A look at a trio of Aberdeen pitchers and more Chris Davis stats

I recently had the chance to talk with short-season Single-A Aberdeen pitching coach Justin Lord. He provided some insights and information on several pitchers that are throwing well for the IronBirds this year.

The 35-year-old former minor league right-hander is in his third season in the Orioles organization and second with Aberdeen. Lord pitched six seasons in the minor leagues including three in the Kansas City and Pittsburgh organizations and three for the independent league St. Paul Saints, going 25-22 with a 4.16 ERA over 385 innings. In college, he pitched for Chipola (Fla.) Junior College and also at Florida State.

One pitcher we discussed is left-hander Garrett Cleavinger, the Orioles' third-round pick this year out of the University of Oregon.

Cleavinger was first team all Pac 12 this season, going 6-2 with a 1.58 ERA and nine saves out of the Ducks bullpen. He fanned 66 in 40 innings. With Aberdeen, he has yet to allow a run in 10 games, going 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00. In 14 innings, he has allowed four hits with nine walks and 13 strikeouts. Left-handed batters are 2-for-17 (.118) against him and right-handed batters are 2-for-25 (.080).

Lord on Cleavinger: "Pretty athletic kid from Oregon. Left-hander with a decent fastball and breaking ball. Looking forward to seeing more of him. So far, I like what I've seen. He's been a pleasure to work with. We drafted a lot of really good kids as well as good baseball players, which is a good combination.

"He's shown us a fastball (often in the low 90s), curveball and changeup. I think his curveball is his No. 1 secondary pitch as his out pitch. One thing I like about him that I like about a lot of our guys is he competes. He'll give you everything he has on that day. He's going to need to locate the fastball to effectively set up his curveball."

Right-hander Ryan Meisinger, the Orioles' 11th-round pick in June, has been selected to represent Aberdeen in the New York-Penn League All-Star Game on Aug. 18.

Meisinger is from Dunkirk, Md. and Northern High School. He went to college at Radford, where he led the nation with 17 saves last season. With Aberdeen, he is 0-0 with a 1.38 ERA and six saves in seven chances. Over 13 innings, he has allowed five hits with three walks and 18 strikeouts.

Lord on Meisinger: "He's been pitching late in the game for us and has done a real nice job there. Big, athletic kid with a live fastball and good slider. He has gotten a lot of swings and misses with that slider. Goes right after the hitters. He really cares about what he does and is into the game. Whenever he stays in line (in his delivery), he has a good tempo and rhythm in his delivery and can really locate his fastball."

Cristian Alvarado is a 20-year-old right-hander from Venezuela. He pitched in the O's minors starting in 2012, mostly in the Dominican Summer League.

But earlier this summer, he posted some impressive stats in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League. In five games, he went 5-0 with an ERA of 0.33. Over 27 innings, he did not walk a batter and fanned 20. Since joining Aberdeen, Alvarado is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four games. Over 20 innings, he has allowed 14 hits with four walks and 19 strikeouts.

Not a bad time to mention these three specific pitchers since they combined on a four-hit shutout last night as Aberdeen won 7-0 at Hudson Valley. Alvarado went six innings allowing three hits with five strikeouts. Cleavinger went two innings and Meisinger pitched the ninth for the IronBirds. It's the IronBirds' fifth shutout of the year and their second in four days.

Lord on Alvarado: "I first saw Alvarado two years ago in instructional league. His biggest key is locating his fastball. He is not going to display a mid-90s fastball right now, but he can command it (at 89 to 91 mph) and has a good slider and split that he throws to keep hitters off balance. When he is going well, he's working his fastball in and out and keeping hitters off balance.

"He's gotten to where he pitches in with his fastball and a lot of young pitchers have to understand the importance of locating the fastball in. He's got broad shoulders and good arm action. He's got projectability, which is probably a good scouting term for it, and he works real hard."

Still crushing it: Chris Davis hit his 30th homer last night in the Orioles' 3-2 win over Seattle. He is now batting .252 with 30 homers, 82 RBIs, a .529 slugging percentage and an OPS of .865. Davis has hit two homers in two games, five in eight and 11 in 23 games since the All-Star break.

Over his last 19 games, Davis is batting .319 (22-for-69) with 11 homers and 29 RBIs. Davis has knocked in at least one run in nine of his past 13 games with 22 RBIs in that stretch.

Davis' OPS by month and half:
.883 - April
.765 - May
.826 - June
.859 - July
1.265 - August
.787 - first half
1.142 - second half

Davis has hit 18 homers at home and 12 on the road. He has hit six versus left-handed pitchers and 24 against right-handers. Before the All-Star break, he averaged a homer every 16.2 at-bats. Since the break, he has hit one every 7.8 at-bats.