Oriole Ovations 2009

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:11 pm

IBC Orioles SP Ian Kennedy, from BA:

Matched opposite Lehigh Valley’s Carlos Carrasco, who was pretty good himself, Kennedy punched out 11 in six innings on Friday night. Hughes took the hill on Sunday and, though his stuff didn’t completely wipe out the Lehigh Valley lineup, it was still good enough for six innings and a victory that completed a four-game sweep.

Kennedy, who outdueled Carrasco on a night the Phillies righthander struck out four over six scoreless innings, is coming off a nice showing this winter in the Puerto Rican League, where he worked on throwing his curve for strikes.

Asked if he demonstrated that ability on Friday, when Kennedy showed pinpoint control in not allowing a walk and yielding just a run on four hits, Aldred said, "Not yet. Some of them did."

But there’s a reason.

The Yankees late in spring training tweaked the shape to Kennedy’s curveball. While his fastball sat 90-92 mph on Friday, the curve showed nice signs–it’s shorter with a smaller break.

"All of his misses are in one spot right now, which is good," Aldred said. "It’s easily correctable."

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:27 pm

SP D.J. Mitchell, from BA:

Charleston and Savannah hooked up for a 10:30 a.m. game this morning that featured another dominating performance by a RiverDogs’ starter. Righthander D.J. Mitchell, whom Ben Badler touched upon in last Thursday’s Daily Dish, struck out eight and walked one in six innings of work, a 5-4 win for the visiting RiverDogs.

"His sinkers were working really well," Tyson said, "and his breaking ball was working today. I saw fire today that I haven’t seen before."

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:35 pm

Nice nugget about Desmond Jennings stealing home during his hot start to 2009 (From BA):

Desmond Jennings’ potential is tantalizing.

The Rays’ Double-A Montgomery center fielder has a combination of elite athleticism, speed, strike-zone discipline and feel for hitting that few prospects in the minor leagues can match.

The 22-year-old’s early-season performance isn’t too shabby, either. Through 13 games, Jennings is batting .377/.431/.679, including four doubles, three triples, two homers and six steals in six attempts. Jennings went 5-for-6 with a triple on Saturday, then followed up the next day by going 3-for-3 with a triple and a home run. That makes yesterday’s 1-for-3 with a home run, a stolen base and a hit-by-pitch look modest by comparison.

Jennings has an excellent approach at the plate, which has led to his walks being nearly equal to his strikeouts the last two years. He stays balanced at the plate and keeps his head locked in, then has the hand-eye coordination to regularly put the barrel of the bat to the ball.

“Very good strike zone management,” Montgomery manager Billy Gardner Jr. said. “He doesn’t get fooled very often. He gets on a fastball good, he stays on the ball well and he uses the entire field to hit. He’s got some jump in his bat–the ball comes off his bat really well.”

With all that Jennings has done early in the season, perhaps his most exciting play came at Chattanooga on April 15. With Dodgers lefthander Scott Elbert on the mound, Jennings took off and used his explosive speed to steal home.

“He stole home plate, and I didn’t realize until I read some blogs the next day that it was Jackie Robinson Day,” Gardner said. “When you’re in the heat of the battle, you don’t think of that type of stuff. You just look at the opportunity that presents itself during the game. It was a situation where we had runners at first and third with two strikes on a lefthanded hitter against a lefthanded pitcher, so we felt like it was a good opportunity to steal a run here. The pitcher had a pretty slow movement with a high leg kick, and we set it up so that once he picked his leg up, if he threw over to go ahead and get a jump.”

Beyond his value at the plate and on the basepaths, Jennings has the plus-plus speed to be a weapon on defense as well.

“He covers a lot of ground out there,” Gardner said. “I haven’t seen him get into a bad route yet. His arm is accurate and he can play shallow center field and go back to the ball well. He’s the type of exciting guy who can beat you with the bat or he can beat you with the glove.”

It’s not big news that Jennings can hit, run and field well. The major barometer for him this season won’t be a rate stat but a simple counting stat: games played. Jennings played only 24 games last year before having surgery on his left shoulder, one year after missing the final month of the 2007 season to have knee surgery. If he shows he can stay healthy for the entire season, he’ll be among the game’s elite handful of prospects.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:18 pm

I think I ended up with a guy on BA's Hot Sheet twice all last season, so when I end up with three in the same week, that's kind of a big deal:

