In mid-season 2007, Oriole owner Peter Angelos hired Andy MacPhail to be the President of Baseball Operations for the Orioles. Essentially, he haded MacPhail the keys and asked him to oil up the machine and drive. MacPhail was a proven winner that knew how to build a solid team and organization. He started with the minor leagues, with the knowledge that eventually that minor league talent would trickle into the big leagues. He also traded veteran players such as Miguel Tejada, and Erik Bedard (who really didn't want to be in Baltimore anyways), getting draft picks and young prospects in return. Nearly three years later, the Oriole farm system has gone from 29th in the league to a top ten organization again. Many of the prospects that have been obtained by MacPhail's trades and shrewd manner of doing business are currently on the major league roster. Granted the season hasn't gone according to plan at this point, but my question to fans is which of these young players do you like the most?
First off, let us define who qualifies as a "young player." Nick Markakis is very young, but he's established as a cornerstone player in the organization. Speaking for myself, I still think that Adam Jones could be put into the category of "young player," so let's start there. Jones struggled in the beginning of the year, but he's currently hitting .268 in 2010. Some fans have gotten on him this year because he admittedly plays shallow in center. While that is in fact dangerous, Adam Jones has-what's called in the NFL-good closing speed. In his last 15 games, Jones is hitting .321, so he's turning it on of late. Matt Wieters is another young player to watch, and ironically he's also struggled a bit this year. He's currently hitting .238, but has been hitting well of late.
Much of the Oriole pitching staff is also young, including Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, and Jake Arrieta. I've liked Matusz since day one in Baltimore, and Arrieta's late movement inside the zone on his fastball is "sick." Brad Bergesen has struggled this season, with two stints in the minors already. In fairness, Bergesen was nailed last July with a line drive that ended his season. An event as such will slant any pitcher's approach to a game. And let me throw in a dark horse candidate: Jason Berken. Berken came up last season as a starter, and won in his first major league start. He seemingly regressed a bit towards the end, as well as in spring training. However he made the roster as a reliever coming out of camp, and he's been extremely solid in that role ever since. Year to date, he's pitched 45 innings, giving up eight runs.
So what does Birdland think? First off in my opinion, all of these players are on the right track. While I suppose I'll always be in Jones' and Matusz's corners if forced to pick someone, I am drawn to Jason Berken as well. Berken was all but left for dead, and while there's no doubt he'd rather be starting, he's pitched admirably out of the pen this year. When you have a young starting staff such as that of the Orioles, a good long man is exremely important. But as I said, Jones and Matusz get the nod from me. In all of the dealings that Andy MacPhail made, Adam Jones was the only one that was major league ready right then and there. And the fact is that he's still learning, so the hope is that he's going to get better as we go along. Matusz's fastball is pretty difficult to hit from the standpoint of the batter, however he probably needs to work on his pitch location just a bit. Ultimately, all of these guys need a tweak here and there, but they're the future of this team, and of baseball in Baltimore. I'm not a betting man, but I'll take those odds.
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