Shorebirds roster

[Ampontan]

Steve Melewski posted the Shorebirds roster, and it is very interesting. Especially the pitching staff:

1. Dylan Bundy / starter
2. Parker Bridwell / starter
3. Tim Berry / starter (have seen comparisons to Eric Bedard)
4. Eduardo Rodriguez / starter (one scout said he will pitch in the majors unless he is injured)
5. Matt Taylor / reliever
6. Trent Howard / mostly starter
7. Devin Jones / reliever
8. Tyler Wilson / starter
9. Zach Davies / hasn't pitched yet, but probably starter
10. Zach Fowler / reliever
11. Jake Cowan / starter
12. Williams Louico / starter / 21-year-old Haitian who has played four seasons in the Dominican league. His last two years as a starter were very good
13. Jose Nivar / reliever, converted outfielder
14. Miguel Chalas / Mostly starter in GCL, has been very good, excellent BB/K rates

That's a lot of starting pitching. Probably some, such as Bundy, Rodriguez, Chalas, maybe Louico, will not be pitching deep into games to get their innings up and pitch the whole year at the same time. I'd guess there might be two de facto "starters" a game in some cases, pitching to pitch counts.

Esposito and Delmonico are also both here, which means that Delmonico might be going to first instead of third as first thought.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2012/04/shorebirds-announce-current-roster.html

[ofahn]

Delmonico might be going to first instead of third as first thought

I posted during the winter that I thought Delmonico was the the best 1B in our farm system.

[CSPitt17130]

3. Tim Berry / starter (have seen comparisons to Eric Bedard)

Where did you see this?

I posted during the winter that I thought Delmonico was the the best 1B in our farm system.

Why move him over to 1st before he proves he can't play 3rd, or 2nd for that matter (he mentioned he would be playing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with the ShoreBirds)?

[Ampontan]

Re: TBerry. Saw it at a different website as a quote from someone unidentified in the organization. They did have him bypass Aberdeen, as they're doing with Rodriguez.

[CSPitt17130]

Re: TBerry. Saw it at a different website as a quote from someone unidentified in the organization. They did have him bypass Aberdeen, as they're doing with Rodriguez.

A Bedard comparison is high praise. So high that I don't really believe that from a guy on some other site quoting some other unknown guy in the organization. He made 26 starts for Delmarva last year and isn't making the jump to Frederick. I think that says more than skipping Aberdeen.

[Don]

Jordan has a giant backlog of reports that I gave him towards his top 50. Since he is the topic of discussion, I will drop my two cents about Tim Berry as a pitcher.

I remember the days when he was a soft tossing left hander with
movement and just had the wire frame with a fast arm. He is still
building his way to completely fill out and gain strength, but he has
made long strides. Do not let the numbers from this past season fool
you because he has some skills for a left hander. His fastball has
been clocked to 93 mph, but he utilizes more of a sinking two seam
fastball that runs 90-91 mph with good hand side action that is tough
for left handed batters to locate and pick up. He has the ability to
keep that pitch down and inside consistently keeping the ball on the
ground. If he has a solid infield, his numbers would plummet to the
ground. His change up, sits 76-79 mph is more or less his bread and
butter in my eyes; the fade in works well enough with that high
slotted 3/4 delivery and another pitch that is tough to adjust. He
tends to backdoor the pitch on right handed hitters and better plate
coverage would be a needed step of progression. His curve has some
bite and depth, but just needs to tighten the spin on it and iron the
release point. I do like the fact that he works the ball well in the
zone and shows a willingness to throw the pitch in any count.

He has already shown some instability in the elbow and to some extent
this was mechanically driven due to him crossing his body at times
with inconsistent landings and the slot of the arm was a bit back
compared to the landing in his youth and first season of professional
ball. These issues are not a big concern at this stage because he is
throwing more downhill and progressing, so there is some hope that his
command and mechanics can leave him as a starter. Tim shows the
glimpses you look for out of left hander pitchers with sink in his
arsenal to keep the ball on the ground, but it is just not consistent
right now. He still needs to improve his command as he leaves it up
in the zone and gets hit, really a strong issue out of the stretch.
He needs to hide the ball a bit more, as it can be picked up by
quality hitters.

