Lower-Level Orioles Pitching "Prospects"

I use the term "prospects" pretty loosely, here - this is really just a loose collection of largely unheralded guys n the low minors (with the obvious exceptions of Bob Bundy and Ryan Berry), who posted some stat or another that caught my eye. Some of these dudes are already 23 or 24 years old, so the chances that they'll even get to the big leagues are slim... but still, it was interesting to pull together the list, and see what kind of info I could dig up on each pitcher:

• Jorge Rivera, LHP (20) - at age 19, posted a 1.21 ERA in 52 innings in the Dominican Summer League (rookie-level) in 2010, averaging 9.7 K/9. That's less impressive than it sounds, as it's very much a pitching-dominated league. But still, it's hard to ignore a 1.21 ERA, at any level. Not sure what their plans are for him in 2011, but definitely one to keep an eye on.
• Jarret Martin, LHP (21) - a JUCO draftee in 2009 (Bakerfield, CA), Martin has a 92-93 mph fastball, hammer curve, and control issues. In his pro debut at Bluefield (R) he walked almost 7 batters per 9 innings, but also showed the ability to dominate: he K'd 10.3 per 9, gave up only 3 HR, and allowed only 6.5 hits per 9. One red flag? His 4.07 ERA was deceptively low, as he allowed 11 unearned runs in his 13 starts. He at one point in high school had committed to Cal State Fullerton (a powerhouse program) before going the JUCO route; the story I heard was college wasn't his first choice, but he wasn't drafted very high, so he went JUCO to try and boost his draft stock. It worked, kind of. He went in the 18th round in 2009, after being drafted in the 19th in 2008 (by the Orioles, who couldn't sign him).
• James Brandhorst, RHP (23) - reliever out of Lamar University in Texas. Was drafted in the 20th round in 2009, and pitched well at Delmarva (Low-A) in 2010, though he's a bit old for that league, and he wasn't quite as good as he had been at Aberdeen the year before. His career minor league line is solid: 2.74 ERA and 9.8 K/9 in 67 games, spanning 88.2 innings. He doesn't project to be dominant at higher levels, but has been extremely solid so far in the minors.
• Nathan Moreau, LHP (24) - Moreau is a big, tall lefty (6'4, 225 lbs) that can be dominant (a K per inning last year, and a no-hitter in his first start after being promoted to Frederick), but has trouble commanding the zone. He performed very well at Delmarva (Low-A) last year, but was inconsistent after that huge start when me moved up to High-A. He's too old for that level already, so it's hard to consider him a real prospect, but he's definitely got some upside. Lefties sometimes figure it out later, right?
• Steven Mazur, RHP (23) - Mazur is prototypical organizational filler; he barely breaks 85 mph with his fastball, and went undrafted out of Notre Dame after a mediocre collegiate career. But his pro debut stats last year were fantastic: no runs allowed and more than a K per inning at Bluefield, then a 1.64 ERA and 11.9 K/9 in 15 games at Aberdeen. It's a little hard to figure, but probably attributable to small sample size.. or maybe he just got healthy, or figured something out. We'll know more in 2011.
• Jose Mota, RHP (21) - as an 19 year-old, Mota pitched well for the Orioles Dominican team in 2009, then came stateside last year and was equally impressive for the Orioles Gulf Coast League rookie team. Again, it's a small sample size (20 games in relief, and 31 innings), but his peripherals were excellent: 9.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, a 6.4 K/BB ratio, only 0.3 HR allowed per 9, etc...  one drawback is that he's not a big guy (5'11"), and baseball types tend to overlook small right-handers, but that won't matter if he keeps producing.
• Jake Cowan, RHP (22) - another JUCO guy that the Orioles used a 10th round pick on in 2009; like some of the other guys on this list, he can generate strikeouts, but also walks a lot of batters. A starter, he pitched pretty well for Low-A Delmarva in 7 starts last season, but we haven't see him enough yet at the pro level to really get an idea of what he can do.
• Jhondaniel Medina, RHP (18) - another short righty out of the Dominican, Medina's numbers are quite as impressive as Mota's, but he pitched very well last year as a starter in the DSL. He struck out 49 guys in 50 innings, gave up only 3 HRs, and posted a 2.32 ERA. He's very young (17 last year), so it wouldn't surprise me if he spent another season there before joining the O's GCL team.
• Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP (17) - again, here's another very young Orioles DSL prospect, but Eduardo has the added advantage of being left-handed, and a little taller than either Medina or Mota, at 6'2". But like the others, he posted an excellent ERA (2.33), K/9 (8.5), and HR rate (zero in 65 innings). He struggles a bit with his control (3.8 BB/9). Not sure what the Orioles plans for for him in 2011, but at only 18 years old, we might not see him in the GCL this year.
• Jacob Pettit, LHP (24) - was a 42nd round draft pick of the Orioles last year, out of Western Oregon State College, and was actually born the day after the Mets beat the Red Sox in the 7th game of the 1986 world series (Oct 28th, 1986). Now 24, he was a little older than the average guy making his pro debut. But he pitched well by any standard, posting a 2.61 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 2010, mostly at Aberdeen. There doesn't seem to a scouting report on him anywhere in the universe, but I can tell you that he was had a 1.80 ERA this past season in college, and was named the 2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year.
• Miguel Chalas, RHP (18) - one more time... a very young, not-so-big dominican righty who pitched well for the Orioles rookie DSL team in 2010. The thing that catches your eye about Chalas is the ERA of 1.72, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4-to-1. Like the others, he padded his stats playing in a very pitching-friendly league.
• Robert Bundy, RHP (21) - Bundy is actually one of the better known pitchers on this list, having appeared among the Orioles top prospects in reports produced by Minor League Ball and FanGraphs this off-season. The Orioles selected him in the 8th round out of an OK high-school in 2008 because of his power fastball/curveball combo, and he was projected to go higher, but dropped because of signability and  injury concerns (torn ACL). Baseball talent runs in the family, as his brother Dylan is projected to be a 1st round pick in the 2011 draft.
• Jesse Beal, RHP (20) - I have no idea what to think of Beal, really. Only 19 last year, he was very young to be pitching in the South Atlantic League (Delmarva, Low-A), as the average pitcher was almost 22. And from one point of view, his stats were very good, as he compiled a 3.86 ERA in 114 innings, averaged better than 6 innings per start, and didn't walk anyone (1.8 BB/9). But at the same time, he didn't strike anyone out, either (just 5.0 per 9 innings), gave up A LOT of hits, and while his walk rate was still excellent, it was almost twice what he posted the season before (less than 1 walk per 9). I'm stumped.
• Ryan Berry, RHP (22) - I love Ryan Berry, and while I'm not sure he'll succeed in the big-leagues as a starter because of his lack of velocity and kind-of-sort-of lingering arm issues, he definitely has the makeup to get there. I posted on him earlier this winter, here. To me, he's kind of the anti-Matt Hobgood. No, that's not fair, and no, I don't care.
• Nicholas Haughian, LHP (24) - a 9th round draft pick in 2008 out of the University of Washington, the team used him mostly out of the bullpen in 2010, and he didn't pitch as well as he had in 2009. He was considered a steal when the Orioles got him that low - the knock on him has always been control, but he has several plus pitches. He was supposedly a big prep prospect back in 2005, before we went to UW.