Phenom in Single-A
by PNeal7 on Oct 15, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
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Although the Orioles have a ton of young arms, that most of us have heard about, there seems to be one that we are forgetting to mention. Kenny Moreland, RHP in Single A Frederick, had an outstanding season in the Orioles minor leagues. In half a season at Aberdeen, he went 6-1 with a 0.88 ERA, and only 3 walks in 51 IP. In the other half the season at Frederick, he went 4-2 with a 4.27 ERA. He was an undrafted free agent out of Division III Christopher Newport University, where he was the Division III National Pitcher of the Year. Kenny should be a welcome addition to the orioles young staff.
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I'd hardly call him a phenom
since his strikeout and ground ball rates are nothing to write home about, and he only got in less than a hundred innings this year…and he’ll be 23 next year and still at Frederick.
His stuff doesn’t seem that impressive, either, from what I’ve read. A fastball that tops out under 90 mph is probably not going to get a lot of ink (not that its a necessity).
But apparently his command and control are rather outstanding, so perhaps he can develop into a quality reliever?
"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars ... and you. What else you need to know?"
If he can add a few ticks to his fastball and work on his secondary pitches he might be a Maddux-esque pitcher. Although, I would usually cringe at the idea of comparing any pitcher to Maddux, in this situation it might be apt.
Control is key if the guy can mix his pitches, is smart, and can move pitches to all corners of the plate while adjusting speeds.
Oh, a man can dream.
I'll cringe for both of us and then some
"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars ... and you. What else you need to know?"
I think its a fair comparison
as long as its acknowledged that a maddux-esque profile does not necessarily mean a maddux-esque level of performance.
Then why not call it a Brad Radke comparison?
Look, I won’t get into how much I hate hate hate player comparisons, but let’s at least agree not to compare The Greatest Pitcher of Our Generation to a guy who dominated the New York Penn League when he was two years older than most of the players there.
"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars ... and you. What else you need to know?"
That's more than fair
However, it’ll be important to note that Radke pitched in “the show” and pitched well for 12 years.
I’d take a Bad Radke-type guy as the #5 on the Orioles. It would give the rotation a different look. Too many teams have multiple pitchers that have the same or similar stuff: Lily and Hill…I’m drawing a blank on other teams…shit.
Undrafted free agent from a D3 school
very much NOT phenom. He’s most likely your classic guy who knows how to pitch but has mediocre (at best) stuff and will have a lot of success at the low levels of the minors where hitters are getting used to wood bats and aren’t used to seeing pitchers who can actually locate their fastball.
Christopher Newport is a very good D3 school (I played with a handful of guys from there who fit the above description of being really polished good baseball players, but seriously lacking in skills – speed, power, velocity, whatever), but it’s still a D3 school…
D3 School
I don’t see the need to bash a Division III school personally. There are a ton of DIII baseball players that have DI ability, just are not there. In Kenny’s case, he had offers from multiple DI’s out of high school, including a partial to LSU, and chose to go to CNU to play right away. Numerous players do that. In addition, there are numerous DIII players who do have serious skills, meaning power, speed, velocity…I saw Ken Moreland pitch numerous times. He tops out around 90-91, more consistently 87-89. He has one of the sharpest breaking balls Ive ever seen, and he can locate it at any location at any count. Radar speed is not the most important thing when it comes to pitching by far. I judge things on performance…yes, potential is projectability are huge things, but look at what the kid has done…His senior year in college he was 13-0, 1.97 ERA, 109.2 IP, 116 K’s, 16 BB…the kid can pitch
I don't think anyone is putting him down
It’s just that he is what he is: a guy who was very good against much younger competition and then struggled when he moved up. He’s little talked about because he has proved nothing whatsoever yet.
"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars ... and you. What else you need to know?"
I wasn't bashing D3 really.
Just saying that there’s a reason that players end up playing D3 and it’s usually a deficiency in one or two key tool areas.
And I’m just being honest when I say that numerous players DO NOT turn down D1 scholarship offers to play D3 immediately. The drop off in play is dramatic and if anybody has profession aspirations D1 has tremendous advantages over D3 (look at how he wasn’t even drafted after putting up the stats that you just quoted). So I’m not really buying that argument.
