Orioles # 901 & 902

So, turns out, I'm an idiot, but some of you already knew that. All this time that I've been sharing Orioles' debut numbers, it seems that my count was high by two. It came to my attention during the Orioles game last night, when it was mentioned during the broadcast that Mark Worrell's (awful, just horrible) debut made him Oriole #900.

UPDATE-I was right the first time around, Angle is 901 and Worrell is 902.

Wait a minute, I thought. I already dubbed Mitch "already back in the minors" Atkins as Oriole #900 just under two weeks ago. So how could Worrell be 900? It was time to cross-check my lists. (Disclosure- Matt Angle made his Orioles Debut on Sunday, making him Oriole #899, or 901 by my old count.)

I've realized in the past that I can't rely on the Orioles website as a completely accurate source, since they occasionally list players twice while totally skipping others. But by own revised count, it seems as though Worrell is actually the 900th player to wear the O's uniform. So I went back through my site and tried to update all of my Orioles Debut posts. I think that everything should be accurate now, but I might have missed a post here or there. Anyway, I apologize for misleading you all for so long. I know that you must be torn up about it.

On to the most recent O's Debuts....

#901- Matt Angle

Matt Angle was drafted by the O's in the 7th round of the 2007 draft and has been one of the best outfield prospects in the system since then. He also has been consistently ranked as one of the fastest players in the O's farm system.

 

Compared to many players who have risen through the O's Minor League system over recent years, I don't have many autographs of Matt. He only played just over a season at hi-A Frederick and AA Bowie, the two closest affiliates to me, and had spent most of the last two seasons with AAA Norfolk, which is about a five hour drive from my house, so I don't make it there much. I have a few more than these three, but not many.

 

Matt has stolen 162 bases over his four plus seasons in the O's system so I hope his speed translates to the relatively slow big league club. He has played 502 of his 505 Minor League games in center field, but has much better defensive instincts than Felix Pie, Nolan Reimold or Luke Scott, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a chance in left field. He should at least be the O's defensive replacement and/or pinch runner.

Here are some pictures from his debut on Sunday. He led off and started in left field, not a bad way to make a debut. He went 0-3 with a walk in the game and cleanly fielded everything that came his way.

Warming up before the game

 

Starting in left field

 

First at-bat

What's that? You want to hear about Oriole #902, Mark Worrell? Well, I don't have an autograph of him and his Orioles' debut is one that he likely doesn't want to remember, and neither do I. You see the results here, if you must.

Here's all I have to say about Mark...

He was AAA Norfolk's only International League All-Star this year.

He made his MLB Debut in 2008 with the Cardinals, and homered in his first at-bat.

His funky side-arm delivery is pretty sweet, if only it can produce better results.