Happy Jakesgiving!

Now that Strasmas has come and gone, it's time for the baseball world, or at least us Orioles fans, to turn our attention to this season's first major Orioles prospect premiere. Jake Arrieta is scheduled to make his Major League debut tonight for the Orioles against the Yankees. Come on out to the Yard Orioles fans! It's something to actually get excited about in this so far dismal season.


After the steady stream of debuts last season, this year has certainly been light on prospect excitement. Rhyne Hughes is the only other player to make his O's debut this season that could be considered a prospect at all. But he debuted on the road in Boston, so we weren't able to get to that game.

If you have followed this blog for any time, you would know that Jake's name has come up once or twice before. Kalina has been a BIG-TIME fan of his since we first saw him at Frederick at the beginning of the 2008 season. His name has now been added to Kalina's "Who We Collect" list on the left-hand sidebar, so let me know if you have any of his cards!

Jake happened to be the pitcher in the stands charting pitches at the first Key's game we attended and I had the luck to be standing next to him under the small covered concourse during a rain delay. He was excited and confident then, and I don't think much has changed in the last few years. He's always felt like he was ready to pitch in Baltimore, but had the bad luck to not be on the 40-man roster, so he was at a disadvantage compared to some other comparable pitchers. It's also possible the O's wanted to delay his debut to avoid Super two arbitration status.

Happy Jakesgiving everyone! Let's hope for an Orioles and an Arrieta W tonight!