Introducing: The Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Formally inducting the latest Shorebird of the Month to make The Show.
On August 13, the nearly inevitable happened: after being placed on the 40-man roster in the 2021 postseason, DL Hall made it to the majors and was given the start against the Tampa Bay Rays down at the Trop. Ironically, it would be the only start he made at the major league level in 2022, but he made several more appearances down the stretch in relief for the surprisingly competitive Orioles. But the prospective advancement of Grayson Rodriguez didn’t occur because of injury, pushing his likely debut to 2023.
It’s been eight years since I’ve had a one-person Hall of Fame class, but this may become more of a trend in the future as the transition from Shorebirds of the Week to Shorebirds of the Month is now about complete. Most of the non-Hall of Fame Shorebirds of the Week are now hanging on within the ranks of independent baseball, and the cadre of the later Shorebirds of the Month have been thinned by changes in the minor league operation. (Losing the 2020 season entirely didn’t help, either.)
Besides the uber-prospect Rodriguez, the most obvious candidates for the Class of 2023 are the two other former Shorebird Pitchers of the Month added to the 40-man roster last month: Noah Denoyer (selected in 2021) and Drew Rom (picked in 2019.) There are also a few former Shorebirds of the Month who were at the AAA level at the end of last season, either with the Orioles or elsewhere: Mason McCoy from 2018 (in the Seattle organization), and 2019’s Cadyn Grenier and Robert Neustrom (both at Norfolk). None of them, though, are considered hot prospects. The dark horse among the prospects is Coby Mayo, who was here at the end of 2021 but has rapidly advanced through the system.
Looking back, I’m a bit disappointed that my 2019 crop - you know, the one that went 90-48 as Shorebirds - hasn’t panned out as well as I thought they might. Three of the ten are already out of baseball, while a few others haven’t seemed to thrive beyond the low minors and have set themselves up as career AAA players at best. There’s a real possibility that Rodriguez may be the only 2019 Shorebird on my list to make it; perhaps Rom will eventually make it a pair.
That leaves a total of 20 players who are the representatives of 2021 and 2022. We’ve already lost one from 2021 and it wouldn’t surprise me if another three or four out of the group aren’t let go by the time next season begins as the Orioles’ minor leagues are really competitive now. I suppose I need one more season to determine my take on the SotWHoF viability of guys like Darell Hernaiz, Jean Pinto, Frederick Bencosme, Reed Trimble, or Luis Valdez. Henceforth the only eligible players each season will be my Position Player and Pitcher of the Year, and these players have a mixed record of success from past years - it took over a decade for a Shorebird of the Year to make the Hall of Fame (2014’s Chance Sisco) but since then four consecutive have made it (Sisco, John Means, Yermin Mercedes, and Alex Wells.) Thanks to injury and bad luck, though, 2018’s Brenan Hanifee may end that streak. I hold little confidence in Adam Hall (2019) and the jury’s still out on 2021 and 2022 winners Darell Hernaiz and Luis Valdez, respectively.
Unlike my monoblogue days, I didn’t take my Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame post offline while I fixed it, but it really only took two evenings of editing to update so no big deal.
One difference in having this as a post is that I may keep this updated more often insofar as player movement is concerned, but we will see. Regardless, let’s formally welcome DL Hall to the Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame.