O's minor leaguers in '08 -- Left fielders
There’s no question that the best left fielder in the Orioles’ minor league system in 2008 was Lou Montanez. The 26-year-old outfielder won the Triple Crown in the Eastern League – and he accomplished the feat despite being in the major leagues for the final three weeks of the minor league season.
Since being promoted to the Orioles in early August, Montanez has batted .299 with three home runs, 14 RBIs and 18 runs scored in 36 games. While he’s still learning how to play defensively in left field, it looks like Montanez will play a role in the future of the organization.
The Chicago Cubs originally drafted Montanez as a shortstop out of high school in the 2000 MLB draft. He had a .282 career batting average with 85 home runs and 495 RBIs in nine minor league seasons before getting an opportunity to play in the major leagues.
Montanez batted .335 with 26 home runs and 97 RBIs in 116 games for the Bowie Baysox. He had 32 doubles, five triples and scored 90 runs. Montanez committed four errors and had eight outfield assists for the Baysox this season.
Although Montanez stole most of the spotlight at the position, a couple of players with major league experience had solid seasons in left field for the Norfolk Tides.
Luis Terrero, who played for the Orioles in 2006, batted .274 with 13 home runs and 88 RBIs for the Tides. Tike Redman, who was a member of the Orioles last season, hit .292 with 13 stolen bases and 77 runs scored in 116 games for Norfolk.
I don’t think there will be any disagreement over the first player in my list of left fielders, but how do you think the others should be ranked? Here’s how I’d order the left fielders in the Orioles’ minor league system based on this season’s statistics:
1. Lou Montanez
2. Luis Terrero
3. Tike Redman
4. Robbie Widlansky
5. Chris Amador
Prior to this year, Montanez had his best season in 2005 when he hit .293 with 14 home runs and 62 RBIs while splitting time between the Single-A Peoria Chiefs and the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.
Terrero finished tied for third in the International League in RBIs and finished tied with Oscar Salazar for the most home runs on the team. He also had the most triples (eight) for Norfolk and trailed only Salazar in doubles (31).
Redman had 19 doubles and 36 RBIs for Norfolk. It’s unlikely that the 31-year-old outfielder will make a significant impact in the major leagues, but he deserves credit for putting together a solid season for the Tides. Redman split time between left field, center field and designated hitter in 2008. He played the most games (57) in left field, so that’s why I listed him in this set of rankings.
Widlansky played well for the Aberdeen IronBirds this season, but the 23-year-old outfielder struggled in 12 games with the Delmarva Shorebirds. Widlansky, who was selected by the Orioles in the 11th round of the 2007 draft, batted .279 with four home runs, 10 doubles and 29 RBIs in 43 games for Aberdeen. He only hit .222 with three doubles and two RBIs for Delmarva.
Amador, who the Orioles acquired from the Chicago Cubs during the 2007 season, batted .241 with nine home runs and 62 RBIs in 112 games for the Frederick Keys. He had 21 doubles and 15 stolen bases, which helped him to edge out Delmarva left fielder Kieron Pope in my rankings. Pope batted .232 with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs in 107 games for the Shorebirds.
Categories: O's minor leaguers in '08
Comments
Unfortunately, not much there to rely on, like most of your position reports, as Lou figures to be a 4th OFer, a Jay Peyton type.
Still lots of work to be done to improve most areas with real prospects, not career minor leaguers. But left looks a lot better once you move Reimold over from right.
Posted by: daydreamer | September 26, 2008 6:44 AM
Why do you keep posting this stuff? Its depressing! This organization is at least 4 years away from finishing higher than last place. A decade of bad drafting followed by gut wrenchingly stupid draft day decisions has set the to the point where you have actually ranked a 26 year old career minor leaguer as the #1 ranked left fielder in the entire organization. Thats sad. And whats worse is that there is a HUGE chasm of talent (i.e., a HUGE dropoff) between #1 and #2.
Posted by: Eric | September 26, 2008 4:56 PM
Even though he was 26 this year (which we haven't figured out why he was at Delmarva), Joe Nowicki crushed the ball and showed some superior defense with the Shorebirds. Terrero and Redman probally should not be on this list since they really aren't prospects anymore and have seen a good amount of time in the Bigs.
Posted by: Glassman | September 26, 2008 5:56 PM
Regarding daydreamer's post, my sentiments exactly! MacPhail's got his work cut out for him. It is very depressing to think about the state of the O's minor league system, especially when remembering back to the 60s and 70s when it was THE model for other teams to follow.
Posted by: Mike Kucharski | September 26, 2008 6:09 PM
Nowicki has indeed crushed the ball this past season and alot have wondered why he was with Delmarva, but he has not reached 26 yet. He will turn 26 in November. It seems the O's are slow to move anyone at any level.
Posted by: Franco | September 26, 2008 10:44 PM
what are Nowicki's stats?
Posted by: gordon schwartz | September 27, 2008 8:56 AM
batting avg. .276
runs scored 74
hits 136
doubles 36
triples 6
homeruns 19
rbi's 78
total bases 241
walks 46
strikeout's 142
stolen bases 14
slugging % .490
on base % .345
ops .835
player of the week in June
All Star SAL
The thing he needs to do is figure out how to have fewer strikeout's.
Posted by: Franco | September 27, 2008 2:48 PM
Sad after Montanez, I think a future left fielder/s for the O's from the minors are Snyder and/or Reimold.
Your list is another reminder of how few good position players there are in the minors. I am puzzled at Nowicki staying at DelMarva considering his stats and age, another 30 yr old rookie?
Posted by: Steve H | September 27, 2008 8:21 PM