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Baltimore Orioles: Under The Radar Prospect, LHP Cameron Bishop

By Chuck Boemmel

BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 29: Eutaw Street is seen empty as the Baltimore Orioles play the Chicago White Sox at an empty Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Due to unrest in relation to the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, the two teams played in a stadium closed to the public. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore's west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 29: Eutaw Street is seen empty as the Baltimore Orioles play the Chicago White Sox at an empty Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Due to unrest in relation to the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, the two teams played in a stadium closed to the public. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore's west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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There are several top pitching prospects in the Baltimore Orioles minor league system.  Aside from the top prospects, there are others who do not get much attention but are just as deserving of being watched.

Baltimore Orioles pitchers and catchers reported to Sarasota on Tuesday and the first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday, February 18th.  Minor league spring training is also set to begin soon; baseball is near, fans.

While the majority of the off-season talk has centered on prospect pitchers Keegan Akin, DL Hall, Dean Kremer, Zac Lowther and Grayson Rodriguez (and deservedly so), there are pitchers in the Orioles’ system that are flying under the radar.  One such pitcher is LHP Cameron Bishop.

Co-Site Expert here at Birds Watcher, Nick Stevens, mentioned Bishop as intriguing at the end of his piece on five prospects facing a key 2019 season.  He was one of thirteen pitchers who made starts for the Delmarva Shorebirds (A-Low) in 2018 and was probably over-shadowed by Hall, Lowther and, to a degree, Brenan Hanifee.

The Baltimore Orioles selected Bishop in the 26th round (788 overall) of the 2017 MLB Draft out of the University of California, Irvine despite his missing the entire 2017 collegiate season due to a strained oblique.  In two seasons with the Anteaters, he compiled a 7-5 record with two saves over 34 appearances (17 starts) and 102 innings pitched.  He struck out 108 and walked 49 while pitching to a 4.59 ERA.

Bishop made one appearance, a three-inning start, for the Gulf Coast Orioles (Rookie) after signing before moving up to the Aberdeen Ironbirds (A-Short).  He made eight starts for the Ironbirds and finished with a 1-1 record over 34.2 innings of work.  Compiling a 0.78 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, Bishop struck out 38 and walked 16 while limiting New York-Penn League batters to a .165 batting average.

Moving up to Delmarva (full-season A) for the 2018 season, Bishop made 22 starts and finished with a 9-7 record over 125.2 innings of work; he pitched a complete game as well (a 7-inning CG vs Kannapolis on June 14th).  In total, he struck out 99 and walked 20 while compiling a 2.94 ERA and 1.01 WHIP.

Eleven of Bishop’s starts were quality starts (six innings or more with three or less earned runs given up) and two of those were scoreless efforts.  The majority of the quality starts came in the first half of the season as Bishop averaged 5.1 innings of work over his 11 second half starts; he did make three consecutive quality starts in the second half, however.

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Bishop’s numbers put him among the Shorebirds’ leaders in several categories.  He was second in starts and innings pitched, his ERA was fifth among starters, his strikeout total was good for second on the team, and WHIP was fourth among starters.  All-in-all, it was a solid season for the 6’4″ southpaw.

What I find promising about Bishop is that although his K/9 inning rate decreased in 2018 (7.09) from 2017 (9.32), so did his BB/9 rate (3.82 to 1.43).  He also more than doubled his strikeout to walk ratio (2.44 to 4.95).  All of these improvements are a good sign and should only get better as he improves his control and command.

Bishop has an above-average fastball that reaches 95 mph but his other pitches (curveball, slider, changeup) are fringe-average.  He should be able to stick as a starter if improvements are made to his pitching arsenal.  It will be interesting to watch his development under the new analytic-centric regime.

I see Bishop going to either Delmarva or Frederick (A-Adv.) depending on how aggressive the Baltimore Orioles are with their MiLB assignments.  Wherever he lands, Bishop should continue to produce solid outings and is one to watch.  Another season filled with quality starts will put him on the prospect map and under the radar no more.

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