duck has been linking to them in most of our daily open threads, but if you haven't been reading Dean Jones, Jr.'s daily AFL recaps, you're missing out on a lot of good information on the O's young prospects. I have it added to my google reader so I don't miss the updates.

The AFL has been going for about a week now and the Orioles hitters are putting together a very strong showing so far. Josh Bell has especially done well, going 8 for 15 with 3 doubles, a triple, and 3 walks. And while it's obviously a very small sample size, it's encouraging to see that he's hit well from both sides of the plate. Brandon Snyder has also gotten off to a good start with 9 hits in 22 at bats, including a double and a home run. Outfielder Matt Angle has added 5 hits in 17 at bats with 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 3 stolen bases. Only Brandon Waring has gotten off to a slow start, with 3 hits against 7 strike outs. 

The Orioles' young pitchers have pitched a total of 12.1 innings with mixed results. Brandon Erbe has been perfect in one 2 inning appearance in which he struck out two. Reliever Josh Perrault has also looked good, making three appearances for a total of 3.1 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 run. Eddie Gamboa has pitched just one game, giving up 2 runs with a home run in 2.1 innings. Ryohei Tanaka has had the least success, as in 5 innings over 2 games he's allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, allowing two home runs. Encouraging for the pitchers is they have racked up 12 strikes outs to just 3 total walks.

In addition to the AFL, there are players from the O's organization playing in the Caribbean Winter Leagues, although really only two worth noting at this point. Dennis Sarfate, who is playing for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League, has pitched in 4 games as the closer and hasn't allowed a run in 5.1 innings. He has 6 strike outs and 1 walk. The Dominican Winter League started yesterday, where Felix Pie is playing outfield for the Tigres del Licey (a team managed by Dave Jauss). It'll be fun to see how he does.

Brandon Erbe (photo courtesy of Baysox.com)

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The AFL season starts tomorrow and the Orioles will be represented by a number of prospects. The season runs until November 19th with each team playing 32 games. All O's prospects will be on the Phoenix Desert Dogs roster along with players from the Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, and Tampa Bay Rays.

Brandon Erbe: Erbe turns 22 on Christmas Day so while he's still young, it seems like he's been around forever. When he actually pitched in 2009 he did very well. He made four starts at the beginning of the '09 season before being DL'd for arm fatigue on April 29th. He was shut down for almost two months before he made 4 rehab starts at Aberdeen starting June 21st. He finally made it back to Bowie on July 12th and had 10 starts for the Baysox before the season ended. He finished the season with an ERA of 2.70 and WHIP of 1.085 in 18 starts. His walks are a little high (4.3 BB/9 at Bowie) in relation to his K rate (7.5 K/9), and John Sickels has expressed concern over his command. Erbe seems poised to start the 2010 season in AAA, but a strong showing in the AFL would certainly strengthen his case.

Eddie Gamboa: Gamboa started the 2009 season with the Delmarva Shorebirds, but by years end had worked his way up to AA Bowie. The right handed reliever dominated the Sally League, walking only 3 batters in 38.2 innings with a K/BB rate of 11.67. He didn't have much trouble in Frederick either, posting a WHIP of 1.03 and ERA of 0.55 in 33 innings. He only got into 7 games at Bowie and didn't allow a run although he did walk 7 in 12 innings. Gamboa was drafted in the 21st round of the 2008 draft and at age 24 was a bit old for those younger leagues, so the AFL will be a good test of his talent against older, more talented prospects.

Josh Perrault: Perrault, right handed relief pitcher, is a name I've barely heard and therefore was surprised to see on the roster. He was drafted by the Marlins in the 42nd round in 2001 and instead opted to go to college at Arizona State University. After two years at ASU he signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Diamondbacks. He spent two years in their system before moving to the Washington Nationals where he spent three years before being drafted by the Orioles in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft before the 2009 season. Perrault spent the first half of 2009 with the Baysox and pitched very well. In 35 games with Bowie he pitched to a 1.80 ERA , 0.975 WHIP, and a K/BB of over 4.5. He moved up to AAA Norfolk on July 7th and made 24 appearances with equally impressive stats.

