Promises for the Future: MLB Debuts

With the Baltimore Orioles struggling early in this season, they have turned to an unlikely candidate to spark their resurgence.  With injuries nagging several starters including Bud Norris and Chris Tillman, Mike Wright has been selected as the starter for Sunday, May 17th, to face up against the the Angels.  The Orioles have tapped their farm system in the past to success.  In 2012, the call up of Manny Machado to the active roster in August sparked them to their first playoff trip since 1997.  However, I remember another player that I thought was going to shift the dynamic in Baltimore.

In 2005, the Orioles selected the contract of Hayden Penn to make a spot start on May 28.  Coming into the season, Penn was the #2 prospect in the Orioles organization and was ranked in the Top 100 for Baseball America.  With his call up and the promise of Adam Loewen as the top prospect in the organization, I knew that the dark times would be leaving Baltimore and winning baseball would be returning.

It was also the point in my life that a player entering into MLB was the same age as myself.  It was destiny.  My essence of fandom would be harnessed by this generation of Orioles player into their skill set in order to achieve domination.  I quickly rushed to purchase my tickets to the game in order to support him and this new era of Orioles baseball.

I was rewarded with a start of 4.2 IP (101 pitches) with five hits, four walks, three runs, and four strikeouts.  That’s alright I thought because he had worked out his jitters during his first start.  Of course, he then went on to finish his 2005 season eight starts yielding a 6.34 ERA, 4.23 K/9, and 4.63 BB/9.  My hopes of a resurgence of the Orioles was dashed with the failure by Hayden Penn and the rest of the Baltimore Orioles.  There would be no Calvary here or for years to come to save me from these dark times.

And now we return to the present.  The Orioles are on the cusp of entering into territory for wins below .500 for the first time since the Dark Ages in 2011.  We once again turn all of our hopes to an MLB debut of the 8th best prospect in the O’s organization coming into the year.  With a fastball near 92 to 94 with a relative weak secondary pitch selection, history looks like it is repeating itself once again.  Hopefully this time, fate will throw us a decent curveball (with Kevin Gausman taking notes) and we buck the odds.