Ripken Stadium, home of the Short-Season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds, is only 10-15 minutes away from my house, so my dad and I have a nine-game plan every season. It’s always a great time at the park — very mellow. A lot of families are at the park, but my dad and I are there because we love baseball and it’s easy to get to. The season is a little less than three months, and it’s interesting to see the progression of the players (yes, Orioles’ minor leaguers do progress in some cases) and the quality of the game (the game becomes much crisper as the season goes along).
On Monday night, the IronBirds were playing the Staten Island Yankees (my dad and I actually stumbled across Staten Island’s stadium when we were visiting New York last summer — it’s a very neat park located right on the Hudson River with the Statue of Liberty visible beyond the centerfield wall.) Aberdeen won, 6-0, and its starter, Tim Adleman, threw seven no-hit innings. I took some photos, the best of which I posted below.
(EDIT: Don’t click on the photos because it’ll redirect you to Facebook. Uploading the photos onto Facebook and then copy and pasting them onto the site from there is the easiest way for me to get the photos on the site. Unfortunately, that means clicking on the photos sends you to Facebook, but whatever.)
Below is 21-year-old center fielder and leadoff man Trent Mummey, drafted in the fourth round out of Auburn this past June. I really like this kid. Terrific contact hitter with some pop in his bat, and he plays a nice centerfield. He’s clearly outclassing the New York-Penn League and should be called up to Delmarva by the end of the year. He’s currently hitting .285/.364/.465.
Below is 22-year-old left fielder Kipp Schutz, drafted in the 19th round out of Indiana University in 2009. He’s another hitter who’s outclassing the league and should see time in Delmarva this year. He’s hitting .347/.390/.500.
Below is Kyle Roller of Staten Island. Remember Kyle Boller? Roller…Boller…
The two photos below are of Adleman, a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher drafted by the Orioles in the 24th round of this year’s draft out of Georgetown. He was the first pitcher to ever throw a pitch off the Citi Field mound (the inaugural game at Citi Field was St. John’s vs. Georgetown.) Adleman was very impressive on Monday night, tossing seven no-hit innings (although a sharply hit one-hopper to the shortstop in the seventh inning was generously scored an error.) He struck out six, walked just one batter, and induced a lot of weak ground balls. I loved what I saw. In 42.2 innings for Aberdeen (eight starts), Adleman has given up 31 hits (two homers) and 14 walks, with a 2.74 ERA. He’s another player who I think will see time at Delmarva before the year is out.
The view from my seats are below. Adleman’s on the mound.
Below is proof of the seven no-hit innings. Adleman left the game after that and right-handed reliever T.R. Keating gave up a hit in the eighth inning, but preserved the shutout. Adleman and Keating combined on a one-hitter.