Ryohei Tanaka: 2009 was Tanaka's first season in the United States after spending years in the minor leagues in Japan. He started with Bowie in June as a reliever but was transitioned to starter on July 4th.  He didn't allow a run as a reliever and had mixed success as a starter. I'm not sure what role he'll take in the AFL.

Josh Bell: Josh Bell was in the middle of his best minor league season when he was traded to the Orioles by the Dodgers, and he only got better once he got to Bowie. The big third baseman hit 9 home runs in just 114 at bats with the Baysox and posted a line of .289/.346/.570. Bell is a switch hitter but his stats are just horrible as a right handed batter. If Bell wants to succeed he either needs to improve as a right handed batter or learn how to hit both lefties and righties as a left handed hitter. Bell will probably start 2010 at AAA but with the giant hole at 3B, an outstanding AFL and spring training could propel him into consideration to make the ML roster.

Brandon Snyder: The greatest thing about last year's AFL and possibly the entire 2008 off season was Brandon Snyder's Blog. I can only hope he decides to write again this year and that fbi_evan returns as his enigmatic commenter. Snyder knocked the snot out of the ball at AA in the first half of the season, hitting 19 doubles and 10 home runs with a line of .343/.421/.597. After being promoted to AAA on June 19th his stats suffered greatly. He hit just 2 home runs in 73 games with Norfolk and slugged an ugly .355. 2010 will be a huge year for Brandon Snyder and hopefully he can get it kicked off with a solid fall season.

Brandon Waring: Waring completes the Brandon Trifecta on the Desert Dogs. The corner infielder spent almost all of 2009 with the Frederick Keys after coming to the Orioles in the Ramon Hernandez trade. He slugged 26 home runs and was named the MVP of the Carolina League. Waring finished the year at AA, hitting a home run and 3 doubles in 8 games. If Waring can repeat his success in the AFL and in Bowie in AA he'll start giving Snyder a run for his money as possible future 1B. Waring has only been named to the team's taxi squad, however, which means he's only eligible to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays. For those unfamiliar with the taxi squad, they're basically extra players for each team that allow the regulars to get a few days off and provide the major league teams to send a few extra players to the league.

Matt Angle: Since being drafted in 2007, OF Matt Angle has steadily worked his way up through the minors, finishing 2009 with. He doesn't have much power but he gets on base at a good rate and has great speed, stealing 42 bases in 2009 and 113 stolen bases in his three years in the minors.

Other Desert Dogs of Note:

Stephen Strasburg: Much like Brian Matusz in 2008, Strasburg is making his professional debut in the AFL. He'll no doubt be the talk of the entire team.

Adam Loewen: Turncoat! After snubbing the Orioles for the Blue Jays of his motherland, Loewen spent all of 2009 with the Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto's A+ team. He wasn't awful for his first year as a hitter, but for a 25 year old in A+ it was hardly inspiring. In 103 games he hit 4 home runs and 22 doubles with a batting line of .246/.340/.355. Loewen is a long shot to ever make the majors and although I was pretty annoyed when he broke his word to the Orioles, I might root for the kid if he ever makes it.

The Tides spent the past week and a half battling against affiliates for the AL East giants, with back-to-back series against the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. With their former big guns now holding spots in the Orioles rotation they're reduced to Jake Arrieta, Troy Patton, and a band of misfits as their starting pitchers.

In the 4 game set against Pawtucket the Tides went 3-1 with their only loss in game three, started by Radhames Liz. I don't feel the need to spend much time on Liz considering I hope to never see him on the Orioles again. He's been in the starting rotation since May 27th, splitting time between Bowie and Norfolk. I have no idea what they're doing with him unless they've decided he's never going to make it so they are sticking him where they need a warm body, because if he IS ever to find big league success, it'll be as a reliever.

To start the series, the Tides won a slugfest 8-7, overcoming another bad outing by Troy Patton (3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 0 K). Offensive star for the game was minor league-lifer Brandon Pinckney who went 4-5 with 2 2B. They took the second game in the series 5-3 behind a strong outings from David Pauley and Brandon Snyder (see sickuvitall's Fan Post). The fourth game was the sweetest victory as Jake Arrieta earned the win at the Fenway Futures game. Jake pitched 6 innings, allowing just 2 ER on 6 hits with 4 Ks and 0 BBs. Here's hoping we see plenty of Arrieta wins at Fenway Park in the future.

