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Baltimore Orioles: Ryan Mountcastle Closes In On Two Norfolk Records

By Nick Stevens|
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 29: Fans enter the ballpark before the Minnesota Twins play the Baltimore Orioles in their Open Day game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on March 29, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 29: Fans enter the ballpark before the Minnesota Twins play the Baltimore Orioles in their Open Day game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on March 29, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Baltimore Orioles prospect Ryan Mountcastle is wrapping up a successful season in Triple-A and closing in on two Norfolk Tides records.

Many questions have surrounded Baltimore Orioles prospect Ryan Mountcastle since he became a first-round pick back in 2015, but the bat hasn’t been one of them. A career .294 hitter across 509 minor league games, Mountcastle has remained steady at the plate, while switching positions numerous times as the organization tries to find a home for their fourth-ranked prospect, 68th in all of baseball.

Now wrapping up his first full season in Triple-A with the Norfolk Tides, Mountcastle is closing in on two Norfolk records and finds himself in the conversation for winning the International League’s Player of the Year Award.

As pointed out by @TidesNotes on Twitter, Mountcastle is approaching the single-season record for both hits and home runs in a season by a Norfolk Tides player. It will take a hot stretch of games to end the season, after a full season of swinging a hot stick, but both records are in reach.

As of Sunday, August 18th, Mountcastle has 143 total hits and 21 home runs (.312/.341/.517 slash along with 29 doubles, and 71 runs driven in).

The franchise record is 170, set in 1987 by Kevin Elster. The Tides were the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets at this time and Elster was a second-round pick of New York in 1894. He eventually played in 940 major league games across 13 seasons with six different franchises. Elster last played in 2000 with the Dodgers, hitting .227 with 14 home runs.

With 16 games remaining in the 2019 season, Mountcastle needs 27 hits to tie the record. He needs just five home runs to tie the franchise record for home runs in single season, a record currently held by Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez hit 26 back in 2017.

His impressive season has to put him in the conversation for the International League Player of the Year Award. The last time a Norfolk Tides player took home this honor was 1997 when Roberto Petagine won his first of back-to-back honors (also won the award in 1998 as a member of the Indianapolis Indians, an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds at the time).

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The last Orioles player to win this award was Jeff Manto in 1994. Manto played the majority of the ’94 season with the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate Rochester Red Wings and ended the year with the Norfolk Tides (Mets affiliate at the time). A small, but weird fact.

Other Baltimore Orioles minor leaguers to win the award include Craig Worthington (1998), Rich Dauer (1976), Jim Fuller (1973), Bobby Grich (1971), Roger Freed (1970), Merv Rettenmund (1968), and Mike Epstein (1966).

At just 22 years of age and nearly five years younger than the average hitter in the International League, Mountcastle has been a consistent force in the IL and a bright spot on a Norfolk Tides team currently sitting at 51-70, the worst record in the league by one game. Like the franchise hit record, Player of the Year honors may also be a slight stretch, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Mountcastle has been one of the more exciting players in the entire Baltimore Orioles organization to watch this season.

You can’t talk about Ryan Mountcastle without talking about the possibility of a September call-up to the big leagues. I’m sticking with my prediction the last time I wrote about this topic- Mountcastle is added to the active roster, but doesn’t see more than a handful of at-bats. Even if the Orioles decide to go ahead and shut him down after the minor league season ends on September 2nd, he will have to be added to the 40-man roster ahead of December’s Rule-5 draft.

The 25-man roster is up in the air, but there’s no question about the 40-man addition. Get ready, O’s fans, Ryan Mountcastle is coming.

Norfolk wraps up their weekend series in Syracuse on Sunday afternoon before ending the season with eight games against the Gwinett Stripers (Atlanta Braves affiliate) and seven against the Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox affiliate)

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