Back to Spring Training- Major Leaguers

Since I've made it through all of the posts detailing the players who have already debuted for the Orioles thus far in 2014, and there are no other debuts on the horizon, I'm moving back to showing off the autographs I got on my Spring Training trip.

These next few posts will likely be picture dumps, but let's face it, I know that most of us prefer to look at pictures rather than read a bunch of words. As is the case with some men's magazines, most of you are here to look at pictures, not read. You've just chosen to look at signed baseball cards instead of women. But who am I to judge? I'm the one putting the pictures here.

Today's focus is on the autographs I got on my trip that are all of players currently on the Orioles roster. Over the next few days, I will cover minor leaguers, coaches, and the other miscellaneous autographs.

You will probably notice a number of signed cards that show players wearing orange uniforms. If you are new to my site, I collect signed orange uniform cards in addition to my main collection.

I was very happy to get Zach to sign this mini. They aren't so fun to carry around with a bunch of regular sized cards. I definitely dropped this bad boy more than once while trying to get other autographs.

 I've had some pretty bad luck with Wei-Yin over the years, so was surprised that he signed.

On the other hand, Steve Clevenger might be the best signing, coolest player the O's have had in a while. Pigtown is well represented by this guy.

I'm including Machado here because he would be on the team if he wasn't hurt. This was one of the first autographs I got at my first game, so I got off to a good start. I actually saw him sign one other time but he got absolutely swarmed.

My streak of only getting Nick's autograph at Fanfest and/or Spring Training continues.

It wasn't long ago that I had no signed Bud Norris Orioles cards. Now I'm up to three. I'd much rather have too many than not enough.

I was fairly surprised that Schoop made the O's Opening Day roster, and it mainly was related to Machado's injury but he also beat out at least Jemile Weeks for the backup infielder spot on the roster.

Jonathan has always seemed like a good guy, and he is very easy to root for; I hope that this is a start to a long Orioles career for him!

2014 Topps Series 1 Orioles Checklist

Thanks to my long-time collecting buddy Paul who writes the awesome paul's random baseball stuff blog, I discovered that the 2014 Topps Series 1 checklist was posted on Beckett's website. I had searched for it earlier this week but wasn't able to track it down. So nice work Paul!

In the interest of myself and most of my Orioles-centric readers, here are the Orioles included in the base set.

24    Manny Machado Future Stars
29    Chris Davis League Leaders (w/ Cabrera & Encarnacion)
47    Chris Davis Baseball Highlights
61    Nick Markakis
83    Jonathan Schoop Rookie
138  Wei-Yin Chen
141  Chris Tillman
153  Chris Davis & Adam Jones League Leaders (w/Cabrera)
158   Nate McLouth
190   Kevin Gausman Future Stars


And that's it.

While I will say that it's pretty cool that Chris Davis has gone from a guy who wasn't even included in the 2011 Topps set, and who had a single Orioles card picturing him through most of 2012 to a player who has three cards in the Series 1 base set, there isn't much to get excited about beyond that.

There are no players being featured on their first Orioles card, which is something that I always look forward to (I know a big reason for this is the team's relative lack of offseason signings), but I still was hoping for someone to make the cut. Possibly Ryan Flaherty, or maybe Jemile Weeks, or Ryan Webb? Who knows? Looking at the roster there honestly weren't many candidates.

While I will certainly want to pick up a number of the Chris Davis base cards and inserts for Kalina, I'm personally not all that excited about the list.

What are your thoughts?

Orioles #964 & 965- Jonathan Schoop & Jason Pridie

Hey, something to get excited about, a post with actual autographs AND pictures. That's probably why you checked this site in the first place!

Two players on divergent career paths both made their Orioles debuts during Wednesday night's game against the Blue Jays. Since they both made their debut in the field in the top of the first inning, I have to use my debut tiebreaker system of the numbered positions on the field to declare Jonathan Schoop (pronounced scope) (2B) Oriole #964, while Jason Pridie (pronounced pry-dee) (CF) becomes #965. Schoop is the O's top minor league position prospect whose debut was also his first MLB action, while Pridie has mostly been a minor league journeyman, and the O's are the fourth big league team that he has played in a game for at the MLB level.

I was lucky enough to be at the game, and had some amazing seats to boot. All the better to take some quick shots of the two guys making their black and orange debuts.

