Orioles Team of Future

Nick Markakis is batting .298 this season, with 13 home runs and 78 RBI. He is just 25, and is on the verge of becoming a great player in the MLB. Meanwhile, top prospect Matt Wieters is an impressive backstop, while top prospects such as Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Troy Patton and Brandon Erbe are going to be throwing to him in the near future. This season in AAA Chris Tillman is 8-6 with an impressive 2.70 era and 99 strikeouts, which leads the team. Matusz was just called up to the Majors, and he has been a little shaky, but that was expected from the youngster. Patton is 1-3 with an era of 6.45 at the AAA level, when he was called up he was 0-2 until he tore his labrum and needed season-ending surgery. Erbe is 3-3 with a 2.08 era in the Orioles AA team the Baysox, as he is also a rising star. On the offensive side of the ball, Matt Wieters is one of the best fielding and hitting catchers ever to pass through the minor league system, and he is being compared to Joe Mauer. In 2008 Wieters batted .365, with 15 homers and 51 RBI, at AA Bowie. He will complement corner outfielder Nick Markakis, and other developing minor leaguers such as Miguel Abreu, and prospect Nolan Riemold who was awarded 2009 MLB Rookie of the Month for May, and this season in the majors he his hitting .272 with 10 homers and 32 RBI. The Orioles would have a great outfield if Markakis played Right field; Reimold played Left, and 2009 AL All-Star Adam Jones in center. Well, speaking of Jones, he just turned 23 years of age, and he is batting .298 with 19 Homers and 64 RBI this season. Jones shows that in the near future, that the Orioles will be a great team. That statement leads me to my next conclusion; that the AL east will be the toughest division in the whole Major Leagues. The Yankees can sign anyone they want with their outrageous payroll, and their balance of veterans and youth which fill the roster. The Sox have a great team and a high payroll also, always contend and have a good minor league system themselves, while down in Tampa, the Rays have themselves a young explosive team, with above average pitching, fielding, speed, and power. The Blue Jays have surprisingly one of the best offensive lineups, and there weakness is the bottom of the rotation, so if they can improve that, maybe trade Halladay next season for some prospects, it may make even more sense for a successful team over the border. The Orioles have all of these prospects to contend in the future, but it will take a season or two. So, compiling all of these facts, the Orioles are the team of the future, and the AL East will be the best Division in baseball.