Billy Rowell: Class AA 'Too Fast' For Aaron Baker

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 22, 2011 1:42 PM EDT

This article (which I found on Ben Badler's Twitter) is only tangentially Pirates-related, but it's extremely rare to hear a ballplayer be this frank, and it concerns a trade the Pirates made recently, so I think it's worthy of inclusion here.

Basically, the backstory here is that Billy Rowell was the Orioles' first-round pick in 2006. He hit pretty well his first couple years, then stalled out badly in Class A+ and failed to progress. That probably made the Orioles really frustrated with him. This year, they had him in Class AA, where he hit very badly. Then he got hurt, and when he returned, the Orioles sent him to the GCL for a rehab assignment. Then they didn't call up back up to Class AA Bowie, he says, because they sent Aaron Baker there.

"I was supposed to go to Florida for two weeks according to (director of player development) John Stockstill. Two weeks in Florida and then come back to Bowie. That was the plan. I was good (healthy) after two weeks, then they brought up the guy they traded for Derrek Lee - what's his name, Baker?

"They bring him up and he gets dominated in Double-A. The game was way too fast for him. You know what I mean? They bring him up so it looks like the Derrek Lee trade was a good trade and they diss the guy they gave $2 million to. It's cool, it's their business. But I don't feel like it was carried out in the right manner."

Baker was awful in a tiny sample in Bowie, hitting .196/.188/.239.

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Comments

I thought about making a fanshot about that article, too.

Rowell was a better prospect when he was a third baseman, and when he wasn’t repeating A+ for the second time.

by Vlad on Sep 22, 2011 2:15 PM EDT reply actions

I wouldn’t read this as anything more than sour grapes. I’ve seen Rowell play a good bit. He’s terrible. No instincts in the field, no strike zone judgment, and looks most of the time like he doesn’t give a shit.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 22, 2011 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

sounds like a angry and bitter young man there...

who hasnt earned the $2MM he signed for

by white angus on Sep 22, 2011 2:18 PM EDT reply actions

Meow.

by azibuck on Sep 22, 2011 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

Yep,

that pretty much covers it.

by MDBuc on Sep 22, 2011 5:04 PM EDT up reply actions

So Baltimore is worried about making the D-Lee trade look good, yet they have no problem unjustly burying a guy to whom they gave a $2M bonus? OK…

by King Oskar on Sep 22, 2011 2:43 PM EDT reply actions

Haha, right.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 22, 2011 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions

to be fair

Andy MacPhail made the Lee trade, but he didn’t draft Rowell, did he?

Kind of moot, though, since you don’t need bias to explain why Rowell didn’t get brought back to AA. It’s like, the reason NH dumped Bixler probably wasn’t that he was a Littlefield guy, y’know?

Not actually affiliated with whygavs.

by WHYG Zane Smith on Sep 22, 2011 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions

AH-HA! Honeycutt was only concerned with making the acquisition of Ciriaco look good! I’m not even sure that they overlapped, but I’m trying to make a funny!

by King Oskar on Sep 23, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey Billy

those within the game of baseball frown upon biting the hand that feeds you.

It is a pretty good way to find yourself out of the game…$2m invested in you or not.

by insane_sanity on Sep 22, 2011 3:32 PM EDT reply actions

Played against Rowell in high school

Honestly wasn’t really impressed. Tall and thin at the time so I’m sure the projections were a bit out there. Obviously you go to a million showcases for this stuff, but his ridiculous high school numbers were buoyed by a 200 foot fence in right at his home field. Plus he was always kind of a jerk.

by Deadstar on Sep 22, 2011 4:40 PM EDT reply actions

a 200 ft high fence is Huuuuuuuuuuuuge. thats like almost twice the size of Fenways.

by white angus on Sep 22, 2011 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Damn, that does look big

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 22, 2011 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Great Series

by goodtymes31 on Sep 22, 2011 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Is that from Game of Thrones?

I just read the first book, but haven’t seen any of the shows

by Wizard of Woz on Sep 23, 2011 8:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Yep

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 23, 2011 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions

200 ft

from home.

by Deadstar on Sep 22, 2011 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions

But I did laugh at the thought of 200 foot high fence so thanks

by Deadstar on Sep 22, 2011 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe there’s an obvious answer I’m missing here, but how does one obtain an on-base percentage lower than his batting average?

No jinx no jinx no jinx.

by Suffering Buc on Sep 22, 2011 5:06 PM EDT reply actions

SFs are added to ABs in calculating OBP but not BA.

by WestCoastBuc on Sep 22, 2011 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Having 0 walks certainly doesn’t help anything, either

"WHITESNAKE! DOKKEN! NIGHT RANGER!" -- Ronny Cedeño

by Superstar25 on Sep 22, 2011 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks.

No jinx no jinx no jinx.

by Suffering Buc on Sep 24, 2011 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions

by glass0941 on Sep 23, 2011 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Not that there's anything wrong with that

by Lomez969 on Sep 24, 2011 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions

A guy OPSing .547 at AA is casting stones? Hope he saved some of that bonus money.

by GPT on Sep 23, 2011 8:08 AM EDT reply actions

Not sure if that’s his OPS or his fielding %. He really does suck.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Sep 23, 2011 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions

if you had to take a wild guess

Hope he saved some of that bonus money

what would it be?

Mine would be – working in a tire store, living with mom and dad by age 28; bonus points for correctly guessing the number of unsupported out of wedlock children.

Sorry, I’m in a meanspirited mood today. I don’t wish him any ill.

by mocasdad on Sep 23, 2011 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions