As Schoop has big league success, O's minor league staff looks on with pride

When Jonathan Schoop first made the major leagues - and that happened last September - he beat the odds.

Most young players drafted or signed at an early age never see the majors. Some get released before they even get to the higher levels of the minors.

But Schoop made it all the way from the Dominican Summer League - his first pro ball destination - to Baltimore. And now he's making significant contributions to Orioles wins.

In 2004, Schoop played on the team from Curacao that won the Little League World Series. He even got the save in the championship game. Four years later, on Aug. 20, 2008, he was signed by Ernst Meyer for the Orioles. He was a few months from his 17th birthday.

The Orioles had a raw talent on their hands and would try to beat the odds and help the kid make the majors.Several years and 463 minor league games later, he got there.

For an O's organization that has often been criticized for not developing enough young talent, Schoop is an example that times are now different. It is one example that, given a talented young kid, the O's farm system can take it from there to help him make it to Baltimore. I've seen a lot of coaches on the O's farm doing some solid work for many years now, but when a player like Schoop gets there, it can show the fans that the O's development process in the minors is a good one.

People like Gary Kendall, Jose Hernandez, Orlando Gomez and Ryan Minor were among those most instrumental in Schoop's development.

Kendall, the manager now at Double-A Bowie, remembers a few years ago when the young Schoop was not even always first string.

"Jonathan did a lot on his own," Kendall said. "But I think back to when we had two teams in extended (spring training). Because he was young, he was always on the B team. He always lets me know, 'Hey, remember when I was on the B team?'

"But he has a great attitude and a smile every day, and I look at how he's worked hard to get where he's at. This organization, there are many people that helped him - Bobby Dickerson, the major league staff, RJ (Norfolk manager Ron Johnson) last year what they did with him at Triple-A.

"There were a lot of coaches instrumental in Jon's life. But he's an easy guy to improve, because every day he went out there with a great outlook to play baseball and the talent was always there. He just needed the repetitions. We are all very, very happy for Jon."

A back injury last May kind of derailed Schoop's 2013 season just as his bat was beginning to take off with the Norfolk Tides. He went on to hit .256 with nine homers, 34 RBIs and a .697 OPS in 70 games with Norfolk. But minus that injury, that could have been a breakout year on offense for him.

While Schoop did not tear it up at Double-A or Triple-A the last couple of years, O's management told me he was progressing very well and that they saw a kid on the rise who had a chance.

Watching him play in Florida this spring, they weren't wrong about that. Schoop said he learned something during some struggles the last two years at Double-A and Triple-A.

"Everything happens for a reason," he said. "That (some struggles) needed to happen for me to know I had to work harder in the offseason to lift and get better.

"I was the youngest (player in those leagues), but the numbers were not bad. And I learned a lot, being a young player in those leagues. I learned how to compete. In baseball you fail sometimes and I learn how to deal with those days."

We don't know yet for sure if Schoop's minor league days are over forever, but we do know the impact he has had the last few days.

Over the past three games, he is 5-for-12 with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs. We saw the power potential from Schoop last March against Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, late last September at Camden Yards when he hit a bomb to center for his first big league homer and the other night at Yankee Stadium.

He's come a long way from the B team at extended spring training. The many O's minor league managers and coaches that helped him along the way must feel a lot of pride about that.