Rather than spending Labor Day weekend on the beach or sitting near a barbeque grill, I scouted the Potomac Nationals 4-game series at their local rival, the Frederick Keys. Mother Nature gave us her worst in terms of heat, humidity, and torrential rain, and although many of the players were showing obvious fatigue after a long summer, several future major league prospects emerged through the many rain delays.  These three Baltimore Orioles’ players were particularly intriguing this weekend.

Steven Brault Left-Handed Pitcher

After watching an impressive performance last week from this under-the-radar prospect, I was eager to see his follow-up performance in his final start of 2014 for the Keys. Baltimore’s 14th round pick in 2013 from a small D2 school, Brault is a raw, athletic lefty with significant projection remaining in his listed 6-1 175lbs frame. Brault throws across his body during his delivery, which provides some deception to opposing batters but causes him to struggle to maintain his release point. He impressively pounds the strike zone, but this mechanical issue could hinder his velocity potential. Brault reminds me of a young Ross Detwiler, both physically and in his delivery to the plate.

In this limited viewing, Brault only pitched 3.1 innings due to a lengthy mid-game rain delay and looked weary in this outing. Brault featured a repertoire consisting of 4-pitches, an 86-89mph fastball with some natural sinking movement, an 80-82mph slider, an 83-84mph changeup with some arm-side wiggle, and the occasional high-70s curveball. His arsenal was less imposing than last week, when Brault was 87-91mph with late life on his fastball, a hard-breaking 82-84mph slider, a low-80s changeup, and a rare mid-70s overhand curveball. On a positive note, Brault particularly used his fastball to get ahead in the count and induced meek contact from the opposing batters.

This 22-year-old is still rather raw for a collegiate pitcher and his current below-average off-speed offerings cause him to struggle to put away hitters. But his youth, athleticism, and projection remaining in his lean body give me some hope that he can polish his delivery and improve his overall arsenal. Brault is an intriguing, talented young arm and is a quality sleeper prospect in the Orioles’ system.

Jason Esposito Third Base

There are two common types of chronic pancreatitis: alcoholic and biliary. order generic viagra Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may buying online viagra create abnormal or sometimes missing ovulation. This condition entails a man’s incapability of attaining navigate here online doctor viagra penile hard on during lovemaking. Accessible in Many Dosages The makers of Kamagra, levitra generika and Aurogra tablets have prepared this solution in the measures of 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg and 20mg packets of four or eight tablets per strip.
One of the few players who does not want to see the season end, Esposito has come alive offensively in recent weeks and continued the hot streak this weekend, hitting a massive home run Sunday night and punishing the baseball throughout the series. Long a personal favorite of mine since watching him in the Cape Cod League, Esposito has struggled since being drafted in the 2nd Round in 2011. His defense has always outpaced his offense, where he struggles with large strikeout totals and a near allergy to drawing walks. His massive whiff totals and poor on-base percentages have caused him to spend two full years at High-A and has led scouts to wonder if he will hit enough to reach the majors. These weaknesses have caused him to fail to turn his average or better strength and bat speed into power production at High-A the past two years.

Esposito is a whiz defensively, as he has a strong arm, sure hands, and sound footwork at third base. In addition, Esposito is a surprisingly good athlete with decent speed for a big 6-2 200lbs player. The Orioles are showing faith in the now 24-year-old by sending him to the Arizona Fall League, and a solid performance there should vault him back onto the prospect radar. The physical tools are there for him to develop into a possible league-average third baseman, but Esposito will need to build on his late-season rally in 2015 if he wishes to reach the show.

Trey Mancini First Base

A truly massive human being and a physical presence, Mancini was selected by the Orioles in the 8th round in 2013 after a stellar collegiate career at Notre Dame. Offensively Mancini shows fringe-average to average bat speed, which combined with his size, gives him some true right-handed pull power, although this is shown more often in batting practice than game action. Mancini has a longish swing and long arm, which causes a healthy amount of strikeouts; conversely he does have a solid batting eye and draws a reasonable amount of walks.

In the field Mancini is surprisingly agile and athletic defensively, flashing soft, sure hands on throws in the dirt. He made several notable plays at first base during this weekend. Furthermore, although he possesses below-average speed, he runs better underway and should not be a base-clogger in the future.

2015 will provide Mancini with a difficult challenge, as the 22-year-old will likely be pushed to Double-A Bowie early in the season. As a polished collegiate hitter selected on Day 2 of the draft, Mancini shares some similarities to fellow Orioles prospect Christian Walker. However, if he cannot begin to manage his strikeouts or hit for more power, Mancini will struggle to climb the organizational ladder. A personal favorite of mine, Mancini is a name to remember in a system lacking many hitting prospects.