Roger Bernadina’s little brother dropped down 9 slots from the 22nd overall spot in the Orioles organization, but that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly gotten worse at baseball. In fact, he’s finally ready to get his first full-year stint at low-A Delmarva, so he’s starting to grow up.

Roderick has tools, but he’s still very raw and needs a lot of patient development. His brother took three years of time in the South Atlantic League to be ready to move up, so it wouldn’t be much of a shock if Roderick needs plenty of time to grow, too. He’ll make a good corner outfielder someday, although his batting’s still a work in progress (namely involving secondary stuff, as usual, since younger players tend to have trouble with that sort of thing). He has good instincts, however, and BA says “he makes the game look smooth.”

This upcoming year in Delmarva is going to be critical in seeing what the future holds for Roderick. If he’s able to handle playing every day, he’ll likely be ready to continue onwards through the organization, but if he struggles, he’ll still need some development time.

At least this year we have video.

Tomorrow’s Opening Day – we made it, everyone!

Ty Kelly has spent most of his time in the Orioles organization since 2009 as just another filler player, but he had a breakout 2012 and suddenly popped onto the radar. He started 2012 in Frederick and ended it in Norfolk, more than handling himself at each level.

The problem is that although he can hit line drives really well and has great defensive instincts, he doesn’t have a position. He’s tried every position except pitcher, catcher and center field as a Minor Leaguer so far, so it looks like he’ll end up as a utility player if he makes it to the big club. He’s spent the majority of his time at third base, but he’s currently blocked there because Manny Machado exists.

Kelly will return to Norfolk to start off 2013, but if the Orioles need him, he’ll probably be on call. Keep an eye on him.

(Old footage, but it was the only video I was able to locate.)

A newcomer to the list, Greg Lorenzo is a small (read: 6’0″ – which is pretty tall to me, since I’m 5’2″) outfielder from the Dominican Republic. The Orioles signed the speedster back in 2009, and since then he’s spent most of his time with the team’s DSL and GCL affiliates getting some much-needed development.

When I say ‘speedster,’ by the way, I mean it: from the right side of the plate, the kid can be on first base in less than 4 seconds. Yeah. (And by ‘right side,’ I mean ‘right-handed batter’s box.’ He’s not batting left-handed.)

Lorenzo is still learning the parts of baseball that don’t require him to run quickly, namely developing batting discipline. He’ll finally have a chance to take on full-season baseball in 2013 for the entire year, as he spent his 2012 between the GCL Orioles, Aberdeen (short-season A) and Delmarva.

Oliver Drake, whose story can be read here, was ranked 26th overall last year. He’s since dropped down to 28th, but by no fault of his own – the Orioles just picked up a few good men this past off-season, and a few players grew positively over the past year.

Last season was a lost year for Drake – he managed three starts at AA Bowie before shoulder inflammation forced him to get surgery. His final start of 2012 was a six-inning no-hitter which BA calls “arguably the best of his career.” He possesses a fastball (which tops out around 95 mph during good starts and has sink), a splitter/changeup, and a curveball. He’s a good strike-thrower, which is promising. BA suggests that he’ll work best coming out of the bullpen, but if his secondary pitches become more consistent, he has a shot at being a starter.

Look for him in Bowie this year now that he’s recovered from surgery. If he performs as well as he did last year before being shut down, he could easily find himself in Norfolk by the year’s end.

As usual, it’s a late post because of graduate school. I need to get used to this.

Brenden Webb is from California – the Orioles picked him back up in 2009, and he’s proven to be a fairly good outfielder since. However, despite being from California, he’s spent the past two off-seasons playing in the Australian Baseball League for Perth. See:

Born in 1990, he’s still very young and occasionally shows signs of five-tool potential. However, BA states that he’s still raw, so he’ll need plenty of development time. BA also explains that he “is strong and has above-average raw power, but he doesn’t reach it during games because he doesn’t have much of an approach. He has a long, uppercut swing with a lot of pre-pitch movement that leaves him with a hole on the inner half.”

Yeah, you might want to plug that hole, kid.

Fielding-wise, he seems fairly solid in center field, but also works well at a corner spot. If he can’t make consistent contact (which is currently the case), he’ll likely end up as a fourth outfielder. For now, he’ll return to Frederick and try to work some things out.

