Jim Hoey knows all too well the ups and downs that go along with being a professional baseball player.
The current closer for Triple-A Norfolk made the jump in 2006 from low Single-A Delmarva to the Orioles by the end of the season. He then started this season at Double-A Bowie before getting promoted to Norfolk and eventually getting another two-day call-up with the Orioles this month.
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With each move, Hoey learned there are many more differences at each stop besides just the obvious improvement in talent.
“It?s so different at every level,” said Hoey while at Bowie in April. “In low-A you back your own bags and bring them on the bus. At Frederick, they unloaded the bus for us and that was cool. [At Bowie], they put your bag on the plane. Then, when you get to the big leagues you back your bags and you don?t see it until it?s hanging up in your locker.”
Hoey is one of a number of Orioles prospects that have made at least a short stop in the major leagues. Some, like Hoey, skyrocketed through the minors and forced the Orioles to bring them up while others reached the big leagues out of necessity due to injuries with the parent club.
Bowie Baysox outfielder Jeff Fiorentino is part of the latter group as he became the first position player from the 2004 draft to reach the majors after the Orioles recalled him from Single-A Frederick in 2005.
Fiorentino?s Bowie teammate Val Majewski received his first taste of the majors in 2004 when the outfielder wowed the Orioles after batting .307 with 15 home runs and 80 RBI with the Baysox. A shoulder injury cost him all of the 2005 season and he is now trying to rebuild his reputation as a top prospect for the Orioles.
“I appreciate any opportunity I?ve gotten, but now knowing what it?s like, you know what you?re working for,” Majewski said. “Now, you know what it takes and know you have what it takes. But, you want it that much more after you get there the first time.”
Orioles director of minor league operations David Stockstill said each prospect reacts differently when returning to the minors after getting that initial major league experience.
“Some players use [major league experience] as motivation to get back to the majors while others pick up some bad habits from big leaguers who condition their bodies in a way that may not be best for them at that time,” Stockstill said.
O?s prospects with major league experience
Triple-A Norfolk
» IF Brandon Fahey: .235, 2 HR, 35 RBI in 91 games
» P Jim Johnson: 0-0, 9.00 ERA, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 BB, 1 SO in 2 IP
» P Hayden Penn: 3-6, 9.31 ERA, 26 SO, 34 BB in 14 games
» RP Jim Hoey: 0-1, 12.19 ERA, 6 SO, 7 BB in 13 games
Double-A Bowie
» OF Val Majewski: .154, 1 RBI, 3 R in nine games
» OF Jeff Fiorentino: .253, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 15 R in 32 games
» C Eli Whiteside: .250, 1 RBI in nine games
? Major league statistics
