With The Aegis sports frontman Randall L. McRoberts out of the office all this week, it falls to his faithful reporter to come up with a Wednesday column in the boss's absence, so I'm just going to pick up where I left off on Friday, and continue my streak of IronBirds' columns, by going over some information and statistics that have piqued my interest. As this is going to be a busy week, I'm writing this on Monday afternoon, before I head off to Ripken Stadium to cover Aberdeen's final home game of the week, and the stats I include take into account only those games played through Sunday. Here we go.
Howard gets some much deserved recognition: As I mentioned in Friday's column, Aberdeen pitcher Trent Howard has been throwing very well lately, and he's a heck of a guy to interview, one of those players who answers all four of your questions with his response to your first. On Sunday, Howard tossed five innings during Aberdeen's 1-0 loss to Mahoning Valley, striking out six, walking one and surrendering just two hits in a no decision, and that performance earned the southpaw the New York-Penn League's Pitcher of the Week honors. The Orioles' seventh-round pick in the 2011 MLB draft, Howard has had three straight quality starts, putting up 16 straight scoreless innings and posting a strikeout-to-walk rate of 4.75 over that stretch. In a season that has been so lacking in high points, Howard being recognized by the league is a real feather in the IronBirds' caps (bird pun!).
Cowan still winless despite fine outings: One spot ahead of Howard in the 'Birds starting rotation is Jake Cowan, Baltimore's 10th round selection of the 2009 draft, and though he's had some very nice mound appearances, he has yet to put a check in the win column, which is an injustice if you ask me. In his last two starts, Cowan has thrown 12 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and striking out twice as many batters as he faced, but he was saddled with no-decisions in both appearances. For the 2011 season, the right hander from Roswell, Ga., is leading the league with 48 strikeouts, two more than teammate Parker Bridwell's third-place mark of 46, and he's held opposing hitters to a .207 batting average. My guess is, it's only a matter of time before Cowan earns that first victory.
Clobbered in the eighth: I know that I've pointed out how badly the IronBirds are getting outscored in the late innings, but it should be noted that, including Saturday and Sunday's losses, Aberdeen has allowed 33 eighth-inning runs, and have scored just nine. That's a ratio of nearly 4-1, and it's not something a ballclub can continue with if it wants to win many games.
Plenty of top-10 picks: I'm hurrying to wrap this column up, because Aberdeen's starting pitcher for the Monday match-up was supposed to be Matt Hobgood, the 2009 first-round draft pick who is with the IronBirds on a rehab assignment, and I haven't been lucky enough to see him pitch yet. Including Hobgood, the IronBirds have a load of top-10 picks on their roster right now. Excluding Howard and Cowan, who I've already mentioned, there's outfielder Mychal Givens (second round 2009); infielder Connor Narron (fifth round 2010); catcher Wynston Sawyer (eighth round 2010); pitcher Ryan Berry (ninth round 2009); pitcher Brandon Erbe (third round 2005); pitcher Devin Jones (ninth round 2011); pitcher Kyle Simon (fourth round 2011); pitcher Matt Taylor (fifth round 2011); pitcher Mike Wright (third round 2011).