Playing 2nd base and leading off tonight for the class AA Bowie Baysox, Brian Roberts had no official at bats in his first pro baseball game since May 16th, 2011.
With RHP Zach Clark on the mound for the Baysox, Roberts came out for the top of the 1st inning and did not move to field any ground ball warmups. He followed that up with no balls hit to him in the inning. He seemed a bit anxious pacing around the dirt between batters. Very uneventful return.
But when Roberts came up to bat in the bottom of the inning, he…walked. Taking ball four on a 3-1 count without swinging the bat, Roberts reached first base. He proceeded to not dive back on a pickoff throw. He advanced to 2nd on an LJ Hoes walk. Then to 3rd on a passed ball.
2nd inning: 2nd out of the inning was a groundball to Roberts. 4-3
3rd inning: ball hit up the middle Roberts did not get to, 6-4-3 DP that Roberts had the relay to 1st on (runner did not slide to take him out), 4 pitch walk, scored on Buck Britton double (plus throwing error), throw went to 3rd so no slide for Roberts
4th inning: replaced in the field by Jonathan Schoop
All in all, Brian Roberts walked twice and did his job on defense.
What I’m trying to say here is that there is nothing to be told about Brian Roberts return to live baseball; except for the simple fact that he returned to live baseball. It’s been a long time coming, and at times thought to be a point that would never come to fruition, but he is here. We will see over the next 20 days on his minor league rehab stint how Roberts performs, but even more importantly, how he transitions to big league pitching come mid-June.
Not that there was much to be expected in the first place.
Follow Avi Miller on Twitter @AviMillerBSR for up to the date Orioles news and daily farm system updates.
While I agree it was basically uneventful, you left out that he walked a second time and scored from first base on what ended up being a triple. He did show good acceleration from first base.
WOW , Brian is having a tuff time adapting without steroids , that one time he used them must have been a very long one time , like a year……….