Orioles minor league recap 6/23: Another Adley Rutschman dinger

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides postponed vs. Gwinnett

The two teams will play a scheduled doubleheader today.

Double-A: New Hampshire (Blue Jays) Fisher Cats 10, Bowie Baysox 5

Let’s start with the good news. Adley Rutschman hit his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning. He’s now got 30 RBI in 41 games. I like both of these facts. The bad news is that the Baysox were already losing after Ofelky Peralta failed to get out of the first inning while giving up four runs. Four hits and three walks allowed in two-thirds of an inning pitched is, uh... well, that’s Ofelky.

Bowie actually tied the game in the second inning with another two runs, but then their post-Peralta relievers weren’t any good either, so it still turned into a blowout. Bowie ended up leaving ten men on base. They had their chances. Toby “Two different people made Camden Chat accounts pretending to be my mom” Welk had a single and two walks in his Double-A debut. The 2019 21st round pick is probably my second-favorite non-prospect in the system right now after Norfolk’s NASCAR scion, Zach Jarrett.

Kyle Stowers, the team’s 2019 second rounder, also had a pair of walks in his first game at this level, though he went hitless. Early season sensation Patrick Dorrian was the only Bowie batter to record two hits in the game. He’s slumped since scorching in the early weeks but is still holding on to a .252/.384/.504 batting line for the year.

High-A: Rome Braves 14, Aberdeen IronBirds 0

Starting pitcher Jake Prizina gave up five runs in the first inning and things never got any better from there for Aberdeen, who had three different pitchers give up at least four runs in the game, and their offense only picked up three hits. The only good news is you’ve probably never heard of Prizina, the 2019 31st round pick. It’s not exactly a fatal outing to the rebuild project.

The rough day for the IronBirds offense came against Bryce Elder, the Braves #11 prospect and their fifth round draft choice last year. Elder gave up just two hits in five innings and struck out seven. Aberdeen batters struck out twelve times overall. Gunnar Henderson walked twice in his High-A debut. Jordan Westburg and J.D. Mundy both took an 0-4 in the game, while Shayne “23.5% of the time he gets a hit every time” Fontana was 2-3.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 10, Fredericksburg Nationals 0

Finally, some good news! The Shorebirds scored their ten runs on eight hits, which is impressive efficiency. A seven-run sixth inning, fueled by a grand slam hit by 23-year-old Cristopher Cespedes, really put the game out of reach, but it’s not like Delmarva needed it: Their pitchers combined to one-hit the F-Nats. I dig it. This team’s best hitters to date have been promoted, so remaining players will need to step up if the Shorebirds are going to keep up anything close to their 26-15 clip.

Seven of the nine hitters in the lineup picked up a hit. Hudson Haskin doubled and was hit by a pitch. Shortstop Darell Hernaiz had a hit and drew a walk in five plate appearances. This game also saw the Low-A debut of 2017 fifth round pick Lamar Sparks, whose winding professional path has been pocked by injuries. Sparks walked twice. Best of luck to him now that he’s getting into some games above rookie level.

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

Wednesday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: vs. Gwinnett, 5:05. Starters: TBD, and it’s probably not the listed Mickey Jannis since he’s now in Baltimore
• Bowie: vs. New Hampshire, 6:35. Starter: Blaine Knight
• Aberdeen: vs. Rome, 7:05. Starter: Garrett Stallings
• Delmarva: vs. Fredericksburg, 7:05. Starter: Griffin McLarty