The Tides followed that series with four games at home vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Game three of the series was rained out twice and the Tides dropped the series 1-2.  They lost game one 6-1 as Andy Mitchell gave up 5 runs in 5.2 innings and the Tides offense snoozed the day away, managing just 3 hits off the starting pitcher Anthony Claggett. Game two was even worse, with the Tides being held to just 2 hits the entire game as ex-Orioles Russ Ortiz pitched 7 shutout innings. It appears Russ found the perfect place for his skills, doesn't it? The Tides avoided the sweep with a 4-2 win in the finale headlined by Blake Davis's 2 hit, 2 RBI day.

Performances worth noting:

• In these two series, 1B Brandon Snyder went 8-24 (.333) with 2 2B, 4 BB, and 4 K.
• I've taken a liking to 1B/OF/DH Michael Aubrey. It won't be long until I'm telling you all that he can hit and you should deal with it. He played in 5 of the 7 games in these two series, going 7-19 (.368) with a 2B, 2 BB, and 2 K.
• 2B Justin Turner had a great time in these series, going 9-22 with 5 2B, 6 BB, and 1 K. 
• Unjustly sent down Kam Mickolio has made four appearances since his demotion, pitching 5 innings and allowing 3 hits and 3 ER (all in one outing) while walking two and striking out 6.
• Dennis Sarfate has been with the Tides since July 24th and has pitched 8.2 innings over 8 appearances. He's given up 8 ER on 9 H, striking out 8 and walking 2.  5 of those runs and 5 of those hits came in one 0.2 IP performance on July 31st.

Tonight the Tides start a series on the road against the Charlotte Knights. Jake Arrieta looks to turn in a second consecutive strong performance as he faces off against Daniel Hudson. Hudson has had a very interesting year. The 22 year old was drafted in the 5th round of the 2008 draft by the White Sox. He started the year in A ball where he made four starts, striking out 30 and walking only 2. He was the promoted to A+ where he made 8 starts, including a game against the Frederick Keys in which he struck out 8 over 7 innings. He then started 9 games at AA where he put a a K/9  of 10 and a K/BB of 6.3. He's made one start so far in AAA, allowing 8 hits and 4 runs in 4 innings on August 9th with just 2 strikeouts, tying his lowest total in a game this year (in his season debut). On April 30th he struck out 13 in 7 innings. On April 24th he struck out 11 in 5.2 innings. This is a hell of a pitching matchup.

Happy off day, everyone!

• Last night Chris Tillman made his 16th start of the year for the Norfolk Tides and earned his 7th win. Tillman's line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 K. He did it all on 94 pitches (61 strikes). One of the few criticisms of Tillman when discussing if he's ready to pitch in the majors has been his inability to pitch late in games, but in his past six starts he's averaging about 6.1 innings/game. Through his 16 starts Tillman has the following stats: 7.2 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 2.3 BB/9, and 9.2 K/9. With the exception of the strikeouts, those stats are all better this year than they were last year at AA. Tillman has been selected to pitch in the Futures Game this Sunday and hopefully after the All-Star Break we'll get a chance to see him in action in Baltimore.
• In other pitching news, Brandon Erbe is finally heading back to Bowie after an extended stay on the DL and four rehab starts in Aberdeen. Before going on the DL Erbe was pitching very well for the Baysox. In 20 innings he had K'd 19 and allowed just 2 ER. Erbe will start for Bowie either Saturday or Sunday.
• Brian Matusz was named Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June by the Orioles. That doesn't even count his 8 inning, 11 K, 1 hit gem on Tuesday. Brian's line since joining the Bowie Baysox: 4 GS, 26.1 IP, 11 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 32 K.
  
• Brandon Snyder got called up to AAA on June 18th and hasn't been able to produce the way he did for Bowie.  In the 19 games since his call up he has yet to hit a home run and has only taken 3 walks. His OBP is an .266 and his SLG is just .324. Not great news for the only hitting prospect in the upper levels of the minors. Hopefully he'll straighten himself out. It has only been 19 games, after all.
  

