Oriole #968- Delmon Young

The second new Orioles debut on Opening Day received significantly less fanfare than the first. Nelson Cruz is a big name who signed a $8 million contract, while Oriole #968 Delmon Young, was inked to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite to big league camp in mid-January. He chiefly made the team because Nolan Reimold once again had to head to the DL. 

While Delmon has spent a vast majority of his time in the big leagues since 2007, to date he is known more for a few nasty incidents than he is for his play on the field. Back in 2006 he was ejected from a minor league game for arguing a strike call and responded by throwing his bat at the umpire and was subsequently suspended for 50 games. Then during the 2012 season during his time with the Tigers, he was arrested in New York City for aggravated assault and was reportedly also using anti-semitic racial slurs. So, not exactly what you want to be known for, but he reportedly has changed his ways and is keeping his nose clean. I know that Buck Showalter is not the type of manager to put up with much BS, so I imagine that Delmon will be shipped out immediately if there are any problems.

As I mentioned in one of my Spring Training posts, I had some serious trouble getting Delmon's autograph in Sarasota, but lucked out and got this card signed on my last day in town. My buddy Alan was actually also able to get a copy of this card signed and personalized for me after I left town and I look forward to receiving the personalized version of this card.

Delmon had an alright opening day; he served as the DH against Jon Lester and the Red Sox. He was 0-3 with a strikeout but did drive in Nelson Cruz for the first run of the game on his 2nd inning at-bat that resulted in a double-play but did get the run across the plate. So, like Cruz, Delmon did contribute to the O's first win of the season. And that's really all we can ask of a player. Well, that, and staying out of trouble, but time will tell.