Yes D3 players have “serious skills” – as I said many of them are REALLY good baseball players. But they often don’t have ALL the skills. So lots of D3 position players are awesome hitters with power to all fields, but can’t run or field for shit. Or maybe they can hit and play D, but can’t run and don’t throw well. Pitchers might be able to locate 3-4 pitches and dominate high school and mediocre college (and even low level minor hitters) because of their control, but have fastballs that top out at 86-88. Regardless of whether you say that radar gun is not the most important thing, it is as far as getting professional and D1 attention.
I also never said the kid can’t pitch.
Let's be honest about D3
In SOME cases, certainly not all, or even most, kids go to a D3 school for one reason – they don’t have the HS grades to get into a D1 school as a qualifier. That certainly was part of how Salisbury U. started building its lacrosse powerhouse. Now, it’s almost freakin’ impossible to get into SU, and has been for a few years, but 15 years ago? Not so much.
"I would approve signing a pitcher that ate kitten tacos if he won 20 games a year." -BPinOK
Eh
I don’t really know about that. I never played with anybody who went D3 instead of D1 due to academics. Actually I personally observed just the opposite – many of the D3 players that I knew had better academic qualifications than guys that I played with from D1 schools. I think D1 programs get a lot more kids “in” to school than D3 programs. I mean you may be right, but I’ve just never heard of anybody choosing D3 over D1 due to academics. Now I’ve heard of a TON of kids choosing junior college over D1 due to academics, but that’s different.
I wrote about hime a while ago
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I do know Kenny. I do not consider to be extremely close with him by any means. I’m really not meaning to get defensive, because I know the Orioles have sooo many big time arms ahead of him that his chances of making it are extremely limitied. I am mainly backing up the D3 Baseball comments that have been made. Seeing that Moreland is from CNU, I will use CNU and the state of Virginia as an example. Looking at the Universities in Virginia, I would go on a limb and say very good D3 schools like CNU and VWC could beat Radford, Norfolk State. I believe UVA, VT, Liberty, and ODU could beat just about anyone. But I see CNU and VWC competeting, and even winning, against Radford, Norfolk State, possible W&M…and yes there are many D3 players who have either gone D1 and transferred out, or just didn’t go D2 or D1 because they wanted to play right away…Once again, using Moreland and CNU as an example…Here are players who have transferred to CNU: Moreland, transferred from Navy; Chris Despins, transferred from Longwood; Matt Shoemaker, transferred from VT; Tyler Mchellany, transferred from WVU; Mike Rommett, transferred from Mt St Mary’s…so many d1 level player do play d3
I will give you your props though, I agree with your comments about certain skill sets of d3 players…They obviously rarely have 5 tools…from what I have seen most seem to lack in the speed category, and in the fielding category when it comes to quickness
Good chance
regarding Radford, Norfolk State, but not W&M. And even if they could beat them in a game that doesn’t necessarily disprove my point. A team made up of really good baseball players that lack a few tools here and there will probably beat an unpolished, but toolsy group of players most games. You’re also picking the absolute cream of the crop as far as D3 schools with CNU and VWC (you could throw in Emory most years) and the crap of the crap of D1 schools. When you move into comparing the average D1 school with the average D3 school there’s a pretty dramatic gap in skill/talent/baseball abilities. There are definitely exceptions though.
I played in a college league in VA after my freshman year (Clark Griffith which I think is now called something else0 and it was mostly D1 with some D3 guys mixed in and the D3 guys that I played with did really well. There was a pitcher on our team from CNU who really dominated the league, but he did it with control/finesse/knowing how to pitch – he never had a prayer at playing professionally because he never topped 85. I think that was fairly typical of what I saw from the D3 guys.
I totally agree with the points you are making. I was selecting to cream of the crop for d3 schools and the bottom of the barrel for d1, because obviously the #1 d3 school does not stand a chance against teams like UNC, Texas, etc. From my personal experience, I believe the biggest gap between the two level is pitching. At the d3 level, usually you only have one average/above average pitcher, and he is the team’s ace and throws every saturday. Usually they sit around 84-88, anywhere in between there, with a slider that breaks, but is not hard and sharp. Conversely, at the d1 level, all 3 weekend starters AND he weekday starters are usually straight studs that either a) throw straight gas, or b) have really filthy off speed pitches.
Unless you are 2009 Missouri Tigers
Then you have one ace, an OK guy, and the third game of a series you pitch a different guy EVERY inning.
Don't let the sunshine fool ya. - Townes Van Zandt
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