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Baltimore Orioles: A Gem Of A Debut For LHP Zac Lowther

By Chuck Boemmel|
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 06: The clock above the scoreboard is shown during the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 06, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 06: The clock above the scoreboard is shown during the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 06, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

The Baltimore Orioles full-season minor league affiliates have all completed their first series of 2019.  Bowie Baysox LHP Zac Lowther pitched a gem in his debut.

The first series of the 2019 minor league season are complete for all of the full-season affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles.  The Delmarva Shorebirds (A) stand at 2-1, while the Frederick Keys (A-Adv.), Bowie Baysox (AA), and Norfolk Tides (AAA) are all 1-3.  Although the results were mixed, the first weekend of the season produced several pitching gems.

Zac Lowther is the latest Oriole farmhand to hurl a solid performance; he joins Blaine Knight and Grayson Rodriguez who both preceded him in pitching gems of their own.

Lowther started for the Baysox on Sunday against the Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals affiliate) and was credited with the win; he is 1-0 on the young season.  It is worth noting how the 2017 second round Competitive Balance draft pick achieved that victory.

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Considered to be the Orioles #8 prospect by MLB Pipeline, the 22-year-old southpaw needed 77 pitches, 50 of which were strikes, to get through 20 Harrisburg batters.  Lowther pitched 5.0 scoreless innings of two-hit baseball (both hits were singles) in which he walked two and struck out six.

Lowther struck out three of the first four Senators’ batters in the first inning; two struck out looking.  The lone first inning blemish was a walk to Ian Sagdal.  In the second, he set the side down in order with two fly outs and a strike out looking.

Lowther breezed through the third inning with a ground out to Baysox first baseman Preston Palmeiro and two strikeouts, one which was looking.  He ran into trouble in the fourth when Sagdal reached base on a Chris Clare one-out error and Drew Ward followed that up with a single.  Lowther got out of trouble by retiring the next two Harrisburg batters.

Rhett Wiseman led off the fifth with a single and Lowther proceeded to walk the next batter, Tyler Goeddel.  A mound visit seemed to settle down Lowther as he retired the next three batters to finish his day.  Bowie relievers Brian Gonzalez and Tanner Chleborad combined to preserve the win for Lowther.

Aside from the two walks allowed, Lowther got to a three-ball count once in his five innings and allowed only four batters to get to a two-ball count.  He kept the baseball in the strike zone throughout the game and challenged hitters, inducing five ground outs and three fly outs.

The season is certainly in its infancy but the pitching performances of Knight, Rodriguez, and Lowther give Orioles’ fans reason to be optimistic about the future of the pitching staff.  Let’s hope this is just the beginning for many prospects of the Baltimore Orioles.

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