Last year, the Orioles promoted some of their top minor league talent, including Nick Markakis, who hit 14 homers after the all star break, and Chris Ray, who emerged as a successful replacement for the departed BJ Ryan. The Orioles also had another successfull draft, adding a lot of potentially great players including....
Orginizational MVP: Bill Rowell, SS, Aberdeen IronBirds (Short Season)
There is some discrepancy as to what position Rowell will ultimately end up playing (minorleaguebaseball.com has him listed as a shortstop while Baseball America has him at third base) but one thing can be agreed upon: Baltimore's 2006 First Round pick out of Bishop Eustace Prep School is a bigtime talent. With pop from the left side, Rowell is a bigtime talent. While he struck out 59 times in just 195 at bats at short season Aberdeen, he still managed to get on base over 40% of the time. Expect Rowell to spend the entire year at some combination of Delmarva and Frederick.
Orginizational Pitcher of the Year: Radhames Liz, Bowie Baysox (AA)
Let's start this off with maybe the scariest fact I've ever heard about a pitcher: When Liz would throw sometimes, scouts and managers and players alike would hear a popping sound coming from Liz. Naturally they were afraid that there were problems with his elbow, so they had doctors look at it. When doctors could find nothing that would be creating a popping sound, it was determined that the sound was from Liz's fingers snapping into his wrist after releasing the ball. That should give you some idea of the velocity he has. He has some control issues, as evidenced by his 31 walks in 50.1 IP at Bowie last year, but expect a promotion to AAA this year, and more gaudy strikeout numbers.
Affiliate of the Year: Frederick Keys (A Adv.)
The Keys feature Nolan Reimold, the Orioles' #2 prospect, and although he might earn a promotion to AA, I'm banking on Rowell getting at least some time in Frederick. Frederick also features former Miami star Paco Figueroa, who had a .737 OPS last year, pretty good for a second baseman.
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