Baby Birds Roundup - 5/8/11

Delmarva Shorebirds

Manny Machado has been sidelined with an injury but 3B Jonathan Schoop has slid back to his natural postions at short and is still hitting well with a .340/.347/.553 line over his last 10 games. If not for Machado, I'd be really excited about his prospects as the elusive Oriole shortstop of the future.

More on Delmarva tomorrow...

Frederick Keys

1B Tyler Townsend continues to crush Caroilina League pitching with a .405/.405/.833 line over his last 10 games. He has 24 strikeouts against only 1 walk all year but I don't think he is being challenged in A ball at all. With the recent injury to Baysox 1B Joe Mahoney, perhaps the Orioles can promote him so he can be challenged and start working on his plate discipline.

2B LJ Hoes is finding his footing after a season lost to injury and illness in 2010. Hoes has a line of .341/.386/.512 over his last 10 games, raising his season OPS to .704 and giving hope that he can progress in 2011.

RHP Bobby Bundy continues his hot start to the season as he has struck out 15 and only walked 4 over his last two starts.

Bowie Baysox

C Caleb Joseph continues to be one of the few bright spots on offense for the AA club with a .235/.316/.471 line over the last 10 games. His newly found plate discipline (12 walks against 14 strikeouts) is very encouraging.

On the pitcing side, RHP Dan Klein has continued his good work since his promotion throwing 3 innings of shutout baseball.

Right handed relief pitcher Jose DIaz is listed at 6'4" and 300 pounds. He also has thrown 13.2 innings with a 1.45 ERA, 11 Ks and 3 BBs.

RHP Steve Johnson had a rough stint in Norfolk but has been very good since returning giving up just a lone run over two starts while racking up 13 strikeout against 2 walks.

Norfolk Tides

Offensively, the story in Norfolk in 1B Brandon Snyder with his .889 OPS for the season and his .324/.395/.486 line over the last 10 games.

However, 2B Ryan Adams is making a bod to join him. Adams has had a tough learning curve to start the season but the last 10 games he has hit .381/.435/.476 with 4 doubles. He will always have questions defensively but the guy can hit.

In case you're curious, Nolan Reimold is OPSing .843 over his last 10 games.

On the pitching staff, there is Troy Patton and only Troy Patton (11.0 IP, 10 K, 2 BB, 0 HR, 3.27 ERA)