Who, who, Julio? (DePaula)

Wow, did the Orioles ever pull one over on me yesterday. For the first time in the past six or seven years, the team called up a player whose name I didn't recognize and had no knowledge that he was even in their farm system. Among my friends I'm the go-to Orioles guy, and when a buddy called to ask me about Julio DePaula, I had nothing. It was a unique surprise to be caught so off-guard by a player on my team.

Well, for starters, here's a fairly recent picture of Julio that I found online, and it somewhat encapsulates why I hadn't heard of him or known he was in the O's system. The Orioles just signed Julio on June 26th, and he had been a member of the Atlantic League's York Revolution. Former O's pitcher Mark Hendrickson is also a member of that team and recommended DePaula to the Orioles recently. Apparently they liked what they saw, but I simply missed the note about the minor league transaction. And I certainly had no reason to think that Julio would have his contract selected just 11 days later.

DePaula does have a little MLB experience as he appeared in 16 games for the Twins in 2007, and the results weren't great. He had an 8.55 ERA and an 0-1 record over his time in Minnesota. From the 2010 season until signing with the Orioles he had pitched exclusively outside of the US professional leagues, bouncing from Korea to the American Association to the Mexican League and eventually the Atlantic League.

Julio's addition to the Orioles was more a matter of circumstance than his being the best player they could bring up. They needed a bullpen arm, and the AA Bowie Baysox, with whom he had been pitching, were playing in Harrisburg, PA, which is definitely closer to DC than Norfolk. So Julio got the call. He had appeared in just three games for the Baysox so far, with 6.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 BB, and 8 K, along with a save. So he's been good, but it's still a surprising move.

Julio didn't appear in last night's game, and in all likelihood will be sent back to Bowie today to make room for Bud Norris, but man is it hard to keep up with these things. And since he was added to the O's 40 man roster, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back at some point in the near future. So I better work on getting his autograph in the meantime!

Oriole #763- Ramon Nivar

I profiled Ramon fairly well back in November of 2009, and I don't have too much to add since that time. He has continued to bounce between the affiliated minor leagues and independent league teams, but has yet to return to the Majors since his time with the Orioles in 2005. 

What I did discover about Ramon is that he was the 763rd player to appear in a game for the Orioles when he appeared in his first game with the team on June 3, 2005. And I added this sweet York Revolution signed card to my collection. 

While Ramon is far from the only Oriole to have played with the Independent, Atlantic League franchise in nearby York, PA (Val Majewski and Matt Riley also comes to mind), he is the only former Oriole player whose signed Rev card is currently in my collection. 

(I've mentioned it before and don't like to repeat things too often, but I went to college in York and had my semi-local wedding reception at a Revs game, so the city is full of memories for me.)

The addition of the card above means that this 2003 Leaf Nivar autograph is up for trade. And I don't have much to say for his autograph, but he is very consistent with his signature and the Bible verse inscription.