Orioles Spring Training Report #6

March 12, 2006

Citation :

This will make more sense if you FIRST read This Thread

I spent about 2 hours at the Orioles Minor League camp at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota. It was a gorgeous day with a brisk breeze. The O’s were running a very efficient camp with some of the coaches sitting in a tower in the center of the 4 field complex and blowing a horn every 15 –20 minuets at which time many of the players literally ran from one field to another. I’m not quite sure what the point of this was, as it seemed to me that the same drills, BP and pitching practice were happening on all four fields – but that’s how they did it.

I mentioned in my previous post about the former Oriole players, now coaches, with whom I spoke while there. Now I’ll give you a bit more info about some of the young players I observed:

Brandon Erbe – Was throwing live BP from the mound with a screen when I got there. There was quite a crowd of players and coaches standing around watching. He threw VERY hard – but with an easy motion. I’d say he was clearly the hardest thrower I observed in either the major or minor league camps this week. The batters were always told what pitch was coming, but in the 15-20 minutes I watched, only two balls were hit out of the cage; both by P. Figueroa (whom I know nothing about). The players standing around with Andy Etchebarren called Erbe’s fastball “the mysterious disappearing fastball.” Returning from having faced Erbe in the batting cage, Ryan Steinbach explained that he had started to swing when the pitch was “here” (gesturing out in front of the plate) but before his bat got in the hitting zone the pitch was “here” (gesturing toward the catchers glove. Because Erbe was motioning to the catcher and hitter what pitches he was about to throw, I noticed a distinct difference between his windup when he threw his fastball, than when he threw his other pitches. His windup was clearly faster when he was throwing the heater. I don’t know if he does this in game situations too, but if he does, it won’t take long for hitters and coaches to figure that out.

Nolan Reimold I watched him take 40 or 50 swings in the cage vs full-speed, full-distance, minor leaguers and also against traditional BP pitches. On this day, he was not impressive. He seem nonchalant to me, and didn’t hit anything particularly hard. In fact, he barely got wood on Erbe. There was another player named Franz (#18) who was in the same BP rotation with Reimold and who was about the same size and build as Reimold. Franz was hitting the ball with much more regularity and authority than Reimold. I don’t know anything about this Franz fellow – but if you do, please post.

Ryan Schwabe was walking around with a handheld video camera. Maybe he was doing something official (Mo Drabowski mentioned he was doing some video work with some of the pitchers) but he looked like someone who knew this was going to be the highlight of his professional career.

Jarod Rine Was also hitting in the same rotation with Reimold and Franz. He’s much smaller than the other two, but I liked his compact swing and his approach to the ball. He seemed confident, and hustled everywhere he went. The above link lists him at 6 feet 190 lbs. Based on what I saw, that’s pretty generous – he seemed quite a bit smaller than that to me.

Kevin Kotch Another very large catcher. Unlike Michaleski, however, Kevin appears to be just out of shape and a bit slovenly. He was the biggest guy I saw in camp, but he hit some balls a long way.

Kieron Pope Here’s a guy who almost never walked and struck out about half the time last year in Bluefield at age 18. He was very workman like, stuck to himself (I didn’t see him talking to anyone as virtually everyone else was). He wasn’t nearly as aggressive at the plate as one might expect from someone with his K record. I only saw him facing traditional left-handed BP, so the pitches were made to be hit, but he did make consistent good contact and showed warning-track power to LC field. He didn’t pull the ball; he just hit everything between the power alleys.

Pete Shier The baseball cube has him at 6’2” and 163 lbs. He looked at least 20 lbs heavier than that to me. Perhaps he’s been hitting the weights. He had a very nice, easy, swing and hit several balls way out of the park. He’s 25 in two days, but I like what I saw offensively.

Mark Fleisher Here’s another very big kid. He seemed more raw than several of the others in his hitting rotation, but he had a good approach, was trying hard, and showed excellent HR power when he made solid contact.

All in all I was impressed with the staff, the efficiency of the camp and the intensity of the players. I tend to root for the underdogs, so I’m going to keep my eye on guys like Shier, Michalski, and Rine.

There is no secret why people are all excited about Erbe. He was clearly the dynamo of the camp. IFFFFF he can avoid the injury bug, refine his second and third pitches, and develop a motion that does not tip pitches, he’ll move quickly through the org. He’s truly impressive. I’ve played a lot of ball over the years and, even among major league pitchers, there aren’t many guys who throw so hard that I would categorically say “I can’t hit that.” (I’m just talking about speed here, not “stuff” and I’m probably a bit over confident, but hey, why not.) But I’d definitely have to lay aside my pride and tell you, there is NO WAY I could hit Erbe.