No. 3 DESMOND JENNINGS, OF
RAYS
Team: Double-A Montgomery (Southern)
Age: 22
Why He's Here: .500/.524/1.050 (10-for-20) 2 HR, 1 2B, 2 3B, 6 RBIs, 0 BB, 3 SO
The Scoop: BA's Ben Badler featured Jennings in a Daily Dish on Thursday after the Rays' impressive outfielder enjoyed a tremendous weekend in which he delivered eight hits, five RBIs, tripled twice and also homered. Oh, and he also successfully stole home. If you happen to be traveling through southern Alabama this weeked or early next week, swing by the Biscuits' ballpark in Montgomery. They're in the middle of a 10-game homestand that ends on Wednesday night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

No. 11 AARON POREDA, LHP
WHITE SOX
Team: Double-A Birmingham (Southern)
Age: 22
Why He's Here: 1-1, 1.50, 12 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 5 BB, 13 SO
The Scoop: Poreda's 11-strikeout effort over seven shutout innings against Jacksonville last night was enough to propel him up the list, despite a mediocre start last Friday (5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 SO). The 6-foot-6 lefty returned to Double-A this season in part because of his strong relationship with Barons pitching coach J.R. Perdew, who is emphasizing improvement in Poreda's changeup and slider. The strikeouts (17 in 16 innings on the year) and groundouts (1.8 G/F, no home runs allowed) are nice, but Chicago's '07 first-round pick also has issued nine walks through three starts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

No. 13 BRANDON ERBE, RHP
ORIOLES
Team: Bowie (Double-A Eastern League)
Age: 21
Why He's Here: 6 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
The Scoop: Erbe continues to show improvement in smoothing out what was once a pretty violent delivery. He struggled with his command in his first start this season, walking four in a somewhat wild three innings. But this week, he was completely dominant in his second outing. The most impressive aspect of Erbe's year–he's allowed only one hit in two starts, meaning his opponent's batting average this year is .034.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Tue May 05, 2009 4:13 pm

No-No? Technically, Yes

White Sox lefthander Aaron Poreda, the club’s first-round pick in ’07, shut out West Tenn for five innings Monday night, despite issuing five walks and hitting a batter. But because the game was called at that point due to rain, and because Poreda had allowed no baserunners via a hit, the Double-A Birmingham lefty is credited with a no-hitter, the Southern League’s first this season.

"He did a great job in the stretch," Birmingham pitching coach J.R. Perdew told The Birmingham News. "That’s when he was at his best. Tonight, he got a lot of work there."

Poreda, 22, improved to 2-3, 1.65 through five starts, and he’s given up just 15 hits in 27 1/3 innings.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Wed May 06, 2009 2:46 pm

Desmond Jennings has remained ridiculously hot for Double-A Montgomery. The 22-year-old outfielder went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs as the Biscuits wiped out Birmingham 12-2. He looks like a pretty solid candidate to be No. 1 on this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet, having reeled off six straight multi-hit games to raise his line to .402/.429/.645 through 107 at-bats. He’s among the Southern League’s leaders in a myriad of offensive categories and leads the league in average, slugging, hits (43) and triples (5).

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Fri May 15, 2009 1:32 pm

Desmond Jennings is about the only thing I've got going for me this season, so I'm going to keep on posting his praises. The latest? Another Hot Sheet appearance:

No. 10 DESMOND JENNINGS, CF
RAYS
Team: Double-A Montgomery (Southern)
Age: 22
Why He's Here: .474/.600/.579 (9-for-19), 2 2B, 9 R, 5 BB, 1 SO, 1-for-2 SB
The Scoop: Should we start charging Jennings rent for being a regular tenant here on Hot Sheet? Phone lines are open. The guy just keeps on tearing through the Southern League, with his latest escapade starting last Friday with a five-hit game that included three runs scored and a double. And get this: He's hitting .468/.526/.596 (22-for-47) in May.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:22 pm

D.J. Mitchell's introduction to the high Class A Florida State League didn't go so well–he gave up six runs in four innings in his first start. His ERA (5.06) doesn't show it yet, but Mitchell is holding his own against the more advanced hitters. He struck out seven in six innings in his last start, and now has struck out 29 batters in only 21 innings since his promotion to Tampa.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:22 pm

It's been a long dark season for the IBC Orioles, and it's been a while since I've had time to post prospect nuggets, but came across this in the latest Jim Callis ESPN.com chat:

rbizzler (DC)

Best CF prospect in the minors?
Jim Callis
(2:59 PM)

Desmond Jennings.

Yankees · Post by **Yankees** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:42 pm

Whoever drafted that guy in the IBC must be a genius...

At least I still have Isaac Galloway...oh, crap...I hope the league appreciates my yearly charity in pushing out the best undiscovered MiLB talent to get mediocre talent in return.