4 SB, 17 AB (A Delmarva)

I’ve given love to almost every infielder who has played for the Delmarva Shorebirds this season and now its Hernaiz’ turn despite not putting up the gaudy numbers of the Gunnar Hendersons, Jordan Westburgs, and JD Mundys of the world. For the season he is basically a league average hitter (wRC+ of 98) but at just 19 years old that is a pretty impressive feat since that is two years younger than the league average age. He may not be a phenom in the way that Henderson has proven to be but he is clearly showing an advanced hit tool with a .296 average for the season. He is only walking 4.3% of the time but has proven in the past that he can be patient at the plate (14.7% walk rate in the GCL in 2019). He isn’t striking out much (18.1%) and has shown off his speed on the basepaths with eight stolen bases. He has plenty of room to grow physically and get stronger to hit for more power and can play all three infield positions well. Its likely going to take him until 2024 before he is an option for the major leagues but he’ll still only be 22 years old by then. Just another great selection from the 2019 draft by Mike Elias.

Ice Cold

Ofelky Peralta – 0-0, 54.00, 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 1 HBP, 2 BB, 1 K, 6.00 WHIP (AA Bowie)

Of course Peralta ends up here right after we started talking him up over at the On the Verge podcast. It seemed like he had turned a corner as a starting pitching prospect after we had been saying for years that he could move quickly through the system if he was transitioned into a reliever. Of course his bad outing on Wednesday is just a blip that lasted less than an inning but it was supposed to be a piggybacking effort off of (freshly promoted to AAA Norfolk) Kevin Smith’s great start. His overall numbers for the season are still very good (3.20 ERA over 19.2 innings with 27 strikeouts, 10 walks, and a 1.12 WHIP) and with another spot in the rotation opened up maybe he’ll get a chance to start a game himself this week. One thing that worries me a bit is he can be a fast starter and slow down as a season wears on. I still think he will ultimately get his chance in the majors pitching out of the bullpen but hes at least given himself a chance to continue to pitch in multi-inning appearances for the foreseeable future.

Patrick Dorrian – .143/.250/.286 (.536), 4 R, 1 double, 1 triple, 3 RBI, 21 AB (AA Bowie)

Dorrian started the season “on fire”, looking like a completely different player than the guy the Orioles acquired in 2019 with a 1.024 OPS in the month of May. That’s most likely because that isn’t the player that Dorrian is and he was just having the hottest stretch of his career with the bat. He has come back down to earth after a ridiculously hot first two weeks, hes batting .195 with a .654 OPS since May 16^th. The fact that he had a two week stretch that good at least means that he is capable of performing at that level but I’m not sure if we’ll see that again. I’m sure he’ll continue to get mostly everyday at bats for the rest of the season simply based off the fact that there isn’t anyone in Aberdeen forcing their way up at third base that would move him to the bench. If anything we could see guys like Terrin Vavra and/or Cadyn Grenier get moved up to AAA Norfolk which would just open the playing time back up. Hes still playing a part on one of the best teams in minor league baseball and gets to be on the same team as Adley Rutschman, DL Hall, and Grayson Rodriguez which isn’t nothing.

Mason McCoy – .174/.240/.217 (.457), 3 R, 1 double, 23 AB (AAA Norfolk)

It looked like McCoy might be making a push to get called up to the Orioles for a while there while Jahmai Jones was hurt, Rylan Bannon was struggling then hurt, and all of the major league options were failing (Rio Ruiz, Ramon Urias, Pat Valaika). He was taking advantage of his increased playing time and performing well but the Orioles chose to purchase Stevie Wilkerson’s contract instead. That isn’t working out either (.491 OPS over 53 at bats). Now hes slumping and the Orioles added another second base option on the 40 man roster (Domingo Leyba, see above) and Jahmai Jones is healthy again and playing well (see above also!). McCoy was never going to be the answer at second base for the Orioles but it seemed like the best chance for him to make the majors considering the bounty of infield prospects climbing up from the lower minors. Pretty soon he’ll be bypassed by the guys like Joey Ortiz, Jordan Westburg, Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Servideo, Terrin Vavra, and Cadyn Grenier not to mention the guys already at the AAA level mentioned before. Its unfortunate for a guy who has been a solid defender and a career OPS over .700. At 26 years old its not like the door is shut for him but hes just in a weird spot in this particular organization at this particular time.