Big Matt ‘The Future’, ‘BirdlandMan’, ‘Wheaties’, Wieters Makes His Orioles Debut Friday

Matt Wieters, credit: Baltimore Sun

CubicleGM favorite (covered in four posts, including as the focus of one of the originals), and much bally-hooed uber-super-prospect Matt Wieters will join the major league roster Friday, according to Orioles GM Andy MacPhail. MacPhail states the obvious when he says that Wieters isn’t being called up to the majors to ride the pine, and will see plenty of playing time.  Given the extraordinary expectations and intrigue, thats a good thing.

Wieters was not chosen as one of the five players CubicleGM covers in our monthly Minor League Watch due to copious press coverage he otherwise recieves.  However, for those unfamiliar with Wieters and his story here goes:  Big Matt (all 6′ 5″ of him) is a 23 year old, switch hitting catcher in the Orioles organization.  He was drafted 5th overall in the ’07 draft after laying his college ball at Georgia Tech.  Whilst playing baseball in college he was a two-time all american among many other awards.  Not only did he catch at GT, he also served as their closer racking up 16 saves in 3 seasons at GT.  After being drafted, he signed a $6 million contract just minutes before the deadline (Boras up to his antics again).  His first full professional season, 2008, was spent across A Frederick and AA Bowie where he hit .355 with 27 HR and 91 RBI.  Baseball America named him the Minor League Player of the Year, while Baseball Prospectus called his season one of the single best season ever recorded in Minor League history.  His EqA (equivalent average – a sabermetric stat used to compare hitters) were the best in the last 40 years.

After hitting .343 in 2009 Spring Training, he was sent to AAA Norfolk where he has performed fairly well, hitting .285 with 5 HRs early on.  He was sent down to AAA as a result of the super-nuanced rules the MLB has in place around rookie contracts, arbitration, and free agency.  Very similar to how Longoria was sent to the minors for several weeks last year, so Wieters was this year.  And now we find ourselves on the door step of the Wheaties Era, or The Future, or BirdlandMan, as a few of his nicknames go.

So what should we expect Friday? The next month? The rest of the season?  Well, recall our ‘Problem with Early Season Storylines’ post from late April, and you will remember how one weekend, one week, or even one month isn’t long enough to build a worthwhile sample size.  However, this much is clear to me – he is going to be good, very good.  He has been one of the top performers at every level he has played at, shining on every stage thus far.  You don’t put up a historic season like he did last year, over the course of 5 months by getting lucky.  And remember, he is a.) just 23 years old, and b.) a catcher – those two points combined could allow Wieters to have an historic career.  And the very smart guys over at Baseball Prospectus projected a serious season for Big Matt: 31HR, 33 doubles, 100+RBI, with a .311 BA and an OBP close to .400 across his time in both the minors and majors.  Well, starting Friday, he can begin chipping  away at those numbers at the Major League level.

Share/Save