The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

On a Frederick team with not many standouts besides No. 1 prospect Dylan Bundy, Mark Blackmar is having a great year for the Keys. With a win on Sunday, Blackmar now has a 7-1 in 23 games played (15 games started). Now with the second-best ERA (3.21) of any starter on the team, it is safe to say Blackmar is quickly developing as a pitcher.

In the past ten games started alone, he has a 2.61 ERA with 32 strikeouts. On Sunday, Blackmar went seven innings, allowing only one run on two hits. This young pitcher will be promoted soon to Double-A Bowie if he keeps up the impressive numbers.

The Bad

After signing a Minor League deal with the Norfolk Tides several weeks ago, Jimmy Paredes has cooled down after a hot start in Triple-A. Currently, Paredes is batting .243/.270/.386. In 16 games played, Paredes has only 17 hits in 70 at-bats. In his last game played, he went 0-4 from the plate with one strike out.

His defense is not any better. In ten games played at third base, Paredes has an .897 fielding percentage with three errors. And in five games played at second base, he has a .952 fielding percentage with one error.

This was a low risk signing by the Orioles and obviously it is not turning out for the best for either of them.

The Ugly

Mike Wright pitched in his 23rd start of the 2014 season for the Norfolk Tides. And like so many starts before, Wright’s day ended with another “loss” next to his name. Although he did have a solid outing, going seven innings and allowing only one earned run, Norfolk could not score any runs in Sunday’s 2-0 loss.

On the year now, Wright has a 3-11 record with a 5.48 ERA. He has struck out 79 batters on the year (two K’s during Sunday’s start) and walked 35 batters (one walk on Sunday). This once top prospect for the Orioles is having the worst year of his Minor League career after having a great year in Double-A Bowie where he went 11-3 with a 3.26 ERA in 26 games started.