Tonight's Minor League Pitching:

• Troy Patton goes for the Tides and tries to re-create the success he had at Bowie. In four starts since being called up to AAA he's had two bad starts and two good starts and hasn't been nearly as dominating as we saw in AA.
  
• Ryohei Tanaka makes his second start for Bowie after beginning his AA career in the bullpen. In 9 appearances on the year Tanaka has yet to allow a run. He's walked 3 and struck out 13 in 17 IP.
  
• Sean Gleason makes the start for Frederick, Chris Salberg goes for the Shorebirds, and Kenny Moreland will pitch for Aberdeen.
  

If you want to hear some baseball on the O's off day, MiLB.com has free audio feeds for almost every game.

All stats and news taken from MiLB.com, MASNSports.com, OriolesHangout.com, and Baseball-Reference.com

Yesterday Jake Arrieta made his 11th start of the year for the Bowie Baysox and pitched a 7 inning complete game, allowing 0 runs on 3 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 0.  Oh, and he did it all on 77 pitches. Arrieta's ERA is down to 2.59 and he picked up his 6th win on the year.

If that wasn't enough, he was also named the Eastern League's pitcher of the week for the second time this year, the first Bowie pitcher to win it twice in one year since 2001.

Here are the numbers for each of Arrieta's starts so far:

Jake's K/9 is 10.7 on the year, which is 2nd among starters in the Eastern League to only George Kontos of the Trenton Thunder, who's K/9 is 10.8. Kontos has only made four starts in AA, however, so we'll see where he stands after 11. After 4 starts this year Arrieta's K/9 was 11.

At 3.5 BB/9, Jake's walk rate is nothing to rave about, but I don't think anything to worry about either. That's pretty much right in the middle of pack in the Eastern League. Of the 65 pitchers to have at least 5 starts in the Eastern League this season, 37 of them (56%) have a BB/9 lower than Arrieta's. Of course, none of those pitchers have the strikeouts that Jake has, so his K/BB of 3.05 is good for 11th in the league despite his middling walk rate.

What I think is the best news of all, however, is that despite moving up a level, Jake's numbers are getting better.  Check out the comparative stats:

His innings pitched per outing is actually a little bit less this year, but if you look at his individual game logs he definitely progressing this year (he's averaging almost 6.1 innings in his past 6 compared to about 4.1 in his first five). I can't find game logs of past minor league seasons to compare, unfortunately. If anyone knows where they exist, please let me know.

I think that after the minor league all star games we'll see a number of promotions. Arrieta and his teammate Troy Patton should be moved up to AAA (although I could make a case for Patton going straight to the MLB), and Brian Matusz should get a promotion to AA.

All stats are from Baseball Reference and MiLB.com. Arrieta's comparisons to other Eastern League pitchers are only to pitchers with at least 5 starts this year, unless otherwise noted.

With all the hullabaloo going on with the big club this week, I stopped paying much attention to the minors. But during today's broadcast, Amber Theoharris mentioned Brian Matusz's outing for Frederick today and re-piqued my interest.

On the road today against the Salem Red Sox, Matusz's line was 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. This is his third straight start where he has pitched 7 innings and his fourth time in 10 starts. His pitching lines for the season:

Matusz's K/9 this season is 10.24, which is second for starters in the Carolina League (barely, Alexander Caldera of the Wilmington Blue Rocks is first at 10.3). He's also pitched the most innings of any pitcher in the Carolina League and is averaging just over 6 innings per game. That's tops on the Frederick Keys.

While his strike out numbers are impressive, Matusz isn't doing as great in the home runs and walks department, at least compared to other starters in the league. He has given up 5 home runs, which is 9th most in the league (HR/9 of 0.74). He's currently walking 2.97 per 9 innings, which is good for 23rd in the league out of 48 starting pitchers. Those aren't bad numbers, just average for the league. If you look at his individual games, he's only walked more than 2 twice. Like I said, it's not bad. Fortunately his 7.5 H/9 is good for 8th in the league, so his WHIP is a very respectable 1.17.

