Oriole #1024- Trey Mancini

While playing catch-up organizationally and blog-wise, it's amazing to me just how quickly my collection got out of hand. I've done my best to periodically organize and scan cards over the past year, but yet, I'm playing a game of what do I have and where is anything. The scans of my Trey Mancini autographs are a nice microcosm of my issues. I scanned all of the cards in this post around the times that I actually got the autographs, but then never labeled them. So I got to blindly click around my scanned cards for a five year period to track these down. But that's enough about me.

I'm not entirely sure how or why it happened, but I skipped past Trey's Orioles/MLB debut in late September of 2016 when writing my posts at the time. I would speculate that it was a combination of his unexpectedly late end of season call-up, well after the beginning of September when you expect to see guys come up from the minors, and my aforementioned disorganized autograph scans.

After being selected by the Orioles in the 8th round of the 2013 draft out of Notre Dame, Trey steadily rose through the Orioles minor league system, and played at every level from the short season Aberdeen Ironbirds all the way up through the AAA Norfolk Tides. Due in part to his continued ascension, he wasn't included in all of the minor league team sets so he didn't have as many cards as many of his fellow minor leaguers. Neither was he considered a can't miss prospect so Topps skipped him over with their minor league offerings. This led to a smaller number of cards for me to attempt to get signed, which only added to my issues with this post.

As you can see at this point in this post, in addition to help from my dad with his 2016 Mancini Old Man Cards, I discovered more than enough Trey Mancini autographs throughout my disorganized card boxes and scans. Trey was always a nice guy and willing signer throughout his minor league years, so I never had an issue with him signing, just with my having anything for him to sign.

After playing in five games with the Orioles at the tail-end of the 2016 season, and hitting three homers over fourteen at-bats during that time, Trey began the 2017 season as the Orioles everyday left-fielder. As a career first-baseman, he didn't miss a beat during the conversion to the outfield during Spring Training in 2017 and came in third in the American League Rookie of the Year race behind Aaron Judge and Andrew Benintendi. Not bad for a guy who was never considered a top prospect!

Oriole #1021- Parker Bridwell

I know that I'm skipping a few debuts at this point, but July/August is always a hard time of the season to keep up with autographs on the team as players are traded or acquired from other organizations and I don't have their autographs waiting to add to my collection. So I'm going to move ahead with a debut I was prepared for; that of the Orioles 9th round draft pick in the 2010 draft, Parker Bridwell.

Parker was drafted out of Hereford High School in Texas, and apparently could have been the quarterback at Texas Tech if he had chosen to go that route, so it seems like he was an all-around gifted athlete in high school. He worked his way through every level of the Orioles minor league system over the past seven years, at times seeming like a sure-fire Major Leaguer following up with other stretches where it seemed like he would never make it to the show. 

He has consistently been ranked as one of the Orioles highest prospects, owing at least in part to their shallow farm system, and was added to the 40-man roster prior to the 2016 season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Parker was also invited to the big league camp for the first time in 2016 so all the signs seemed to be pointing in the right direction for him. However, during the season, he battled some injuries and was also moved to the bullpen, where it seems like the team thinks his MLB future might be, so it took most of the season before he finally got the call to the O's. He made his MLB debut on Sunday August 21st against the Astros, and pitched two innings in relative mop up duty to help out the overtaxed Orioles bullpen. He gave up two hits, including a HR, and struck out two Astros batters.

I have a number of Parker's signed minor league cards from over the years, although he pitched in Aberdeen and Delmarva, two places that I didn't often get to during the years that I made it to the most minor league games. It feels nice to once again have been prepared for the debut of a new Oriole!

Parker has always seemed like a decent guy so I hope that he has finally found his way to the Orioles permanently. Good luck to him!

Oriole #1017- Donnie Hart

For the time being, I'm still waiting for an autograph of Oriole #1015, but more debuts keep happening, so I'm moving forward to write about the more recent debuts. Hopefully, I will have something to show for 1015 in the near future.

As the Orioles search for a match-up type bullpen lefty continues, Donnie Hart has become the most recent player to attempt to fill that role for the Birds. His contract was selected from AA Bowie on July 15th, and he made his Orioles and MLB debut two days later in a game against the Rays in Tampa. He went on to pitch in three straight games, and has yet to allow a run. So far at the MLB level, he has pitched 2.2 innings, and allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 1. That 1.50 WHIP isn't great, but the 0.00 ERA will probably keep him in Baltimore for the near future.

