No. 6 - CIF Nicky Delmonico
Ht/Wt - 6'2", 196
B/T - L/R
Age at 6/13 - 20y 11m
Drafted 6:4 by Baltimore in 2011
Prospect Grade - C+ (44)
Last year, Delmonico rated as our sixth prospect, but was viewed slightly more positively than he was graded this year. What was good about 2012? As a 19 year old in full season A ball, Delmonico certainly held his own in the batter's box making up for poor contact with a strong walk rate and a very promising display of power. His .770 OPS was 12% greater than the league average when park factors are considered. The optimist would note that his poor June numbers (.688 OPS) coincided with a knee injury while his numbers in May and July were greater than .800. Regardless of your viewpoint on how to use those numbers, these numbers are excellent for a 19 year old in A ball.
My concern comes from two things: health and defense. A back injury was a major reason why Delmonico dropped from a high round draft pick to the sixth round. In his first professional season, he strained his knee. As a rule, back and knee injuries cause me a great deal of concern. This is particularly true for a player who is playing second base where they get torn up and blindsided while turning double plays. The good news for Delmonico is that he really cannot play second and will be shifted off to first, third, or maybe even the outfield. A catcher in high school, a second baseman in his first professional year, and now sitting on the hot corner. The uncertainty in his defensive home hopefully gets resolved giving him more time to concentrate on his bat, which in the end is what will carry him to the show. With that in mind, any struggle with the bat and he becomes minor league depth.
No. 7 - RHP Mike Wright
Ht/Wt - 6'5", 195
B/T - R/R
Age at 6/13 - 23y 6m
Drafted 3:4 by Baltimore in 2011
Prospect Grade - C+ (41)
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | W | L | G | GS | IP | HR | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 21 | Orioles | GULF | Rk | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 |
| 2011 | 21 | Aberdeen | NYPL | A- | 2 | 1 | 3.77 | 7 | 7 | 31.0 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 8.4 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 8.4 |
| 2011 | 21 | Delmarva | SALL | A | 1 | 1 | 10.54 | 4 | 1 | 13.2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 13.8 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 7.9 |
| 2012 | 22 | Frederick | CARL | A+ | 5 | 2 | 2.91 | 8 | 8 | 46.1 | 3 | 5 | 35 | 9.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 6.8 |
| 2012 | 22 | Bowie | EL | AA | 5 | 3 | 4.91 | 12 | 12 | 62.1 | 7 | 17 | 45 | 10.3 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 6.5 |
The trick for him would be to continue success with his two seam fastball. As he moves up from level to level, his two seamer will have more difficulty in resulting in swing and misses as well as swing and poorly hit balls as batters are more capable of discerning when the sink will drop the ball below the strike zone. My rule of thumb for groundball pitchers without any steady plus pitches is to force them to be successful at each level. It is the same reason why I was hesitant about Zach Britton and Brad Bergesen being successful Major Leaguers.
Wright is a useful prospect. With more consistency from his slider, he profiles as a solid middle reliever. For now, he will likely begin in Bowie as a starting pitcher with Norfolk coming in 2014.
No. 8 - INF Adrian Marin
Ht/Wt - 5'10", 165
B/T - R/R
Age at 6/13 - 19y 3m
Drafted 3:4 by Baltimore in 2012
Prospect Grade - C+ (40)
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | G | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 18 | Orioles | GULF | Rk | 47 | 193 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 34 | .287 | .339 | .360 |
| 2012 | 18 | Delmarva | SALL | A | 6 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .286 | .348 | .286 |
So, Marin's value is tied to him being a shortstop because his bat is not going to carry him. At times, he produces great velocity as the ball jumps off the bat. Last year, that produced doubles and triples. With a little more loft, they should turn into a few home runs, but it is unlikely though that the bat produces much more than a handful in any given year. Again, that kind of player works if he sticks at shortstop. If he has to shift to second or third, the bat will have to exceed expectations or he would need to become the best defensive second baseman or third baseman in the game. Marin has the reflexes and speed to make up for an average arm as a shortstop. I would estimate he may be ready for the Majors in 2016 if everything works out.
