A look at Bowie's rotation and more from Baysox media day

BOWIE, Md. - When the Double-A Bowie Baysox begin a new Eastern League season on Thursday night at Richmond, Tim Berry will be their opening night starter and Dylan Bundy will be No. 5.

Bundy is obviously not the fifth starter based on talent. But it may have just about everything to do with the fact he will be limited in innings early this year. Coming off his 2013 Tommy John surgery and having pitched just 41 1/3 innings last season, the Orioles are expected to keep him at around 100 innings for this year. They also want to leave some innings available for potential use in Baltimore later this summer.

"I know I am going three innings for about four or five starts and then we'll bump it up to four. It's going to be a slow process, but hopefully a good one. It is an innings limit and that is fine with me. They are looking out for me and my arm," Bundy said this afternoon at Baysox media day at Prince George's Stadium.

Bundy said health-wise he feels ready to start this season.

"My arm feels fine," he said. "I don't get sore after outings. My long toss was just as good as it was. It just doesn't come out 98, 99 (mph) anymore and hopefully it will come back sometime this year. I got up to 96 a couple times last year and this year a couple fours and fives. It's early. We'll see how it is goes come July."

So Berry will start the opener for Bowie and be followed to the mound by Elih Villanueva, Branden Kline, Parker Bridwell and Bundy.

Berry is on the O's 40-man roster and was in big league camp this spring. He went 6-7 with a 3.51 ERA here last year. By all rights, he could be in Triple-A Norfolk's rotation now, but the roster crush pushed him back to Double-A to start.

Manager Gary Kendall said Berry should not be disappointed about that.

"I don't have any concerns (because) he's a pro." Kendall said. "With Buck Showalter managing our big league club, he knows they can take a guy out of Double-A as easily as Triple-A. He's on the (40-man) roster and on the radar. The level that he is at shouldn't affect anything about his performance. To me, a good outing in Bowie is just like a good outing in Norfolk. If you have quality stuff, you have quality stuff."

The Baysox begin their 23rd season as an O's affiliate Thursday night at 6:35 p.m. at Richmond. Bowie plays its first seven games on the road before its home opener here at Prince George's Stadium on April 16 against Erie.

The Baysox currently have 29 players on their roster and will need to be down to 25 by the opener. Some DL moves could be possible. They just recently added 26-year-old right-handed pitcher Andrew Triggs.

Pitchers: Tim Berry, Parker Bridwell, Bobby Bundy, Dylan Bundy, Cesar Cabral, Terry Doyle, Gene Escat, Mychal Givens, Matt Hobgood, Ken Kasparek, Branden Kline, Marcel Prado, Ashur Tolliver, Andrew Triggs, Elih Villanueva.

Catchers: David Freitas, Rossmel Perez, Steel Russell.

Infielders: Jason Esposito, Sean Halton, Derrik Gibson, Ozzie Martinez, Mike McDade, Garabez Rosa, Sharlon Schoop.

Outfielders: Michael Burgess, Glynn Davis, Quincy Latimore, Mike Yastrzemski.

Kline said today his velocity increase this year was due in part to the fact he began using weighted baseballs over the winter. He worked out with his former University of Virginia college teammate, Norfolk pitcher Tyler Wilson, who also saw his velocity increase with the help of the weighted ball program.

Baysox single game tickets went on sale Saturday, April 4 during the team's annual Free Family FunFest and are now available to the public. To purchase Baysox 2015 single game tickets, visit www.baysox.com, call the box office at 301-464-4865 or stop by the ticket office at the stadium.

Kendall is beginning his fifth season as the Baysox manager. He led Bowie to the 2012 playoffs and a 72-70 record last year, which was the best mark of any O's affiliate. He is the winningest manager in Baysox history with a 296-271 record.

He has two new coaches on his staff this year in pitching coach Alan Mills and field coach Keith Bodie.