Donnie was drafted by the Orioles in the 27th round of the 2013 draft out of Texas State University. Over four seasons in the O's minor league system he has pitched for the Ironbirds, Shorebirds, Keys, and Baysox. He appeared in 117 games, all out of the bullpen, and had a 11-6 record with a 2.27 ERA. He also appeared in the Arizona Fall League following the 2015 season, which means the Orioles considered him to be some sort of prospect. And following Jayson Aquino, he became the second straight player to debut with the Orioles directly from AA. Although Hart wasn't already on the 40 man roster, which makes this move more surprising, but I guess it says something about how the O's perceive the lefty bullpen pitchers at AAA right now.

The two autographs above are the only autographs I have of Donnie, and luck was once again on my side as I got both of these cards signed at the same Bowie meet the team day that Jayson Aquino signed for me. So the meet the team day really came through for me! Since Hart wasn't on the O's 40 man, and I had no idea that he was on their radar, we hadn't made an Old Man Orioles Card of him at that point. My dad just made Donnie's first Orioles cards and hopefully we can get them signed sometime soon.

In the meantime, good luck in Baltimore Donnie!

Oriole #999- Mychal Givens

Wow, I hope that none of you read my post from last week speculating about who the one thousandth Oriole might be, seeing as how I listed ten potential candidates to make their Orioles debut, and not a single one of them was Oriole #999 Mychal Givens. Partially, this is because I chose to focus on the potential debuts of players at the AAA level to somewhat limit the pool of candidates (outside of Bowie Baysox pitcher Tim Berry, who was on the 40 man roster). Additionally, Givens hadn't been invited to the Orioles big league Spring Training, generally an indicator at the time about a player's general standing in the organization. HOWEVER, Givens is a name that Buck Showalter has mentioned multiple times this year in assorted interviews and once Buck has an eye on you, it generally means positive things about your future.

Givens has a pretty interesting history in the O's farm system, as he was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft, and the Orioles decided to have him play shortstop. Apparently, coming out of high school, many other teams like his arm better as a pitcher and thought he had a brighter future on the mound than at short, but the O's thought otherwise.

After three relatively unremarkable seasons in the field and at the plate, the Orioles finally conceded that Givens might do better as a pitcher and moved him to the mound in 2013. Success didn't come right away, but apparently once someone changed his mechanics to throw from a three quarters arm slot, his velocity and results improved.

This past Saturday, the Orioles selected Mychal's contract from AA Bowie and added him to the 25 & 40 man rosters. After watching three games from the bullpen, he got to make his Orioles & MLB debut in last night's game against the Red Sox in Boston. He needed only 11 pitches (8 of which were strikes) to retire the "heart" of the Sawx batting order, including two ground-outs and a four pitch strike out of Mike Napoli.

Mychal was optioned back to AA Bowie prior to today's game to make space of the roster for Miguel Gonzalez, but he sure showed some promise in his debut. Especially since he is now on the 40 man roster, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Baltimore sometime soon.

And for the record, I'm pretty sure that I have a personalized autograph of his Bowman Orioles card at the top of this post. I'm pretty sure he signed and personalized both a copy of that card and the Shorebirds card for me at the same time, but all of my stuff is pretty unorganized these days. Regardless, congrats on your debut Mychal!

Oriole #995- Oliver Drake

Wow, with four players making their Orioles debut last week, it's really pushing the pace of my posts. Considering there's no way I have time to write four in a week right now, maybe slow down a little bit with the new players, whaddya think O's? But then again, at this rate, we will see Oriole #1000 in just a few short weeks!

In this past Saturday's game against the Marlins, Oliver Drake became the third Orioles pitched within a week to make their MLB debut for the team, following Mike Wright, and Tyler Wilson. And it was another stellar showing once again!

Drake entered in the ninth inning of a scoreless game (no additional pressure for an MLB debut, right?) and pitched three scoreless innings giving up just two hits and striking out two. He pitched again in the eighth inning on Monday's game, with the O's staked to a 4-3 lead, and was dominant yet again, as he struck out two of the three Astros he faced and didn't allow anyone to get on base. 

