A midseason review: who are the Shorebirds?
I was wondering just how many I got correct, and halfway home is a good time to check.
You probably remember I did this post back in March:
Who will be the Shorebirds? 2025 edition
Once again I’m doing this without a net since I did not see a minor league spring training roster. (Plus I missed this last season because of other business.) I may be again overstating the number of returnees coming back this s…
Back then I picked 17 pitchers and 13 position players who I believed would be here for Opening Day. Now that we have half the season under our belt, most of those guys have arrived and a few have departed.
Starting/bulk pitchers (7)
Keeler Morfe: started with the Shorebirds but has been on the injured list since April after a terrible first few weeks - walking 12 guys in 2 innings of work is a good definition of terrible. May end up rehabbing in Florida to start the second half.
Chase Allsup: has been with Delmarva all season but is strugging with an ERA of about 7.
Yeiber Cartaya: got off to a slow start with the Shorebirds but recovered to be the Carolina League pitcher of the week earlier this month. A serious candidate for promotion in the next few weeks, he pitched five innings in the day game yesterday and gave up one unearned run.
Jack Crowder: debuted in May with 5 shutout innings but has struggled since, with a high ERA of nearly a run per inning.
Eccel Correa: started with Delmarva but was promoted to Aberdeen a month ago and did so well he’s now at AA Chesapeake.
Sebastian Gongora: came aboard a few weeks into the season and did well enough to be promoted to Aberdeen in early June.
Carson Dorsey: has been on the IL all season with Aberdeen.
So 6 out of 7 have been here (4 on Opening Day), with two already promoted. All six have started at least one game, and collectively have made about half the starts for Delmarva.
Relief pitchers (10)
Eddy Alberto: will miss the season with an injury.
Bryan Bautista: has spent all season with the Shorebirds. Tied for the team lead with 3 wins, but has allowed almost an earned run an inning.
Michael Caldon: Activated a few days into the season, but has pitched well as a starter and bulk pitcher, with an ERA under 3 as of this writing.
Brandon Downer: has been on the IL all season at the FCL level.
Simon Leandro: Leads the team with 3 saves despite a high ERA near 6.
Kenny Leiner: Has spent the season with Delmarva as a short reliever, with an ERA just worse than the league average.
Andres Parra: has been on the IL all season at the FCL level.
Christian Rodriguez: Another pitcher who’s been on the IL all season.
Carter Rustad: was here for a few dominant appearances before being promoted to Aberdeen, where he’s done reasonably well.
Luis Sanchez: yet another pitcher who is on the 60-day IL.
The injury bug has seemed to hit this group of ten hard, as half of them haven’t pitched yet this season and one won’t for sure. One of them has already been promoted. 4 of the 10 were here for Opening Day.
As for those on reserve, Jacob Cravey and Evan Yates have been solid starters for the Shorebirds this season (both would be good promotion candidates) while Joe Glassey started the season here before being injured in April.
Catchers (3)
As my friend the Shorebird season ticket holder Karl noticed, all three of these catchers were indeed on the Opening Day roster. But their seasons have gone in different directions.
Yasmil Bucce: some third-stringer. Instead he’s currently the Triple Crown leader on the team with a slash line of .286/6/35/.879 OPS as of Tuesday. If he’s here long enough to qualify Yasmil’s the odds-on favorite for Shorebird Position Player of the Year.
Andres Nolaya: he’s been more or less the third-stringer, and it shows as he’s only been in about half the games so far. While it’s been inching up, he’s still lugging an average below the Mendoza Line.
Miguel Rodriguez: I had pegged him to be the everyday catcher, but a mid-April injury took care of that. He may be able to go on rehab soon from the 60-day IL.
Infielders (5)
Edwin Amparo: He’s been the steady backup infielder for the Shorebirds until going on the IL last week. But the numbers haven’t justified the predicted promotion to Aberdeen.
Edrei Campos: A lost season became his last season, as he placed himself on the voluntarily retired list earlier this week after spending the season here.
Anderson De Los Santos: A whiff on my part, as he’s been with Aberdeen all season. Although .214 in 54 games isn’t exactly burning up the SAL, it is better than he hit here in 2024.
Steven Ondina: Got off to a slow start with the Shorebirds and has been on the shelf since late April with an injury.
Angel Tejada: While he’s been with Aberdeen all season as well, his performance (just .130 in 30 games) may bring him back here soon.
Just 3 of 5 were here for Opening Day, and currently none are on the Shorebirds’ active roster.
As for my reserves, Luis Almeyda and Joshua Liranzo just joined the Shorebirds last week when Amparo went down, while Christian Benavides has apparently been released. Two out of three ain’t bad?
Outfielders (5)
Elis Cuevas: Wasn’t activated until May but has been on the Shorebirds since. He’s putting up reasonable numbers that may merit a promotion by season’s end.
Kevin Guerrero: Starting with Opening Day he’s also in that bucket of perhaps deserving a promotion based on his improvement from 2024. KG is among the team offensive leaders right now.
Thomas Sosa: I lucked into this one - Sosa has been on the Aberdeen roster most of the season but just this week began a rehab stint with the Shorebirds so I guess that counts, right? He only went 4-for-14 in 4 games up north before landing on the IL, so this may be a lengthy rehab stint to get his timing back after two months out.
Braylin Tavera: The big numbers aren’t quite there yet (a .210 average in 56 games) but considering he had a hard time getting to the Mendoza Line over the first month and a half beginning Opening Day, we’ll take it.
Colin Tuft: Another player who arrived late to start his season, as he didn’t start until mid-May.
While just one of the five was on the Opening Day roster, all five have played for Delmarva this season.
As for the reserves, Fernando Peguero made the team and has become well-traveled, playing as high as Norfolk this season (where he recently hit a three-run walkoff homer and was rewarded with a demotion back here) while two of them are playing well in Florida (Stiven Martinez and Jordan Sanchez.)
On the other hand, somehow I missed the releases of both Yirbir Ruiz and Luis Vicioso prior to doing my initial list, so they won’t be joining us.
I had 17 of the 30 properly pegged for Opening Day, but now 22 of the 30 have played here. Of the other 8, two have been with Aberdeen all season and the other 6 have been on the injured list. Six of 11 “reserves” have made it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the other two who haven’t been released make it by season’s end.
I’d say I did fairly successful - how about you? Hopefully we’ll have a few more head Aberdeen way before the season is over.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now. You can also like and restack this piece so others can enjoy it.
Schwartz, great job in your predictions. On opening day you had roughly over half correct, and I had like 30%. Of other predictions on the internet (orioleshangout, orioles on the verge) you had better predictions...