Jonathan Schoop- Oriole #964, debuted 9/25 against Blue Jays

I was specifically excited to see Schoop's debut, as he has been one of the O's top prospects for a few years now. He has played primarily second base and shortstop in the minors, but can also man third base. In 2011 and most of 2012, he and Manny Machado played together at Frederick, and then Bowie to form a double-play combo with some serious MLB potential. I think that Machado has already surpassed his early career expectations and I'm hoping that Schoop will have the opportunity to make the club at the start of 2014.

Jonathan was one of the players whom I discussed possibly making the club out of Spring Training this past year, but there was ultimately way too much competition for the Orioles 2B job in 2013. Next year should be a clearer path with the end of B-Rob's contract and the unlikelihood of Casilla's return. 

Schoop has always seemed exceptionally down to earth and should be an extremely easy player to root for; just ask my dad who was fortunate to have a nice conversation with him in our hotel lobby upon Jonathan's return from playing for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic this year. As you can see, he also has been kind enough to sign a number of autographs for me over the years. 

His MLB career began with a bang, as he went 2-3 with a HR and three runs scored in his first MLB game. 

Here is at first base after singling in his first MLB at-bat

And here he is crossing home plate following his HR. He became just the second Oriole ever to homer in his MLB debut, following Larry Haney in 1966.

Jason Pridie- Oriole #965, debuted 9/25 against Blue Jays

I can pretty confidently say that this is currently the only signed Jason Pridie Orioles card out there, thanks to my dad's old man card production, in addition to a helpful graphing buddy in Norfolk, as I personally missed out on Pridie during Spring Training. For quite some time, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that Pridie was not going to play for the 2013 O's, mainly due to his absence from the 40 man roster, and after his name was not included in the September call-ups, I put this card in my trade pile. 

But he was definitely a Buck Showalter kind of player whose name had come up over the course of the season so after AAA Norfolk's season ended, the O's sent him to Sarasota to remain fresh in a sort of taxi-squad type of situation. They needed a fresh player after Manny Machado's nasty knee injury coupled with Chris Dickerson's hamstring tweak, so Jason finally made it to Baltimore. 

Here is his first at-bat with the O's

So far in two games with the O's, he is 2-7 with an RBI, and has played left- and center-field. He also had an unfortunately timed error in last night's game when he straight flubbed an easy fly ball with two outs which allowed a Blue Jays runner to score from first base to take a 1-0 lead. But luckily the Orioles came back to win so it didn't cost them the game, though that is the kind of play that can leave behind bad memories when considering off-season roster moves.

Interestingly enough, I also read that these two debuts have pushed the Orioles to having used 54 different players during the course of the 2013 season, which ties the 1955 Orioles for most in franchise history. And it is absolutely crazy to think about that many players appearing in a game for the team in a single season, especially when that team remained in the hunt for a playoff spot until the final week of the season. Expect a run-down on the 54 players next week.

Who Will be the Next New Oriole?

As the baseball season approaches, my "baseball nerd" mind begins it's yearly process of trying to figure out some Orioles-centric questions that likely only matter to me and a handful of others. Or maybe just me, it's honestly hard to say. But since it matters to me and this is my blog, you know that I'm gonna write about it.

In Monday's post, I wrote about (and reminded myself) that prospect L.J. Hoes was the final new Oriole to make his debut last season; he became the 942nd player to appear in a game in Orioles history when he debuted on September 25 in Baltimore against the Blue Jays. Hoes grew up in Maryland, had been with the team for nearly a month before his debut, and has a fun last name, so the fans were rather excited for his debut.

Anyhow, my wheels have begun to spin in regards to whom might be the first new player to appear in a game for the Orioles in 2013. It's a difficult, nearly impossible, thing to predict over a month before Opening Day, but I'm going to look at a few candidates today, and possibly make a prediction.

To make things easier for myself, I'm going to break the possible candidates into a few possible categories, in descending order of the likelihood that Oriole #943 will come from that group.

First off, let's look at the players currently on the 40-man roster who have never appeared in a game for the Orioles. Since a roster move wouldn't have to be made for them to break camp with the O's, it's most likely that the newest O will be amongst these guys: LHP Mike Belfiore, IF Russ Canzler, IF Alexi Casilla, RHP Zach Clark, LHP T.J. McFarland, IF Yamaico Navarro, RHP Todd Redmond, IF Jonathan Schoop, IF Danny Valencia, and LHP Tsuyoshi Wada all fit the bill here.

