Dylan Bundy- The Killer of Single-A Baseball
Friday night, summer time, beautiful weather, baseball, a home game for the Short-Season Single-A Aberdeen Ironbirds, what more could a fan want? Oh yeah, did I mention the top pitching prospect in the Orioles organization was starting the game, which just so happened to be exactly one year after he had Tommy John Surgery? Friday night, that is what fans got; Dylan Bundy started for the Aberdeen Ironbirds and continued his domination of Low-A minor league baseball.
Friday night, Bundy threw five innings of three-hit shutout ball. Bundy also struck out seven and walked two batters. As mentioned, Friday’s date marked the one-year anniversary of Bundy having Tommy John Surgery but more importantly Friday was his third rehab start of the season. Needless to say, Bundy is right on schedule.
In three starts, Bundy now has an ERA 0.60, 0.87 WHIP, and 22 strikeouts in 15 innings of work. The Orioles have not announced where Bundy’s next rehab start will be. The Orioles want Bundy to stay in Maryland to easily monitor his progression.
Aberdeen will be going on a three-game road trip so that rules them out. The Bowie Baysox are also going on the road so the most logical place for Bundy to make his next start would be Fredrick. The Fredrick Keys will start a three-game home series on Monday with Bundy’s next scheduled start being Wednesday.
Full recovery from Tommy John Surgery should take about 10-12 months, something Bundy has already surpassed. Now the Orioles will take rehabbing as slowly as possible. With Bundy being their top pitching prospect, the Orioles do not want to take any chances of Bundy reinjuring his arm.
Many credible writers and experts are saying a September return date could be possible. If that is the case, will the Orioles handle Bundy like they handled Gausman last season? No one will know until the time comes. In the meantime however, Bundy needs to continue his dominating performances in rehab starts and work his way up to full strength again.
