Errors among pitchers an aberration, Showalter says
O’s hit college ranks hard in MLB draft
TORONTO — Orioles pitchers always spend their first days of spring training concentrating on fielding practice, and manager Buck Showalter expects them to hold their own defensively.
That pitchers have committed 10 of the team’s 36 errors (27.8 percent) this season is baffling to Showalter. By comparison, Orioles pitchers committed 10 errors all last season.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman’s errant pickoff throw to first base in the first inning of the Orioles’ 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night led to an unearned run, critical in a game decided by one run.
Five of the 10 errors have come on pickoff throws to first base. Four have come on errant throws on batted balls in front of the mound.
“You know how much we work on that during spring training?” Showalter said. “I think if you’re good at something, sooner or later, it will show up . ... Pitchers’ defense is very important. It should be a strength of ours, and it should be before it’s all over.”
Three of the five starters have multiple errors. Tyler Wilson has three, and Ubaldo Jimenez and Gausman each have two.
“We work on it all the time,” Showalter said. “It’s like I told Tyler yesterday in the outfield, ‘You ever had something you’re really good at, and just in a short stretch, you’re bad at it and you wonder if everyone thinks you’re that bad?’ He said, ‘Yeah, right now.’ Tyler’s a really good fielder. I think maybe it’s a little anxiety more than anything.” Draft complete: The Orioles completed the three-day Major League Baseball draft Saturday with 41 selections. They focused on the mound, drafting 27 pitchers (15 right-handed, 12 left-handed), and went light on high school prospects, drafting 31 college players and just 10 out of high school.
The Orioles took five outfielders, four third basemen, two shortstops, two second basemen and one first baseman.
Perhaps the biggest name the Orioles picked on the final day was 13th-rounder Brandon Bonilla, a 6-foot-4 left-handed reliever and the son of former Oriole Bobby Bonilla.
It marks the third time Brandon Bonilla has been drafted, and the second time by the Orioles, who picked him in the 25th round in 2014. Bonilla had a 0.36 ERA and 12 saves with 38 strikeouts in 251⁄3 innings for Hawaii Pacific this season. His father was a six-time All-Star who played from 1995 to 1996 with the Orioles. Gallardo ready to go: Righthander Yovani Gallardo said he’s on board with the decision to have him make another minor league rehabilitation start before being activated from the disabled list.
Gallardo (right shoulder tendinitis) will leave the team today and fly from Toronto to Charlotte, N.C., where he will make his second rehab start Monday for Triple-A Norfolk — and his third overall — before rejoining the Orioles in Boston on Tuesday. Barring a setback, the Orioles expect Gallardo to start Saturday at home against the Blue Jays.
“I’m OK with it,” Gallardo said Saturday. “It took a group decision on that. Obviously, I don’t think it would hurt to go out there and repeat 85 pitches . ... I haven’t been through rehabbing my shoulder, and it’s just one of those things that I have to listen to the pitching coach and whatever everybody else says. But you know what, I’m feeling good.” Bridwell to resume throwing: Orioles pitching prospect Parker Bridwell, who has been on the DL since May 26 with a broken rib, will resume throwing Tuesday, Showalter said.
Bridwell, who was added to the 40-man roster in the offseason, was 1-1 with a 5.13 ERA in eight games (seven starts) at Double-A Bowie. Around the horn: The Orioles’ eighth-round draft pick, Texas Tech right-hander Ryan Moseley, was scouted by Showalter’s son, Nathan, who is responsible for scouting North Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. “I told him, ‘What’s interesting now is you get to look back on last year and this year and look back at the people and see how you had them rated and see how they do,’ ” Showalter said. “That would be the fun part for me.” … Showalter remembers seeing seventh-round pick Preston Palmeiro, son of former Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, when he was a kid when Showalter was managing Rafael with the Texas Rangers in 2003. “That’s kind of interesting. It makes you feel real old,” Showalter said.