A take on Chris Jones, who moved to Triple-A today, and look at LJ Hoes batting tear

Lefty reliever Chris Jones, a player the Orioles acquired from Atlanta in the trade April 10 for Luis Ayala, was today promoted from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. Since joining this organization, the 24-year-old Jones pitched in four games at Bowie. Over seven innings, he allowed eight hits and two runs with no walks and six strikeouts. A 15th-round draft pick by Cleveland out of high school in 2007, this will be Jones' first chance at the Triple-A level. Bowie manager Gary Kendall saw Jones pitch in those four games for his Baysox club and sounded quite impressed with the lefty. "He's been very consistent," Kendall said Friday at Prince George's Stadium. "Been throwing strikes and attacking hitters, righties and lefties. Quality breaking ball and good feel for his changeup. Been able to get three pitches over the plate. Outside of the first game where he went just an inning, we used him as a two-inning guy. "He's a really, really outgoing guy. That was one of the first impressions I got of him here. How open he is with new teammates in a new organization. He's just fit in great." Kendall indicated Jones has several quality pitches, and the Orioles will use him in situations that will allow him to develop all of them. "He's 89 to 92 in that (fastball velocity) range with a good, sharp curveball that he can throw for a strike or spin it off the plate which is tough against a left-handed hitter," Kendall said. "The changeup helps him against right-handed hitters. Really like how he goes right after guys. "I think the plan that Dan (Duquette) wants for him is not to be just a one-inning guy, but a multiple inning guy where he can use all his pitches. That is what he is here to do, throw multiple innings where he can use and develop all his pitches which could eventually help our major league club." In other roster moves today, the Orioles released Scott Proctor, a player they had added March 29 in a trade with San Francisco for cash considerations. Proctor didn't last long, obviously, and was 0-0 with an ERA of 8.59 over six games and 7 1/3 innings for Norfolk. Also today Norfolk officially added Josh Stinston, optioned from Baltimore and sent pitcher Rob Delaney to Bowie while Bowie added pitcher Eric Beaulac from Frederick and sent pitcher David Walters to Frederick. Meanwhile, outfielder LJ Hoes is on a real five-game batting tear with the Tides. During that stretch, Hoes is 11-for-20 with five doubles and 10 RBIs, knocking in two runs each for five consecutive games. On the season, Hoes is now batting .301 with a homer and 17 RBIs, a number that ranks him tied for fourth in the International League. Hoes also has drawn nine walks with 10 strikeouts, a nice ratio for a young hitter and has a .381 on-base percentage. Hoes has made nice improvements in this plate discipline area during his career. His OBP was .299 with Single-A Delmarva in 2009 and was .374 last season with Norfolk.