Oliver took the long and winding road to the major leagues, as he was drafted by the O's in the 43rd round of the 2008 draft out of the Naval Academy. He pitched at every level of the O's farm system, including Bluefield, which hasn't even been an Orioles affiliate since 2010, but he continued to rise through the system. The O's actually added him to their 40 man roster way back in 2011 to protect him from the Rule V draft, but subsequent injuries and roster crunches led to his being removed before pitching for the team at that point. 

He was actually a minor league free agent following the 2014 season, but he agreed to a major league deal that once again saw him added to the 40-man roster. It was a deal that made since for both sides since Drake knew that being on the 40-man made a call-up much more likely and the O's obviously liked something they saw in him. 

He was largely a starter over his first four years in the O's system, but was converted to a reliever in 2013 and his results seemed to improve at that point. In fact, as the AAA Norfolk Tides closer this season, he had 8 saves and a 0.96 ERA with 30 strikeouts over 18.2 innings in 16 appearances. Those are the kind of numbers that dignify a promotion!

Good luck with the Orioles Oliver! I have a feeling that you might stick around in Baltimore if you continue to pitch the way you have been so far!

Oriole #994- Tyler Wilson

For the second time in the last three games, a pitcher has made their Orioles and MLB debut when Tyler Wilson took the mound in the ninth inning against the Mariners with the Orioles losing 4-1 to become the 994th player in Orioles history. He was officially recalled from AAA Norfolk on Sunday when Bud Norris was placed on the DL with lingering issues with bronchitis, but he had been with the club for a few previous days as a member of the "taxi squad".

Tyler allowed two singles in the inning but also got Robinson Cano to ground into a double play over his scoreless frame. I'm sure that he was relieved to not allow any runs in his debut.

He is the second consecutive home-grown player to debut for the O's, after Mike Wright's debut this past Sunday, and was selected in the 10th round of the 2010 draft out of the University of Virginia. He was also born and raised in VA, so it sounds like he had a nice contingent of family and friends at the game last night to seem his MLB debut.

It sounds like Tyler will continue to pitch out of the bullpen for the time being, but is a very likely candidate for the starting rotation in 2016. He seems to have made quite the impression on Buck Showalter during this past Spring Training, as he went 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA covering 14 innings over 6 games, and was given many opportunities to appear in games over some more senior pitchers who were competing for jobs on the big league club.

Good luck with the Orioles Tyler!

Oriole # 986- Christian Walker

The most recent Orioles debut surprised me somewhat, mainly due to how late it was happening in the season. Christian Walker was just called up to the O's after they clinched the AL East on Tuesday night. He had to be added to the 40 man roster and his service clock is starting now, so you know that the team must see something that they like in him. It also is fairly directly tied to Chris Davis's positive adderall test and suspension and the need for another first baseman on the roster. 

Christian had been working at the Orioles instructional league program in Sarasota for just this type of reason. Every year the O's send a group of 10-15ish minor league position players and pitchers to Sarasota to stay fresh in case any needs come up with the big league club after the minor league season ends at the beginning of September.

This Shorebirds signed card is the only autograph I have of his right now, but it works just fine for my collection, at least until I try to get one of my dad's custom O's cards signed. Christian has been included in a few minor league team sets over the years (2012 Ironbirds, 2013 Shorebirds, 2014 Baysox & Eastern League All-star set) and he seems to be a good signer. I saw him sign for multiple people at both Norfolk Tides games that I attended this year, but didn't have any unsigned cards of his at that point. Much to my dismay at this point. But one autograph is better than none!

Christian was drafted by the Orioles in the 4th round of the 2012 draft after a successful college career with the South Carolina Gamecocks. He made his professional debut with the short season A ball Ironbirds, and spent time at every ensuing level of the O's farm system. In 2013, he progressed from the lo A Shorebirds, to the hi A Keys, all the way to the AA Baysox in a single season. (Generally, jumping two levels in a single season is a good sign.) 2014 saw Christian start the year in Bowie before moving to AAA Norfolk mid-summer. He hit a combined 26 home-runs with 96 RBI this year, and yes, that was good enough to earn the call to Baltimore.

