Minor league notebook: Mountcastle's return, props for Peralta & more

Orioles third base prospect Ryan Mountcastle is expected to join Double-A Bowie sometime in the next several days. He's played four games at extended spring training in Florida with two games in the field. He will probably head north after another three or four games in Florida and join the Baysox.

Mountcastle had been out since mid-March when he was hit by a pitch in a minor league spring game and suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand. He is ranked as the No. 65 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus, No. 71 by Baseball America and No. 98 by MLBPipeline.com in pre-season ratings.

The Orioles moved Mountcastle to Double-A Bowie from Single-A Frederick last July and he played 39 games in the Eastern League. They also moved him from shortstop to third base at Bowie and when he gets to Bowie to start his 2018 season, he'll continue work to improve his defense at third. His bat is solid and last season between Frederick and Bowie he hit .287/.312/.489 with 48 doubles, a triple, 18 homers and 62 RBIs.

Young right-hander Ofelky Peralta may have given up four runs over 5 2/3 innings Friday night, but a scout in attendance saw him dominant through his first four scoreless innings. He showed "a high ceiling" according to this scout who saw a plus changeup to go with a fastball that sat at 96 to 98 mph, touching more.

From the Dominican Republic, Peralta just turned 21 in April and is now showing some of the vast potential the Orioles saw when they signed him for $325,000 in September of 2013.

If you are only impressed by stats, Peralta is a modest 1-2 with a 4.30 ERA for the Keys in five starts. But the potential is large here and he has a chance to "pop" as those in the industry say. During a late spring simulated game he struck out Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop. Peralta simplified his delivery over the winter in an attempt to repeat it more and cut down on his walks and he's getting some better results so far in 2018.

Catcher Martin Cervenka has been impressive early this year at Double-A Bowie. Born in Prague, Czech Republic, the Orioles selected him from the Giants in the 2017 Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft.

The 25-year-old right-handed hitter has hit safely in 17 of his first 20 starts with the Baysox and is hitting .312 with a home run, eight RBIs, seven doubles and 11 runs scored. He ranks seventh in the Eastern League in average and is hitting .344 versus right-handed pitching. He has also graded well in pitch-framing metrics.

"He's doing well and has been very impressive," Orioles director of player development Brian Graham said. "Great body and has shown the ability to receive, block and throw, all average to above average. Offensively he's got a real nice approach with a good swing."

Lefty Paul Fry has been solid out of the Bowie bullpen. He is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and two saves, using a fastball between 89 and 93 mph and solid curveball. Over 16 1/3 innings, Fry has allowed just six hits with seven walks and 22 strikeouts. So far he's getting out both lefty (.087) and righty (.133) batters. The Orioles acquired Fry from Seattle on April 14, 2017 for an international bonus slot.

Graham added: "He's been very impressive so far, throwing his breaking ball for a strike and commanding his fastball."

As the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds have gotten off to a great start, their pitching staff has garnered plenty of props and deservedly so.

But at the top of the batting order for the Shorebirds is Kirvin Moesquit, a 5-foot-8, switch-hitting second baseman. From Curacao, he was the Orioles' 24th-round pick in 2015. He is called by some a late bloomer that has shown well-above average speed. The player whose named is pronounced "Ma-skeet" has the green light to steal.

"He's been a catalyst for the Shorebirds," Graham said. "He hits leadoff, steals bases and puts a lot of pressure on the other team. He's a tough out and he's been solid on defense."

Moesquit is batting .276/.357/.378 in 25 games with four doubles, two homers, 11 RBIs, 21 runs and 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts to lead all Orioles minor leaguers.

Bowie outfielder Austin Hays has put up modest stats thus far for a player ranked No. 21 in Baseball America's top 100 list. He was the 2017 Brooks Robinson Award winner as the club's minor league Player of the Year, and is batting .243 in 26 games.

But Hays continues to work on things that will help him have consistent major league success down the road.

"His recognition of breaking balls has improved," Graham said. "That is probably the biggest area for him to make improvement is breaking ball recognition and hitting the breaking ball in the strikezone. I like what he is doing. Guys don't hit breaking balls out of the strikezone but you need to hit the breaking ball strikes."

The Orioles and Hays realize he's an aggressive hitter but has to be one that doesn't chase those strike-to-ball curveballs. Those are pitches that big leaguers can start out in the strikezone, but they then break outside the zone near the plate. They are chase pitches. Right now, while Hays has modest stats, he's developing as a hitter and learning what he'll need to know when the time comes for him to again face American League pitchers.

Radio day: This afternoon, before my usual Sunday gig of hosting "Orioles Baseball Tonight" on flagship station 105.7 FM the Fan in Baltimore, I'll be taking your phone calls on the Orioles for three hours. This figures to be interesting and I look forward to taking a lot of calls as together we discuss the bad season the Orioles are having and the ramifications that could come as a result. That will be today from 12 noon to 3 p.m. on the Fan. For those out of the listening area, click here for the station website and click the listen button in the upper right-hand corner.