Again, it's nearly impossible to eliminate anyone at this point, but Wada is the easiest cut as he is still recovering from Tommy John surgery that was performed last May and his MLB ready date is expected to be somewhere in late May, so it's highly unlikely the he could become the first new Oriole of the season.

The next three easiest cuts for me are Navarro, Redmond, and Schoop. I just rank too many of the other similar players ahead of Navarro and Redmond, so they have an extremely uphill battle to break camp with the O's, but an excellent March could obviously change that. And Schoop is the O's #3 prospect,  still just 21 years old. He spent 2012 at AA Bowie, and is spending part of Spring Training with the team from the Netherlands to play in the World Baseball Classic, so I just don't see anyway he comes north with the team.

The group that I have an extremely hard time of creating some separation with includes three pitchers; Belfiore, Clark, and McFarland. The one advantage that McFarland holds over the other two is that he is a Rule 5 draft pick and would have to be offered back to the Indians if the Orioles don't keep him on their 25 man roster all season. Which is extremely unlikely, although they did it with Ryan Flaherty last year. But the other two guys have pitched better than McFarland through the first week of games, so that doesn't establish much. Both Belfiore and Clark were added to the 40-man over the winter, and none of the three have any MLB experience to date.

Zach Clark has been in the Orioles farm system for a number of years, and has steadily moved through the ranks, but put himself firmly on the team's radar after a 2012 late season promotion to AAA Norfolk where he went 5-2 with a 1.75 ERA over seven starts. Like Hoes, he is another (relatively) local guy from Wilmington, DE who went to college in Baltimore at UMBC. I like Zach' chances because Buck Showalter keeps calling him a "baseball player" which is a very high compliment in Buck's vernacular.

Mike Belfiore was acquired from the Diamondbacks last season in return for one-time prospect, Josh Bell. The O's added him to the roster prior to the Rule 5 draft to protect him from other teams, so that tells you that they obviously think that he possibly has something to offer the team. And he has pitched well so far this spring in a few appearances.


So as far as the 40-man roster guys go, that leaves us with three infielders, Russ Canzler, Alexi Casilla, and Danny Valencia, and in my opinion, Oriole #943 is likely going to be one of these three. Although it could also be that not a one of them ever plays for Baltimore. Currently, all of them are playing multiple positions during Spring Training to prove their value to their new organization and they will also have to hit at least a little bit too to prove that they belong. On top of that, they are competing with a glut of non-roster invitees to fill very similar roles and if any of those non-roster guys outplays this trio, they could easily swipe their spot on the 40-man without much of a hassle.

My gut says that probably two of these three guys break camp with the O's, and that Casilla is the most likely to become Oriole 943, mainly due to his glove skills, and that he would specifically be providing depth at 2B behind the recently oft-injured Brian Roberts.


In addition to all of these players, any of the non-roster invitees could stand out and break camp with the big league squad. This group includes pitchers Zach Braddock, Kevin Gausman, Mark Hendrickson, Jair Jurrjens, Daniel McCutchen, Eduardo Rodriguez, Adam Russell, Daniel Schlereth, and Mike Wright, catchers Allen de san Miguel, Jose Gil, Luis Martinez, and Chris Robinson, infielders Travis Ishikawa, Steve Pearce, and Niuman Romero, and outfielders Chris Dickerson, Lew Ford, Conor Jackson, Jason Pridie, and Trayvon Robinson.

My short list of those guys who are more likely than the others to make it to Baltimore in April are Jurrjens, Ishikawa, Pearce, Dickerson, Jackson, and/or Trayvon, although guessing about something like this on March 1st is like pulling names out of a hat. If I had to narrow my list down to just two of this group, I would take Jurrjens and Ishikawa.

And on top of all of those options for the next Oriole debut remains the distinct possibility that the O's swing a trade between now and Opening Day. Baltimore's surplus a of starting pitching is well documented, and the team really could use another power bat. If they make a trade like that, that type of player would likely be someone who would be in the Opening Day lineup. So absolutely everything that I've just written could go out the window.

Finally, to wrap things up if anyone has actually made it to the finale of this novel-length post, as of today, my guess for the next player to make his Orioles debut will be utility infielder Alexi Casilla. But I will likely revisit this topic again closer to Opening Day, when the overall picture might be a bit more clear.

