The Delmarva Shorebirds (Baltimore Orioles full-season A-ball affiliate) released their break camp roster this past Friday. It is a good mix of top prospects and familiar faces.
Just as the other three Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliates (Norfolk, Bowie, and Frederick) did last Friday, the Delmarva Shorebirds released their 2019 break camp roster. The roster, which is currently at 27 players, will be finalized prior to the start of the season on April 4th.
Highlighting the roster is the presence of seven players who are considered among the Orioles Top-30 prospects by MLB Pipeline. Fans of the Shorebirds will see many familiar faces: 12 players return to Delmarva in 2019.
The roster breaks down as follows:
RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS
- Matt De La Rosa
- Gray Fenter
- Nick Gruener
- Hector Guance
- Tyler Joyner
- Blaine Knight (#10 Prospect)
- Jalen Miller
- Tim Naughton
- Jhon Peluffo
- Ofelky Peralta
- Grayson Rodriguez (#5 Prospect)
LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS
- Matt Hammonds
- Drew Rom (#29 Prospect)
- Nick Vespi
CATCHERS
INFIELDERS
- Branden Becker
- Seamus Curran
- Jean Carlos Encarnacion (#13 Prospect)
- Andrew Fregia
- Cadyn Grenier (#17 Prospect)
- Adam Hall (#14 Prospect)
OUTFIELDERS
The dozen familiar faces are Becker, Curran, Encarnacion, Fajardo, Fenter, Grenier, Gruener, Naughton, Peluffo, Peralta, Robertson and Vespi. Both Fajardo and Peralta played in Frederick (A-Adv.) in 2018. Peralta struggled in Frederick in 2017 and 2018 (combined 5-16 record over 38 starts) so his move back a level isn’t surprising. What does surprise me is the demotion of Fajardo. I saw him play several times in person and am of the opinion that a move to Bowie was in the cards. I even considered him ready for full-time catching duties for the Baysox. I see a big year from the 24-year-old native of Venezuela as he uses the demotion as motivation.
Knight, Hammonds, Rodriguez and Rom represent a strong foundation for the rotation. It seems as though there will be a good core of starters at all levels of the Baltimore minor league system in 2019.
Offensively, Hall should be very exciting to watch; he produced a 19-game hitting streak and hit safely in 21 of his final 24 games for the Aberdeen Ironbirds (A-Short) last season while stealing 22 bases in 27 attempts. His game plays well in the new Orioles philosophy of taking the extra base and stealing bases.
Curran, Encarnacion, Thorburn, and Turchin should not be overlooked offensively, either. Defensively, the Shorebirds look strong and I would not expect many steals from their South Atlantic League opponents as Fajardo threw out 40% of would-be base stealers in 2018.
All in all, the Shorebirds will be a good, fun team to watch and they represent a few of the names fans of the Baltimore Orioles will come to know in the future as those players make their way to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.