He made his major league and Orioles debut last night, September 17, and went 1-3 with a double in the game. He did enough to be the recipient of Adam Jones' post-game pie, and it was a very cool moment for the rookie. I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of Christian in the coming seasons in Baltimore. Good luck to him.

Tim Berry Heading to Baltimore

Could Tim possibly be Oriole #979?

According to some reports from the Orioles beat writers, Tim has supposedly gotten the call to come to Baltimore from the AA Bowie Baysox scheduled series in Portland, Maine against the Red Sox AA affiliate. 

I imagine that this is all tied to the need for a long reliever and/or Miguel Gonzalez's possible trip to the DL. Tim has a major advantage in this recall situation since he is already on the O's 40 man roster, as they had added him this past off-season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. 

If Tim does make his Orioles debut, it would be a really cool draft weekend story for a guy the Orioles took in the 50th(!!!) round of the 2009 draft out of San Marcos High School in California. 

Tim has always been a good signer throughout his time in the minor leagues, and I'm lucky enough to have a few copies of his autograph ready to be plugged into my collection when/if he makes his debut. The personalized Old Man card up top is ready to be put in with the rest of the O's.

Good luck Tim!

Spring Training Minor Leaguers

I love baseball for many reasons, but at least one of them is due to its general quirkiness. And that rarely is more evident than during spring training, when minor leaguers and their major league counterparts intertwine to form some interesting rosters, especially for road games. Most of the starting lineups for away games consist of back-ups and guys trying to make the roster, and the players that replace them later in the games are generally straight minor leaguers, typically guys with some upside. And here are some autographs that I have of some of those MiLB guys that I've seen in some games so far this spring.

These first two guys were actually on the official camp roster, but were among the first round of cuts that were announced yesterday. de San Miguel spent part of Spring Training playing for Australia in the WBC and was mainly in big league camp because extra catchers are always needed. Wright is actually the O's number four pitching prospect and held his own over three appearances.

The other three players sent to minor league camp were Eduardo Rodriguez, the O's #3 pitching prospect who is just 19 years old, and catcher Luis Martinez and pitcher Zach Braddock, neither of whom have yet appeared in a game due to injury/recovery from an injury. I don't yet have an autograph of any of those three guys.

And here is some of the menagerie of minor leaguers who have logged some game time with the O's so far this spring. I've even added some notes when I have something "worthwhile" to say.

Buck is Zach Britton's older brother

 Glynn is a local undrafted speedster prospect

 I really don't like Ty's signature. I know he has a short name and all, but c'mon.

Yes, John is related to the Rudy Ruettiger, who is his uncle.

What an awesome name. 

Chris is an under the radar guy who likely has a shot at an MLB relief role some day.

Dylan Bundy Called Up to the Show

Dylan Bundy has officially completed his stratospheric rise through the Orioles' system during the 2012 season, as he was recalled from AA Bowie in the middle of the night last night. The move was necessitated after the Orioles' marathon 18 inning win over the Mariners in Seattle, and the team found itself possibly short on arms for tonight's final game in Seattle. Bundy was already on the 40-man roster and he is still about 16 innings shy of the organization's 125 innings pitched goal for him this season, so it's hard to argue against the move.

The team is really going all-in on their 2012 playoff push, and I'm all about it since you never know when they might have another opportunity to make it to the postseason. I will always remember when my dad took me out of middle school to attend an Orioles playoff game in 1997 because, as he said, "You never know when you will get another chance to see them in the playoffs." At the time, it seemed humorous to think that the O's wouldn't be good in the coming years, but the past fourteen years have taught me a lot.

So it's officially all hands on-deck from the O's. Bundy's rise from 2011 first-round draft pick to becoming a member of the Orioles active roster is especially amazing since he was drafted out of high school. It's not so rare for a battle-tested college pitcher to rapidly go from the draft to the Majors, but it's much more uncommon for a guy who is still 19 and selected out of high school to make it to the Majors this fast.

Since Dylan signed too late in 2011 to pitch for any of the Orioles' minor league affiliates, 2012 has been his first professional season, and he has pitched for the low A Delmarva Shorebirds, hi-A Frederick Keys, and AA Bowie Baysox. I only had the opportunity to see him pitch one time during the season, but it was during his most recent appearance in early September when he started Game 1 of the Eastern League playoffs for the Baysox. Here's a video I took of Dylan warming up in the bullpen prior to the start of the game.