Spring Training Autographs- Top Prospects

I promise that I will make it through my Spring Training autographs one day. In fact, I hope to wrap them up tomorrow, but no promises.

Today's autographs are of players who are currently among the organization's top prospects or who have been regarded as a prospect over recent years. If applicable, I will list their current ranking according to Baseball America.


I was very happy to get my first autograph from the Orioles 2011 First Round pick and 2012 top prospect, Dylan Bundy. He was still at the O's big league camp during my trip and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to get his signature.

The Birds' #2 prospect (who was #1 in 2011) is Manny Machado, who also got into some big league Spring Training games. The team seems very high on him, as they likely should be. I was very glad to get  a personalized autograph from him, and his autograph seems like it has improved a bit since the end of last season.

 

#3 prospect Jonathan Schoop (all the way up from #10 last year) is probably my favorite player in the system right now. He's consistently nice to the fans and I think he has a legitimate chance to really help the Orioles a few years down the road.

Since he has yet to pitch above lo-A Delmarva, I haven't had a chance to see #4 prospect Parker Bridwell pitch yet. But at least I have his autograph.

The Orioles 2nd round pick in the 2011 draft is 3B Jason Esposito, who BA ranks as their #8 prospect. This was my first chance to get his autograph and he seems like a pretty decent guy. He even took his time signing the Topps USA card since he said they often smudge; thanks for the effort Jason!

Dan Klein has some serious potential but has battled injuries throughout his time in the minors. He could very well be the Orioles closer of the future , but only if he can stay healthy. He is the #10 prospect this year, slipping from #5 last season.

Glynn Davis, no not Glenn, is ranked just outside the top ten and is regarded as the fastest player in the O's farm system. 

Ryan Berry was the organization's #9 prospect last year but injuries derailed his season, so he's off the list this year. And somehow I didn't notice that both of these cards used the same picture until i was getting them signed.

Matt Hobgood was the team's 2009 first round pick and #5 prospect in 2010 but has yet to have much success at the professional level. And he won't pitch this year due to some sort of injury. At this point, I'm not expecting much of Matt, it's kind of a Billy Rowell 2.0 situation.

Caleb Joseph was ranked as the #10 prospect in 2010 but seems to have plateaued. He's always been a favorite of mine, but he needs to make the jump to AAA this year to prove himself. 

Kipp Schutz has never been ranked amongst the team's top 10 prospects but he has some major league potential, so I'm including him here.

Machado & Schoop

While the current Orioles team continues to struggle, I tend to turn my eyes towards their Minor League teams. The organization does have a number of good prospects rising through the system, highlighted by two that were selected to play in Sunday's Futures Game. Coincidentally, both are middle infielders who play for the hi-A Frederick Keys.

Manny Machado was the Orioles 1st round draft pick (3rd overall) in the 2010 draft and is currently listed by Baseball America as the O's Top Prospect and was recently named the #5 prospect in the Minor Leagues in BA's Midseason Top 50 Rankings.

 

Manny was the starting shortstop for Team USA at the Futures Game and went 0-2, flying out to right in both at-bats. He did have three chances in the field and made all plays cleanly, including a sweet short hop scoop of a screamer hit towards his feet.

Manny has been playing for the Keys since his promotion from lo-A Delmarva in late June. I featured his first professional bobblehead that the Shorebirds gave away in Saturday's post.

I will say that Manny's signature is already not much more than 2 M's so I'm worried about how it might look if/when he makes it to the Majors.

Jonathan Schoop (pronounced scope) was ranked by BA as the O's #10 prospect heading into this season. He is a rare success story for the O's International Scouting efforts and was signed out of Curacao in 2008.

Jonathan played for Team World and came into the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as a defensive replacement. He singled in his only at-bat to lead off the seventh inning but was unfortunately picked off shortly thereafter to end the inning.

Schoop's signature is rather illegible (it kind of looks he signed his first name over his last) but extremely unique and I honestly like it quite a bit. Especially on the Bowman card, his autograph looks almost exactly like the pre-printed version, which isn't too common to see.

Congrats to Manny & Jonathan for hanging with baseball's top prospects and good luck to this blogger's favorite Oriole, Matt Wieters, in tonight's All-Star Game.