The flight has been fast for Billy Rowell.
The Orioles? first-round pick and ninth overall in the 2006 draft has gone from playing at Bishop Eustace Prep School in southern New Jersey to batting .329 for rookie-league Bluefield (W.Va.) in the Appalachian League to this week, when he was called up to play for the Aberdeen IronBirds. And of course, all of that has come before his 18th birthday on Sept. 10.
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Rowell said the pitchers in the New York-Penn League are smarter than those at Bluefield, but he said that he needs to find his swing and get as comfortable as he was in the rookie league.
“I batted .375 in August there. I was pretty comfortable,” Rowell said Tuesday in Aberdeen.
Orioles roving hitting instructor Denny Walling worked with Rowell on Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 third baseman said that Walling advised him on how pitchers would be throwing to him, what pitch sequences he may see and what he should be looking for at the plate.
In his first two games with the IronBirds, Rowell had two hits in eight at-bats. He batted out of the fifth spot in his debut and moved up to third Tuesday.
“I asked him, and I thought about it and fifth is no easy spot,” Aberdeen manager Andy Etchebarren said. “I wanted to change it around tonight. Billy had success hitting in that spot down there at third and fourth, so what the heck?”
Etchebarren said that the main concern for Rowell right now is exactly what Walling had been working withhim: Teaching him to recognize pitches, mainly breaking balls and off-speed pitches.
“This is the first time in his career that he is seeing 2-0 off-speed pitches, 3-1 off-speed pitches and 3-2 off-speed pitches [for strikes],” Etchebarren said. “If Billy Rowell came here and hit .100, I would not be disappointed with what I see in Billy Rowell. I see a good swing, and he has got a great body for 17 years old.”
Etchebarren said that Rowell, like 2005 first-round pick Brandon Snyder and fourth-round pick Kieron Pope, needed at-bats to adjust to pitchers throwing breaking balls at this level.
“If they adjust, they have got the ability to do some damage, like [Nolan] Reimold,” Etchebarren said. “They should get better because they have the ability to get better. You have got to have patience with them.”
THE ROWELL FILE
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 205 pounds
Bats/Throws: L/R
Did you know? Rowell batted .375 in the month of August for Bluefield. His first two hits in Aberdeen came at home against Hudson Valley this week and were both singles.
