Orioles minor league recap 5/26: Baumann reaches Bowie, gets blasted

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 5, Charlotte (White Sox) Knights 4

The Tides won for just the fifth time in the 2021 season on a walkoff sacrifice bunt attempt that turned into a throwing error that scored the winning run from second base. Take what you can get.

This was the first Triple-A outing for the freshly-promoted Kyle Bradish, the team’s #12 prospect, who arrived in the Dylan Bundy deal. Bradish did not have the best welcome to this new level. Bradish was out of the game after just 3.1 innings with 77 pitches thrown. He walked three and gave up five hits while striking out four batters. Two runs were charged to his ledger.

Tyler Nevin tied the game in the eighth inning for Norfolk with an RBI double, his lone hit of the night. Rylan Bannon was 1-3 with a walk. These are the two most notable hitters on the Tides with their injured list being what it is. On the mound, rehabbing big leaguer Dillon Tate threw a scoreless inning, striking out one with no hits or walks allowed.

Double-A: Harrisburg (Nationals) Senators 10, Bowie Baysox 6

#7 prospect Mike Baumann was officially activated onto the Bowie roster for this game, making this his first non-rehab start. Baumann was greeted back into the former Eastern League by four runs in an outing where he did not complete the first inning. So... let’s hope things go better next time. Harrisburg later added five runs off of Cameron Bishop to put this one out of reach.

Baysox hitters tried their best to get themselves back into the game, including answering the Senators’ four-run first with a two-run bottom of the inning. Those runs were delivered by early season standout Patrick “Finding” Dorrian, who blasted his seventh home run in 17 games. That’s a fun ratio. Dorrian committed two errors in the game, a fielding and throwing error as he played third base. Adley Rutschman, Terrin Vavra, and Cadyn Grenier were all hitless in the contest.

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 8, Brooklyn (Mets) Cyclones 1

All nine batters in the Aberdeen starting lineup picked up hits as part of a 13-hit effort as a team. The IronBirds scored in five of the nine innings, including a four run second inning powered by 2019 third rounder Zach Watson hitting a three-run dinger. At 12-7, Aberdeen extended its lead in the High-A East league North division to 2.5 games.

Starting pitcher Drew Rom, the MLB Pipeline #26 prospect, allowed one run in a five inning outing where he threw 72 pitches. Rom struck out five batters and walked none while surrendering six hits. He now has a 2.70 ERA for the season.

Infield prospect Adam Hall - Pipeline’s #11 O’s minor leaguer - reached base five times, with two hits, two walks, and a hit by pitch. He had a rough start to his season; hopefully that’s the start of better times. #23 prospect Kyle Stowers also walked twice and added a base hit to improve his season OPS to .913, and Tommy Milone trade return A.J. Graffanino added a pair of hits as well.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 7, Lynchburg (Cleveland) Hillcats 3

An impressive streak came to an end for Shorebirds infielder Anthony Servideo in this win. Servideo had drawn a walk in each of his first 15 professional games. The 2020 third rounder took an 0-4 here, with three strikeouts. He still has 25 walks to 22 strikeouts for the year.

Fellow top prospects Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg were also hitless in this game, which did not prove to be a barrier to Delmarva grabbing two runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to take the lead for good. Leadoff man Hudson Haskin extended a hitting streak to ten games. 2020 undrafted signee J.D. Mundy, a first baseman by trade, had two hits, including his fourth home run of the year. The Shorebirds are 14-5. It’s pretty good.

Delmarva’s staff does not have the marquee names that some other affiliates have. What they do have is a bunch of guys who are trying to turn themselves into prospects in their first taste of the pros.

Starter Ryan Watson was an undrafted player last year. He struck out seven batters in a 3.1 inning outing, allowing two runs. Fellow undrafted guy Shane Davis followed in bulk later, striking out five batters over a four inning outing. Since the 2020 draft was cut short at five rounds, that means the O’s did not have a chance to draft the next John Means-type player, but they could try to sign some. Maybe some of these unheralded arms will find a herald as time goes by.

Complete box scores from Tuesday’s games can be found here.

Wednesday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: vs. Charlotte, 6:35. Starter: Zac Lowther
• Bowie: vs. Harrisburg, 6:35. Starter: Kevin Smith
• Aberdeen: at Brooklyn, 6:30. Starter: TBD
• Delmarva: vs. Lynchburg, 7:05. Starter: Xavier Moore

Moore is yet another one of those Shorebirds undrafted guys from 2020.