Britton Brought Up

In an odd turn of events, Chris Britton has been brought up from Bowie and Cory Morris, having never pitched an inning in the majors, has been optioned to Ottawa.  I haven’t been able to find out anything on why this move was made, so please post a comment if you find anything. 

Let’s review what we know about Britton. 

1. He was drafted out of high school in the 8th round of the 2001 draft.
2. He’s right-handed, 6′3” and 220 lbs. 
3. He is playing his age 23 season.
4. He missed 2003 to TJ surgery.
5. He spent 2005 pitching for Frederick.  This was his third professional season and his first as a full-time reliever.
6. He took quite well to the switch to relief, posting a ridiculous line of  78.7 ip, 12.58 K/9, 2.63 BB/9, 0.57 HR/9, and a 1.60 ERA.
7. He is in the middle of the pack in GB/FB ratio.
8. He struck out 6 batters through 2.3 ip in Bowie so far this year.
9. His weighted mean PECOTA-projected ERA is 4.87 for 2006.  It doesn’t get much better in the next five years, although forecasting low-minors relievers is not PECOTA’s specialty.   
10. Deric McKamey really likes him.  In his interview with OTT, he opined:

OTT- Are there any sleepers in the Orioles system you’d like to identify? Any players you could see taking a large step forward in 2006?

DM- I don’t know if you would call him a sleeper, but I really like Chris Britton and his knee-buckling curveball. He was very dominant at Frederick and I think he can be highly effective as a match-up righty.

In his book, Minor League Baseball Analyst, McKamey added:

[Britton is] one of the more dominating relievers in the minors, hitters are rendered helpless against his knee-buckling CB.  Locates FB well, though it lacks movement up in the zone.  Pitches with effort and has had a history of injuries, which makes the bullpen a bit more feasible.

All in all, I do expect this move to work out.  I would certainly prefer that he get at least one full season between Bowie and Ottawa, but Britton appears to have the stuff to succeed immediately in middle relief.  If pressed to speculate, I’d venture that the O’s were previously on the fence about whether to bring up Morris or Britton.  After Britton dominated a quarter of a game in AA, the O’s decided he was their man and sent Morris packing.  Whether it works out or not, it’s still an odd move- not that we aren’t getting used to that.