The Aberdeen IronBirds are off to their best start since 2004.
While other Orioles minor league affiliates (excluding Bluefield) have been on the field since April, the IronBirds started their fifth season in the short season Single-A New York-Penn League on June 20. In Aberdeen?s first six games, the IronBirds have gone 4-2 through Monday.
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“The pitching has been outstanding so far,” said manager Andy Etchebarren, after Aberdeen?s home opener Friday. The IronBirds took their home opener, 2-1, over the Brooklyn Cyclones. The IronBirds gave up just 10 earned runs in their first five games.
Chad Thall (3-0), coming out of the bullpen, has three of Aberdeen?s four wins. Over 7.2 innings, Thall has not yielded an earned run and has given up six hits with six strikeouts.
Luis Lebron made three appearances in the IronBirds first six games and has two saves without giving up an earnedrun. Etchebarren expressed some concern with Lebron?s control before the season, but said that his performance in the home opener was the best he had seen Lebron throw.
“He was throwing strikes and had good velocity,” Etchebarren said.
Corey Shafer is in his third stint as an outfielder for the IronBirds. The 2002 second-round pick for the Orioles is batting .300 through six games with two RBIs. Shafer was named the player of the game Sunday, after going 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored.
Catcher Brandon Snyder was batting .280 through Tuesday, since making the move down from Delmarva. Snyder, the Orioles top draft pick in 2005, is tied for second on the team in RBIs (4) with third baseman Rob Marconi. Aberdeen had been struggling to get runs on the board before a 7-1 victory over Brooklyn on Sunday. Aberdeen followed Sunday?s win with a road victory at Staten Island on Monday, 4-3. As a team, the IronBirds are batting .225.
Defensively, Aberdeen has been lucky so far. The IronBirds have averaged two errors a game to begin the season, and Etchebarren said the pitching has been good enough to work past the errors. “It is the job of the pitcher to pick up the position players when they make an error,” he said.
