Baltimore Orioles: A Recent Promotion Has Sparked The Bowie Baysox

The Bowie Baysox had the slowest start to the 2019 season of all of the Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliates.  A recent promotion to the team may have changed that.

On May 5th, the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles Double-A affiliate) had a record of 7-23 (.233).  The team had just lost its third game in a row when they were shut out that day by the Erie SeaWolves, 3-0 (Detroit Tigers affiliate).  At that time, the Baysox were the only Orioles affiliate to not have double-digit wins.

The following day, the Baltimore Orioles promoted SS Mason McCoy from the Frederick Keys (A-Adv.) to the Baysox.  Since that promotion, the Baysox have gone 4-2 (.667) to improve their record to 11-25 and are currently leading the Akron Rubberducks (Cleveland Indians affiliate) at the time of publishing (Zac Lowther with six shutout innings under his belt and a season-high seven strikeouts).

McCoy earned the promotion to Bowie based on a .379/ .416/ .509 slash line with two home runs and 17 RBIs achieved in 27 games with the Keys. His numbers led the Keys in runs (21), hits (44), batting average, and on-base percentage. Even after spending a week with the Baysox, McCoy continues to lead in all these categories.

McCoy has played in six games for the Baysox since the promotion and has done nothing but perform.  He started with a five-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in all six games.  As of Monday’s game (a 7-3 loss to the Akron RubberDucks), he is hitting .458/ .552/ .708 with one home run and three RBIs.

He debuted with a 2 for 5 night against the Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate) in which he scored a run and doubled with one RBI.  His best game to date was a 4 for 5 night two days later against Altoona, in which he homered, scored two runs, had two RBIs, and walked once.

Hitting is contagious and McCoy’s hitting seems to be rubbing off on the entire team.  The Baysox currently have a team batting average of .218.  The team was hitting .203 at the time of McCoy’s promotion.  Since then, the team has hit .291 (59 hits in 203 at-bats) to raise their average 15 points. McCoy’s strong start seems to have breathed new life into the Baysox.  He is hitting and so is the team.

While I do not anticipate McCoy’s batting average to remain at its current lofty level, it is a positive that the Baysox have realized a spike in their collective performance with his arrival.  Not only that, but the team’s record has spiked upward as well. Time will tell if the results of the last six games are coincidental or not, but at the moment, he’s handling Double-A pitching very well. We’ll see what happens when opponents have a book on him and make adjustments.

**Update- The Baysox won Tuesday morning’s game by a score of 2-0. McCoy went 1-2 with two walks, giving him a .462 batting average and 1.268 OPS**

As a side note, McCoy has now moved into the Baltimore Orioles’ Top-30 Prospect list, according to MLB Pipeline at #30.  More positives based on his performance.