No. 9 -RHP Clay Shrader
Ht/Wt - 5'11", 200
B/T - L/R
Age at 6/13 - 23y 2m
Drafted 10:3 by Baltimore in 2010
Prospect Grade - C (39)
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | W | L | G | GS | IP | HR | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 20 | Aberdeen | NYPL | A- | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 | 0 | 8.0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 11.2 |
| 2010 | 20 | Delmarva | SALL | A | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | 3 | 0 | 4.0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 13.5 |
| 2011 | 21 | Delmarva | SALL | A | 1 | 1 | 2.05 | 12 | 0 | 22.0 | 1 | 13 | 38 | 4.5 | 0.4 | 5.3 | 15.5 |
| 2011 | 21 | Frederick | CARL | A+ | 1 | 1 | 1.12 | 15 | 0 | 24.0 | 1 | 19 | 35 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 7.1 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 22 | Frederick | CARL | A+ | 1 | 1 | 1.29 | 23 | 0 | 35.0 | 0 | 27 | 51 | 5.1 | 0.0 | 6.9 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 22 | Bowie | EL | AA | 1 | 0 | 2.74 | 19 | 0 | 23.0 | 1 | 24 | 17 | 5.9 | 0.4 | 9.4 | 6.7 |
His success will depend on how well he can gain control of his pitches. Although it involves only 23 innings, one should expect his walk rate to increase and his strikeout rate to decrease as he moves up the ladder. That expected outcome has largely followed him throughout his minor league career. Advanced hitters will face will hold off against more pitches on the edge of the strike and force him to prove he has command of his pitches. If he cannot cut his walk rate down from 7 batters per 9 innings, then he will need to retain a 13 or more strikeouts per 9 innings to be of any use. That will be difficult. Simply put, he is going to put a lot of baserunners on first and that usually is a bad thing.
No. 10 - OF Xavier Avery
Ht/Wt - 6'0", 190
B/T - L/L
Age at 6/13 - 23y 6m
Drafted 2:4 by Baltimore in 2010
Prospect Grade - C (39)
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | G | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 18 | Orioles | GULF | Rk | 47 | 192 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 51 | .280 | .333 | .337 |
| 2009 | 19 | Delmarva | SALL | A | 129 | 509 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 10 | 27 | 111 | .262 | .306 | .340 |
| 2010 | 20 | Frederick | CARL | A+ | 109 | 498 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 28 | 14 | 42 | 96 | .280 | .349 | .389 |
| 2010 | 20 | Bowie | EL | AA | 27 | 120 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 34 | .234 | .288 | .374 |
| 2011 | 21 | Bowie | EL | AA | 138 | 626 | 31 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 14 | 49 | 156 | .259 | .324 | .343 |
| 2012 | 22 | Norfolk | IL | AAA | 102 | 458 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 7 | 51 | 106 | .236 | .330 | .356 |
| Year | Age | G | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 22 | 32 | 107 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 23 | .223 | .305 | .340 | .645 | 76 |
My hesitancy in valuing him more is that I cannot see what it is that he can become. I do not see him adding much more in terms of power and his inability to hit left handed pitching severely limits his usefulness as a full time player. The key for him will be to improve his contact rate. If he can push it up to where he could bat .280 line at the MLB level, he could be a very valuable as it probably puts him as a .750 to .800 OPS hitter against righties. That could work. Again, though, I am not aware of a single other batter who has been able to perform at a MLB average level of performance after being a mid to low .200 batting average hitter with no power in the minors. I do expect him to be offered many opportunities over the next 5-8 years to prove me wrong.
Others considered:
Branden Kline - RHP
Josh Hader - LHP
Henry Urrutia - OF
Hector Veloz - INF/OF
Glynn Davis - OF
Ty Kelly - INF