Kolodny is heading to extended spring training

It was a minor league transaction that probably went under the radar among a lot of fans. On May 24th, Tyler Kolodny of the Delmarva Shorebirds was transferred to Aberdeen's roster. Some that follow the minors very closely asked a question. Why would the O's take a player with 10 homers, among the most in the Sally League, off the Delmarva roster. As it turns out, there were two major reasons. Kolodny was being disciplined due to a team matter. Seondly, the Orioles want him to improve his defense and this week he is headed to extended spring training to try and do just that. Kolodny was not suspended and the club will not publicly reveal the reason for the discipline, sources just calling it a "team matter." Kolodny is in his fourth season in the O's organization and his second year with Delmarva. He was drafted in round 16 in 2007. He got off to a fast start this year and hit six homers in the season's first 11 games. In 41 games with Delmarva, he's batting .260-10-29 and even though he has not played since May 22nd, is still second in the Sally League in homers and third in slugging percentage. He batted fourth in 28 games this year for the Shorebirds. The 22-year-old from Woodland Hills, California, has an OPS of .909 and played at both corner infield positions this season. But he has made 14 errors on the year and will head to Sarasota to work on his defense at first and third and also to play some in left and right field. It's possible if the O's like what they see there, Kolodny could be moved to the outfield. The Orioles want to take advantage of the final days of extended spring training which runs thru June 11. At Sarasota, a player can get more hands on coaching and more work on specific elements of the game than he might with an affiliate team in the middle of its summer schedule. The O's have over ten coaches that work with the players in Sarasota. They just sent Levi Carolus back to Delmarva after a few weeks at extended to work on his defense. Give the O's credit for one thing. They realize the defense has been shaky throughout the minors this year and they are trying to fix the issue. They also want to make sure they give young pitchers at every level the best chance to succeed. They can't have some of the pitchers worried what might happen every time a ground ball is hit. In another note from Delmarva, Shorebirds lefty Nathan Moreau was today named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending May 30th. Moreau pitched six shutout innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts and one walk on May 28th vs. Lakewood. He had a great month of May, going 1-0, 0.36, allowing one run and ten hits over 25 innings in seven games, three starts.