He gave up just one run over six innings, and allowed six hits while striking out six. Is he ready for the Majors? Only time will tell, but I think that he has the potential to be a great MLB pitcher.

Oriole #937- Manny Machado

Manny Machado made his Orioles' debut in Thursday night's game against the Royals as the O's starting third baseman. He was 2-4 at the plate and scored a run. His first major league hit was a triple to lead off the fifth inning, which lead to his scoring the Orioles' first run of the game. Interestingly, Machado's debut was probably the biggest debut in Baltimore since Matt Wieters, and Wieters' first big league hit was also a triple.

Manny on third base after his triple

I feel that expectations are high for Manny's career but are tampered for the time being, especially since he was called up directly from the AA Bowie Baysox and has never played a game at the AAA level. Getting two hits in his first game won't do anything to lower what the fans will expect of him, but I personally am happy to have him in Baltimore this season. The team is in the playoff hunt and there are a few veteran players on the roster who just haven't been getting it done. If nothing else, this should light a fire under some of them. 

Manny is a very confident individual and player, so I don't expect the big league lifestyle to effect him too much. He seems to have a fairly high opinion of himself, so he will likely fit in to the Majors pretty well. 

I have had the opportunity to get Manny's signature a number of times during the time he spent with the Aberdeen Ironbirds, Frederick Keys, Bowie Baysox, and at spring training prior to this season. While his autograph has never been much to look at, there are still visible differences between his "good" and "bad" signatures. 

Here is a card he signed for me while he was playing with the Ironbirds shortly after he was drafted in 2010. Not great but not too bad. 

But then here are some of the signatures I got during his time with the Keys throughout the latter half of the 2011 season.

That last one looks like a single M and doesn't bear much resemblance to the pre-printed signature on the card. 

By no means am I trying to begrudge a player like Manny who has easily signed thousands of autographs already in his young career. It's great that he signs at all, and it's obviously not something that he needs to do. But I can almost guarantee that he will be a very tough autograph to get later in his career, especially if he achieves the level of success that I think that he is capable of reaching. 

On a slight uptick, here is his autograph that I obtained during 2012 spring training, which seems to be a return towards his early career 'graph, which is certainly a good thing. 

Good luck in the Majors Manny! I would love to be cheering for you for many years to come.

Oriole #930 Joe Mahoney- UPDATED

Joe "Big Irish" Mahoney made his Orioles debut in Saturday's game against the Angels, on July 7, 2012. He went 0-3 at the plate but fielded all seven of his chances cleanly at first base.

The Orioles selected Joe in the 6th round of the 2007 draft out of the University of Richmond, in Richmond, VA, so their scouts had plenty of chances to see him play and must have liked what they saw. At 6'7", 255 lbs., Joe is a very big dude, hence the nickname of Big Irish, but doesn't hit for a lot of power like you might think that he would. He is more of a line-drive gap type of hitter. 

Joe was the organization's minor league player of the year in 2010 and was added to the 40-man roster following that season. He finally cracked the big league roster last Thursday, but it was beginning to look like he might not make it into a game, as had just happened with pitcher Steve Johnson who had spent three games with the team but wasn't needed due to solid pitching performances before being sent back down.

But then Joe's name appeared in the lineup for Saturday's game and he officially became Oriole #930. I wouldn't be surprised if he is sent back down to AAA Norfolk shortly after the All-Star break for more seasoning, as I have read that his call-up had more to do with his already being on the 40-man roster than the team needing yet another first baseman on the roster.

UPDATE- The Orioles just sent Mahoney back to Norfolk to make room for Nick Markakis's return from the DL. So it looks like my prediction was correct, if not the timing of the transaction.

As you can see, I have a number of Joe's autographs in my collection, mainly from his time spent with the Frederick Keys and Bowie Baysox from 2009-2011. Outside of the two orange uniform autographs at the top of this post that are in my orange uniform autograph collection, I have his 2008 Bowman Prospects card headed into my collection. Somehow, I have neglected to scan that card, but will try to do so at some point.

Good luck Joe!