Baltimore Orioles: Delmarva’s Adam Stauffer Is A Rising Star In Organization

Big things are happening in the lower minors of the Baltimore Orioles organization.  A recently promoted pitcher sees his star on the rise.

On Saturday, it was announced that Baltimore Orioles minor league pitcher Adam Stauffer had been promoted from the Aberdeen Ironbirds (A-Short) to the Delmarva Shorebirds (A-Low).  It was a well-deserved promotion for a pitcher who was dominating the New York-Penn League.

Stauffer was drafted in the 19th round (578th overall) of the 2017 MLB Draft out of Coatesville Area High School in Pennsylvania.  He began his professional career, like most high school pitchers do, in the Gulf Coast League in 2017 and returned there for the 2018 campaign.  In two seasons in the GCL, Stauffer produced a composite record of 2-2 with a 9.19 ERA over 15.2 total innings pitched (11 appearances) with 10 strikeouts, nine walks, and a 2.36 WHIP.

Assigned to Aberdeen for the 2019 season, Stauffer made five starts for the Ironbirds and pitched to a 2-1 record over a span of 25.1 innings with a 1.07 ERA, a 0.87 WHIP, 29 strikeouts, and 8 walks.

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With those numbers, the promotion to Delmarva was warranted.  Stauffer joins a Shorebirds pitching staff that includes Gray Fenter, Hector Guance, Grayson Rodriguez, Drew Rom and Nick Vespi.  He should be a welcome addition to Delmarva and will only make a strong staff even stronger.

Stauffer brings a 10.3 strikeout/9 IP rate and a 2.8 walk/9 IP rate to an already stout Delmarva pitching staff.  He also stranded more than 83% of New York-Penn batters who reached base on him.

Stauffer struck out 30% of the batters he faced while holding them to a .159 batting average.  Inducing ground balls on 45% of the balls put in play against him, he allowed a 40% fly-ball rate.  Keeping the ball on the ground is vital to any pitcher’s long-term success and Stauffer does that relatively well.

Stauffer earned the promotion to the South Atlantic League and I am eager to see how he performs against a higher level of minor league competition. In his first appearance since being promoted, Stauffer worked two relief innings for Delmarva, striking out four hitters across two innings while allowing no hits or walks.

Exciting things are happening in the lower levels of the Baltimore minor league system, Orioles fans, and it is time to take notice.  Stauffer’s star is on the rise and he may possibly knock on the door in Baltimore in the not too distant future.