BA starts this review off with a beautiful metaphor, calling Tyler Wilson “the Robin to 2011 No. 2 overall pick Danny Hultzen’s Batman in Virginia’s weekend rotation.” That’s just great and makes me want to draw a bad cartoon of it.

Since the Orioles took him in the twentieth round back in 2011, Wilson has turned out to have the best command in the organization. He made it to Frederick by the end of his first full pro season and, as BA puts it, “succeeds with competitiveness and moxie.” (Between this and the Batman reference, this is the greatest prospect description ever. Well done, BA.) He has a fastball with sink, a slider, and a changeup (which BA points out is “inconsistent,” so that’s still a work in progress).

Orioles fans looking to catch Wilson this year should head out to AA Bowie – he’s probably going to start there, where he can test his mettle and see if he can meet the challenges brought on by better hitters.

Robin in action:

(Whilst I was writing this, I got word that another Tyler, Tyler Townsend, has retired. Best of luck to you, Tyler – we’ll miss you!)

I think this may be one of the best prospect names ever. The only Orioles one I can come up with that’s any better is Sebastian Vader.

Rutledge is a newbie to the Orioles system, being drafted just this past June. He performed better in college in a relief role and found a home as the closer at Samford (not Stanford, although they sound similar if you say them really fast). Right now, what we know is that he has a cutting fastball that tops out around 93 mph, an overhand curveball, and a changeup in the works. BA states that his curveball “can be a plus pitch at times,” a good sign for his future. However, they also note that he has “command and control difficulties” due to an overhand arm slot. The Orioles are working to develop him as a mid-rotation starter, but he could end up in the bullpen professionally, much like in college.

After all, the Orioles won’t have Jim Johnson forever, and it’ll be good to have a solid closer ready to fill his shoes.

If you want to see Rutledge in 2013, head out to Delmarva.

Here is a video of his mechanics…except he’s pitching shirtless so you can see the physicality more. This may or may not qualify as fanservice.

And as usual, this is after midnight because graduate school takes up about 90% of my current time.

Mike Belfiore is a newcomer to this list, having been in the Diamondbacks organization until May of 2012, when he arrived in the Orioles system via the trade of Josh Bell. Belfiore settled in at AA Bowie and looked fairly comfortable there, holding his own over the 28 games he appeared in. His stuff is “solid across the board,” as BA describes it; BA goes on to add that “it plays up because he’s deceptive and competitive.” That sounds promising.

He has a fastball, slider and changeup, and he has a three-quarter arm slot and is especially punishing towards fellow left-handed people (they hit .160/.218/.200 against him in AA Bowie over 50 at-bats). There’s a good chance that we could see him in Baltimore soon – he’s been added to the 40-man roster, and he’ll likely be starting 2013 in AAA Norfolk. Hey, who couldn’t use an addition to an already solid bullpen?

…well. He was ranked 4th overall last year and 12th overall in 2011, so what happened here?

Turns out Parker Bridwell struggled mightily in Delmarva this season. He pitched more innings this past season (114) than he did in 2010 or 2011, but his velocity dropped near the end, indicating that he probably still needs to work on his endurance somewhat. As BA points out, he has a lack of experience and “the Orioles think Bridwell just needs time to develop.” He also has problems keeping his arm angle consistent, which in turn affects his command. He’s still very young, however, so the Orioles can afford to give him that development time, especially given the pitchers they already have waiting in the wings.

There’s finally some footage of him pitching, at least. He’s the tenth pitcher to appear in this video.

Bridwell’s going to likely start off in Delmarva again. I guessed last year that if he improved on the track he looked like he was on, he’d be in Frederick by the end of the season, which was clearly not correct. Maybe this season he’ll straighten things out.

Look, I’m writing the post before midnight! Good job, me!

Hey, check it out, we grabbed another Rule 5 Draft guy:

McFarland was originally drafted by the Indians back in 2007. In 2012, he made it to AAA ball and tied for the Minor League lead in wins (16). For some reason Cleveland didn’t want to keep the boy, so he’s all ours now as long as he stays in the Majors. Although he does have a dark horse shot at making the rotation, it’s more likely that he’ll start the year off in the bullpen.

McFarland has a delightful slider and can locate his fastball pretty much anywhere in the strike zone. He also has what BA refers to as a “fringy changeup.” Given the success the Orioles had in the Rule 5 Draft last season (remember that kid Ryan? He was better than expected), I’m excited to see how McFarland handles playing in the AL East this year. Should be interesting to watch, to say the least.