Wednesday evening, after fighting Beltway traffic for close to 2 hours to travel the 30 miles to Prince George’s Stadium, I was treated to a spectacular summer evening and a wonderful game between the Bowie Baysox and New Britain Rock Cats. In addition to watching Baltimore Orioles 2B Jonathan Schoop on a rehabilitation assignment, which I described at length yesterday, I was enthralled with the amount of talent on both teams. These are some of my scouting notes from the contest, a game the Baysox won 9-2.
Parker Bridwell RHP Bowie Baysox
Baltimore’s 9th round pick in the 2010 MLB Draft, the 23-year-old Bridwell was indeed impressive Wednesday against a strong New Britain lineup, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and no walks against 6 strikeouts in 7 innings pitched. By my count Bridwell threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes, and forced 7 ground outs verses only 2 fly outs. He gave up a wind-assisted home run in the 3rd inning but otherwise did a nice job pitching with an aggressive tempo and collecting outs.
Bridwell flashed a quality 4-pitch repertoire, featuring a 91-95mph fastball, touching 96mph once, with good life that he located reasonably well down in the strike zone. The velocity did settle in at 91-92mph after the 3rd inning, but this did allow him to spot the pitch better. In addition Bridwell showed a sharp, hard biting 80-84mph slider that induced several whiffs, although he did not always stay on top of the offering.
Furthermore, he showed an inconsistent low-80s changeup thrown with excellent arm speed and has some arm-side sinking action and above-average potential, along with the occasional high-70s “show me” curveball. Bridwell has an extremely simple, compact delivery though he surprisingly struggles to repeat his motion and maintain his high three-quarters arm slot. This hurts both his command and control of the strike zone, as evidenced by his 4.22 career BB/9 ratio and 3.55 BB/9 this season.
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Throughout this appearance I was generally impressed with Bridwell and believe he does not receive enough attention in the shallow Baltimore farm system. Certainly he has flaws and is no longer considered young in prospect circles, but his mid-90s fastball and potential for two average or better secondary pitches make him an intriguing arm.
That said while the arsenal points toward a starter, I believe his major league future resides in the bullpen. A move toward a relief role could maximize his mid-90s velocity while minimizing his below-average control. His slider could serve as a swing-and-miss offering and his changeup would give him a weapon to stifle left-handed hitters. While I expect the Orioles to continue to develop him as a starter, I believe you will see Bridwell in middle relief as a major leaguer, perhaps as soon as next season.
Other Ramblings:
1B Trey Mancini recently made the jump from High-A Frederick to Bowie and he has continued to terrorize minor league pitching; I have been consistently amazed at the amount of hard contact Mancini has produced thus far in 2015. The parallels between Mancini and fellow Orioles prospect Christian Walker are rather easy, as both are college first baseman who broke out at Double-A with some surprising power. Also, both face the incredibly difficult challenge of reaching the majors as right-handed hitting first baseman without projecting to hit for massive power. That said, if he can continue to sting the baseball and draw a handful of walks, Mancini will be difficult for the organization to ignore.
LHP Ashur Tolliver entered in the 8th inning for the Baysox and began pumping 92-94mph fastballs with movement, along with a low-80s changeup with some arm-side fade and the occasional mid-70s curveball. Now 27-years-old the smallish pitcher faces a difficult dilemma – his size and injury history point toward the bullpen, yet his repertoire profiles better as a starter due to his lack of a strong breaking ball. Nevertheless any lefty that can throw 94 with movement is a name to note and I would not be stunned if he received a cup of coffee in the majors down the road.
New Britain featured two particularly exciting prospects in their lineup Wednesday, shortstop Trevor Story and catcher Tom Murphy. Story is impressive at the plate, with notable bat speed and thunder in his right-handed swing. Conversely I came away unimpressed with his defensive skills, as his arm strength and footwork looked subpar compared to major league shortstops. Although this was only one viewing, I would suspect Story is a future second baseman.
On the other hand, I was very impressed with Murphy behind the plate, as his blocking skills are sound and his hands are extremely quiet when receiving the baseball. He shows good arm strength and a quick release, flashing a 2.03 pop time between innings. Offensively Murphy has a short, compact right-handed swing that generates above-average bat speed and some power. Murphy has a chance to be an above-average two-way player and does not get the attention he deserves as one of the best catching prospects in the minor leagues.
