Baby Birds: The Notable Minor League Performances of 2009: Part 1

With the minor league season wrapping up this week, I wanted to shine a spotlight on some fine performances from players in the Oriole minor leagues. Not all of these guys are considered prospects but they all had good seasons in 2009. Part 1 will cover the lower leagues up to low A Delmarva and Part 2 will cover high-A Frederick through AAA Norfolk. I will not be talking about guys like Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz who made the jump to the majors...everyone knows about them already.


Bluefield Orioles - Short Season Rookie

RHP Vito Fabrizio

           G   IP    ERA   BB   SO  HR  WHIP
Fabrizio  12  70.0  2.96   16   64   5  1.04

Hats off to you if you can find any background on this guy. (Feel free to leave it in the comments if you do.) Great name though.

He doesn't appear to have been drafted but the 20-year-old righthander tore up the Appalchian League and was the only Oriole named to the 2009 Appy League All-Star team. Batters hit just .223 against Fabrizio in '09. I expect he'll be with Delmarva next season.


SS Gary Helmick

          G    AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Helmick  43   .282  .346  .479   15   22   10    4    5

Severn native Gary Helmick had a solid season with the glove and the bat for Bluefield. He's 21 and displayed a well-rounded game. Sadly, this was the best offense performance for any batter in Bluefield this year.


RHP Sam Taveras

            G    IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR   WHIP
Taveras    19   23.0  2.74    7   19    0   1.23

Here's an interesting relief arm. 21-year-old Taveras saved 4 games for Bluefield, posted a nice strikout rate and is an extreme groundball pitcher who has only given up 1 homer in 75 professional innings. I'm curious to see if he can keep the ball in the park at the higher levels.


Aberdeen Ironbirds - Short Season Low A

3B/DH Levi Carolus

           G   AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Carolus   44  .320  .346  .426    8   38   13    1    9

Another great name! 21-year-old Curacao native is a free swinger but hit .320 with some gap power and stole 9 bases while being caught only 3 times. He has continued the good work in Delmarva for the 9 games since his call up. Sadly, (again) he is the only bat of note at Aberdeen this year.


LHP Nick Haughian

            G    IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR   WHIP
Haughian   13   74.2  2.05   20   54    2   1.08

22-year-old lefty who was drafted out of Washington in the 8th round of the 2008 draft. Not a ton of strikeouts but he got the job done ranking 4th in ERA among New York-Penn League starters.


RHP James Brandhorst

             G   IP    ERA   BB   SO   HR    WHIP
Brandhorst  19  24.0  1.50    6   26    0    1.04

21-year-old righty drafted in the 20th round this year saved four games for the Ironbirds and struck out more than 10 per 9 IP in relief. Another guy to keep an eye on out of the Delmarva bullpen in 2010.


Delmarva Shorebirds - Low A

OF Ronnie Welty

          G    AVG   OBP   SLG   BB   SO   2B   HR   SB
Welty   114   .294  .373  .422   41  113   24    9   12

21-year-old outfielder showed a well-rounded game with very good onbase skills. Drafted in the 20th round in 2008, Welty has progressed well for a later round draft pick. He was the sole Shorebird to be named to the 2009 South Atlantic League All-Star Team.


LHP Cole McCurry

           G    IP    ERA   BB   SO  HR   WHIP
McCurry   24  125.2  2.86   42  128   1   1.23

Another late round pick, (43rd round in 2008), McCurry's strikeout rates continue to grow. The Tennessee Wesleyan product struck out more than 1 per inning in 2009 and is still just 23. He ranks in the top five in ERA among SAL starters.


RHP Brandon Cooney

        G   IP    ERA  BB  SO  HR  WHIP
Cooney 47  54.2  2.47  19  45   2  1.24

The stats above are his combined numbers between Delmarva and Frederick but he spent most of the season as a Shorebird. Cooney is enormous at 6'6" and 240 pounds and was drafted in the 30th round in 2007. His strikeout rate is decent but he was killing worms this season as he groundball to flyball ratio was more than 2 to 1.


Next time, Frederick, Bowie and Norfolk...