[Ampontan]

A Bedard comparison is high praise. So high that I don't really believe that from a guy on some other site quoting some other unknown guy in the organization. He made 26 starts for Delmarva last year and isn't making the jump to Frederick. I think that says more than skipping Aberdeen.

I have no idea what he's like, other than he was one of Jordan's injury picks in 2009 (had TJ in HS). He was also a 50th round pick, so it was a flyer that worked out, for the signing anyway.

However, I suspect that what he meant was that he had Bedard potential. Besides, Bedard himself wasn't Bedard either at that age.

Stocking the system with enough players is a problem with seven affiliates, but I wonder if giving up Bluefield was all that good an idea.

[Ampontan]

Melewski now says it will be a six-man rotation of Bundy, TBerry, Bridwell, Wilson, Rodriguez, and Chalas. Bundy will start the first game, pitch for three innings, and be relieved by Chalas, who will start game six.

That leaves out Cowan, among others, but there is also talk of promoting Bundy after 5-7 starts, assuming he pitches OK. When that happens, one of the others will probably take his place.

[osforlife]

Suprised Davies isn't in that rotation. Wasn't he supposed to be a steal in the 26th round?

[Ampontan]

Suprised Davies isn't in that rotation. Wasn't he supposed to be a steal in the 26th round?

There's that too. But he's also a high school pitcher making a big jump, so innings are a concern. Maybe he'll be the one to benefit from more work if DBundy gets promoted.

[ofahn]

if DBundy gets promoted

On the over/under I'm willing to bet on WHEN DYLAN Bundy gets promoted.

[chirping birds]

Don's analysis of Tim sounds seemingly identical to another LHP in the system, whom I have not seen assigned to any team as of yet. Its strange that Bywater is being kept in Extended ST, esp with the solid albeit extremely limited number of innings this spring. I understand the current rotation mentioned above includes 14 pitchers, 10 of which are "starters" and they have to go somewhere, however I am not sure why a few made the jump they did, when others such as Bywater have yet to be assigned a team. Am I missing something?

[chirping birds]

And I agree, DBundy WILL be promoted.. Dudes a beast.

[Shorebirdfan]

Don's analysis of Tim sounds seemingly identical to another LHP in the system, whom I have not seen assigned to any team as of yet. Its strange that Bywater is being kept in Extended ST, esp with the solid albeit extremely limited number of innings this spring. I understand the current rotation mentioned above includes 14 pitchers, 10 of which are "starters" and they have to go somewhere, however I am not sure why a few made the jump they did, when others such as Bywater have yet to be assigned a team. Am I missing something?

Agree Bywater and Ken Wise were the two that surprised me the most as still being down there. Bywater tweeted the other night that he hoped ot be up her in MD in a few weeks.

[Don]

I was a little shocked to see a few arms left in extended spring training that were not injured. Matt was one of them.

Here were my two cents on him:

I feel like I have made up my mind on him and he is a starter down the
road. His best pitch is clearly the change up. It gets late fade
that not only will induce ground balls by the boat loads; it will be a
very good swing and miss pitch down the road that sits 80-82 mph. His
fastball hit 91 mph and routinely will sit 88-89 mph, but remember
that it always dances and with the lower slot it will show late
tailing action to the hand side. His slider has a sub-par grade at
the moment, but the offering gets decent action and plays up when he
uses it on a night with good command. Pitch sits best when in the very
low 80's offering.

He just needs to gain some mechanical consistency. Since it is a low
3/4 delivery, he needs to continue to push inline and downhill.
Everything has to move downhill, he tends to leave himself closed and
the result is he pushes everything out of the zone. This is something
that just needs to iron out from his college days. I think he has the
command and control in his pocket to push bottom of the rotation
because I feel his ground ball splits will be impressive with his
ability to gain movement on his entire arsenal.

Matt should start out a Frederick and end next season in Bowie. He
has the ability to out pitch and work his competition. He is not only
savvy in how he can attack a hitter, he has the stuff to make them
look silly on a good night. It is about location. If he can
successfully locate the fastball at will, his change up off that pitch
gives him one of the best 1-2 punches in the entire system. Command
and control are not the easiest thing to harness, but if so, he can
shoot up the system in a hurry.