It seems that  Andy MacPhail is instituting a plan to have all pitchers pitch at all levels of the minors. I have no idea if this plan details a minimum time at each level, but I am hoping Brian Matusz will get promoted to Bowie soon because his numbers indicate that he is more than a match for hitters in the Carolina League.  I would love to get him into the rotation with Jake Arrieta and Troy Patton in Bowie and see how he matches up.

Just for fun, here is how some of his stats match up against other prospects in the Orioles system (I know, the level of competition is different, that's why it's for fun).

All stats are from Baseball Reference and MiLB.com. Matusz's comparisons to other Carolina League pitchers are only to pitchers with at least 5 starts this year.

Norfolk Tides 1, Louisville Bats 0

The Tides scored all the offense they'd need in the bottom of the first when Matt Wieters tripled and then scored on a single by Oscar Salazar. In his last three games, Matt is 5 for 12 with 3 HR and a triple. Louisville shut down the Tides for the rest of the game, allowing just 4 hits over the final 7 innings.

The Bats only managed 2 hits and 0 runs off of starter David Hernandez, but he only made it through 5.1 innings thanks to a high pitch count of 102. Hernandez's final line: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. This is the first time this season that Hernandez has walked more than 2 in an outing. Bob McCrory, Kam Mikolio, and Alberto Castillo finished off the game in relief.

The Tides and Bats play Sunday at 1:15 p.m. Chris Tillman is scheduled to start for Norfolk.

Bowie Baysox 4, Erie Seawolves 0 (7 innings)

Jake Arrieta pitched his most masterful game of the year, going the distance in a rain shortened game, giving up one hit while walking 3 and striking out 10.

Erie's pitcher Jon Kibler pitched a pretty good game himself, but got into trouble in the first when, after a Jonathan Tucker single, Brandon Snyder hit his 6th home run of the year to put Bowie up 2-0. Erie's defense would let Kibler down in the 5th when a throwing error by the 2nd baseman Scott Sizemore led to two unearned runs.

Interesting note: Erie's center fielder is named Scram. Awesome.

Erie and Bowie meet again tomorrow at 2:15. Bobby Livingston will be on the mound for the Baysox.

Frederick Keys 4, Kinston Indians 3

Zach Britton had a great night, pitching 6 innings with 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, and 6 K. Britton only allowed 2 fly balls all day to 10 ground outs and the 6 strikeouts. 6 innings is Britton's longest outing this year, and after being the hard luck pitcher for the Keys this year he finally earned his first win.

Relief pitcher Cliff Flagello almost ruined Britton's night as he gave up 3 runs in just one inning, but Luis Lebron shut down the Indians over the final two innings for the save.

The Keys scored their runs on two two-run home runs. In the 1st inning Brandon Waring hit one to center field with Tyler Henson on board, and in the 2nd Pedro Florimon homered to left after David Cash reached on a fielders choice.

Waring is having a good year in AA after coming to the organization in the Ramon Hernandez trade. He has 10 doubles and 5 home runs and is OPS'ing .889.

The Keys play the Indians tomorrow at 2:00 with Tim Bascom scheduled to pitch.

Delmarva Shorebirds @ West Virginia Power PPD

The Shorebirds were rained out and will make up their game tomorrow in a double header that begins at 2:05 p.m.

Here is a quick version of the roundup. No time to scour the box scores like I prefer, but I did want to point out a few good performances. It was a good night for pitchers, not so much for the batters.

Norfolk Tides 3, Buffalo Bisons 5

David Hernandez: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.

Nolan Reimold : 2-4, 2B (9).

Oscar Salazar: 2-4, HR (6)

Matt Wieters: 0-3, BB

Bowie Baysox 3, Akron Aeros 1

Jake Arrieta: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Jonathan Tucker (3B): 2-4, BB

Brandon Snyder: 0-4

Frederick Keys vs Myrtle Beach Pelicans: PPD

The Keys and Pelicans will play a double header today starting at 5 p.m.

Delmarva Shorebirds 1, Greensboro Grasshoppers 2

Cole McCurry: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Pitching to look forward to tonight:

Norfolk: Chris Tillman (3-0, 2.52 ERA, 1.16 WHIP)

Bowie: Troy Patton (3-0 0.95 ERA, 0.85 WHIP)

In case you want to get some more details on the games, I get all of my info from MiLB.com