This just in: Catcher Matt Wieters for the Baltimore Orioles is making his debut today at 7:05 pm eastern time at home against the Detroit Tigers.Coming into the season Wieters was voted the #1 prospect by Baseball America. This will be Wieters first regular season game in the majors, he was called up from Triple A Norfolk after batting .305 with a .387 on base percentage, a .504 slugging percentage along with 5 home runs and 30 RBI. Many people are comparing the 6 foot 5 inch, 230 pound switch hitting catcher to the Minnesota Twins backstop Joe Mauer. Wieters, who is 23 years old, is being added to a batting lineup that boasts some very good, very young hitters.
The average age of the starting 8 Oriole position players as well as the designated hitter is 28.3 years old. Consider third baseman Melvin Mora is 37 years old himself, and that really shows how young this lineup is. Just the starting outfield which includes Adam Jones (23), Nick Markakis (25) and Nolan Reimold (25) are putting up some eye popping stats.
Jones is batting .357 with 11 home runs, 36 RBI and 40 runs scored while playing very good defense in centerfield. Nick Markakis (.297 average, 7 home runs, 39 RBI) is continuing the solid season he had last year when he hit .306 with 20 home runs and 87 RBI. Newcomer Reimold has played in only 14 games in the major leagues and is showing some serious power, 5 of his 14 hits have been home runs. You can add the 30 year Luke Scott who is the designated hitter to the mix as well, in just 31 games this season Scott is batting .318 with 8 home runs and 22 RBI.
Also add into the mix 31 year old second baseman Brian Roberts who is batting .306 and leading the team in runs scored with 42, along with the 32 year old Aubrey Huff (.273 average, 8 home runs and 38 RBI) who plays first base, and this is an offense heavy lineup.
The batters box isn't the only place to find youth on this team, the starting pitchers are not long in the tooth themselves. Three of the starters are under the age of 25. David Hernandez (24), made his major league debut yesterday with 5 2/3 innings allowing 5 hits and only 1 run in the victory. 26 year old Jason Berken debuted on May 26th against Toronto and got the win after going 5 innings allowing 7 hits and 2 runs. And 23 year old Brad Bergesen debuted back in April and is 1-2 with a 5.49 ERA in 7 starts.
With all these young players, the Orioles will be pushing for the postseason in the not to distant future after not making the playoffs since 1997. It would be tough for them to make it this year in the very competitive American League East but they will certainly be a factor in the coming years if they can keep this team together.
Good luck to Matt Wieters, he's got a big job ahead of him, what with handling a very young pitching staff and getting himself acclimated to major league pitching.
If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.
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