Delmarva Shorebirds Weekly Roundup: April 5th 2018-April 13th 2018
The Delmarva Shorebirds are having a historic start to the 2018 season. They are currently first in the South Atlantic League at 8-1, which is their best start since their inaugural year (1997). The Shorebirds opened up the 2018 campaign with dominant sweeps against both the Ashville Tourists and Hickory Crawdads, before dropping the series opener at the Lakewood Blue Claws. Pitching has been lights out and the bats are already on fire.Vs. Ashville Tourists (4/5-4/8)
April 5th- W (2-0) WP: Michael Baumann
April 6th- W (6-5) WP: Cameron Bishop
April 7th- W (18-3) WP: Matthias Dietz
April 8th- W (14-9) WP: Brenan Hanifee
The Shorebirds were lights out against the Tourists, with every starter throwing at least five innings, and not allowing more than three runs. The bats were alive as well, hitting four home runs in the series(Jean Carrillo, Seamus Curran, Will Robertson, and Zach Jarrett) and going 20-48 with runners in scoring position (RISP).
Vs. Hickory Crawdads (4/9-4/11)
April 9th- W (1-0) WP: Zac Lowther
April 10th- W (4-2) WP: Gray Fenter
April 11th- W (5-1) WP: Michael Baumann
Lowther and Baumann both threw six solid innings, while starter DL Hall, Fenter, and Travis Seabrooke all threw three innings in the April 10th win. The bats cooled off a bit against the Crawdads, as the Shorebirds only had one home run in the series, as Kirvin Moesquit had an inside the park homer in the series finale. Aside from Moesquit’s homer, the offense was lackluster, going a measly 5-20 with runners in scoring position.
At Lakewood Blue Claws (4/12-4/15)
April 12th- L (2-0) LP: Cameron Bishop
April 13th- W (5-1) WP: Matthias Dietz
April 14th- TBD: Brenan Hanifee to start
April 15th- TBD: DL Hall to start
Bishop threw seven solid innings, striking out six and allowing two runs, but the bats went silent as the Shorebirds dropped their first game of the season. However the Birds bounced back the following night as Zach Jarrett hit his second home run of the year and Dietz had a great night on the mound, striking out seven and allowing only one run in six innings.
The Shorebirds are currently 6-17 with runners in scoring position and look to keep that kind of production up in the final two games of the series before heading out to Hagerstown to face the 2-7 Suns.
Players of the Week
Pitcher of the week: Michael Baumann
Baumann has had a dominant start to this season, going 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 19 strikeouts in only 11 innings pitched.
Baumann, a third round pick in last year’s MLB Draft, started the season ranked as the Orioles’ 14th ranked prospect because of his 1.31 ERA and striking out on average one batter per inning last season in Short A Aberdeen.
Hitter of the week: Kirvin Moesquit
Moesquit has been a force at the plate and on the base paths to start the season. He currently has a .364 batting average (12-33), a .417 on base percentage, .485 slugging percentage, and a .902 on base plus slugging percentage. Moesquit, the Shorebirds’ leadoff hitter, has one double, one home run (inside the park), and four RBIs so far this season, while only striking out six times. He is also six for seven on stolen base attempts.
Moesquit was a 24th round draft pick by the Orioles in 2015 and is in his first season with the Shorebirds. He spent majority of the past three seasons in Aberdeen, with a small stint with the GCL Orioles.
He is currently not one of the Orioles’ top 50 prospects, but if this kind of production keeps up, Moesquit will surely rise up the charts.
