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THE RUNDOWN: Tillman Shines, Davies Honored, Schoop to AAA?

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After sleepwalking through the first two months of the season, the Baltimore Orioles have woken up in the month of June and have reeled off 18 wins to get them back to first place in the American League East. The O’s continue their home stand tonight as the Texas Rangers are in town for the second of four. Before beating the O’s Monday night, the Rangers had lost seven of their last eight.

 

SCHOOP TO TRIPLE A?

This scenario is becoming more and more of a possibility, as the Orioles don’t have much roster flexibility. With the severe roster crunch, Dan Duquette isn’t going to let a player go for nothing and he won’t just give someone away in a trade either. Schoop has options and unfortunately, he could be the odd man out.

It’s crazy to even consider this, but Ryan Flaherty has played well in Schoop’s absence and the team doesn’t have many options right now until an injury or a trade is made. With the trade deadline at the end of July, teams will quickly become more desperate if they are still in playoff contention, so the O’s just have to be patient for a couple more weeks and they should finally be able to find possible suitors for a couple of their players.

 

TILLMAN SHINES AGAINST CLEVELAND

Chris Tillman continued his American League Central dominance as he pitched seven shutout innings to improve to 5-0 with a 1.03 ERA in his last six outings against the Central. The biggest Sunday last night was he didn’t allow a free pass. Tillman finally looked like the pitcher we have seen the last few seasons, commanding all of his pitches, though it started with his fastball command.

The O’s have turned their season around without Tillman so if he can look like the pitcher from years past, this team should continue to roll.

 

DAVIES NAMED TO FUTURES GAME

Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson have made an impact with the O’s at different times this season, hype still surrounds Hunter Harvey and Dylan Bundy and we know that Kevin Gausman will be a fixture to the rotation for years to come starting next season, but the one guy that doesn’t get any attention is right-handed pitcher Zach Davies. The 22-year-old was drafted in the 26th round of the 2011 draft and has pitched to a 2.94 ERA in 14 games for Triple-A Norfolk. Davies also has a very impressive 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Davies is getting recognition from the baseball world as he will represent the Orioles in the Futures Game that will be played during the All-Star break. It’s only a matter of time before we see Davies in the big leagues, but he is definitely a player fans should keep an eye on.

[Related: Injuries, Odd Handling Again Cast Doubts on O’s Pitching Development]

One other minor league note: MASN’s Steve Melewski is reporting that former 2009 first round draft pick Matt Hobgood will have season-ending shoulder surgery. Another tough blow for the right-hander and he will be a minor league free agent at the end of the season so he may have pitched for the last time for the Orioles organization. Hobgood has battled injuries his entire career, but it looked like he could make the transition into a reliever and eventually help the big league club, but more injuries have derailed his career. It’s always tough seeing young players never live up to their potential due to injuries and Hobgood is once again facing a long road to eventually pitch in the majors.

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