Delmarva duo: Sisco and Dosch have been among O's best minor league batters

During a season where the Orioles have had several position player prospects - like Christian Walker, Mike Yastrzemski and Dariel Alvarez - garner attention and earn promotions, two young kids at Single-A Delmarva have just continued to crank out the hits and put up big seasons of their own.

Shorebirds catcher Chance Sisco and third baseman Drew Dosch rank among the top hitters this season in the South Atlantic League. Sisco has proven his strong first impression last year wasn't a fluke. Dosch proved he's healthy and should be considered when you talk about the organization's top position player prospects.

Sisco was the O's organization Player of the Month for June when he hit .404. Dosch won the same honor in July, when he hit .364. Sisco is first in the league in OBP and second in batting average. Dosch ranks second in the Sally League in hits, fourth in OBP and seventh in batting.

Just 19, Sisco was selected in round two last June out of Santiago High School in Corona, Calif. Drafted primarily because of his strong bat, he hit .371 last summer in the Gulf Coast League.

The hitting continued this year as he played his first full pro season. In 102 games for the Shorebirds, the lefty hitter is batting .332 with 22 doubles, a triple, four homers and 54 RBIs. He has walked 41 times with 73 strikeouts and has an OBP of .403, a .426 slugging percentage and an .830 OPS.

He has hit .350 since the All-Star break and .360 with runners in scoring position. Yeah, it's been a real solid year.

I asked O's director of player development Brian Graham about Sisco.

"He has good hand-eye coordination, but the biggest key is he uses the whole field," Graham said. "He hits from line to line. He takes what the pitcher gives him. You never see him trying to overswing. He rarely tries to pull a ball that's away. He does a good job getting the bat to the ball. There is some pureness to his swing."

Graham said Sisco is a better player now than the Orioles saw after the 2013 draft.

"He's stronger and he's more mature," he said. "Last year, that poor kid was so tired by the end of the season. And he did well. But he was catching in the heat in Florida and he was not used to playing every day. This year, he's stronger and learning how to handle the grind of the minor leagues."

Considering this was just the second year Sisco played catcher - he didn't move there until his senior year of high school - the Orioles had a specific plan for him at that position this season.

"We had a projection in place when the year started on how many games we'd like him to catch," Graham said. "In a 140-game schedule, if he could catch 80 to 90 games while also DHing, I feel really good about where he will be at the end of the season.

"His defense is getting better. He's receiving, blocking and calling good games and showing leadership. He's still only 19. For a 19-year-old to do what he is doing at that level is very impressive."

Graham says any talk that Sisco may eventually need to switch positions is way premature.

"Way too early," he said. "Caleb Joseph is catching in the big leagues at 27, doing a good job. I would be cautious with thinking that about a catcher at such a young age. Absolutely fine with where he is on defense right now."

He said Sisco could improve on his throwing.

"Yes and it's not arm strength necessarily. It's the mechanics of receiving and the release and accuracy, it's a combination. He's done a good job but there is room for improvement," Graham said.

The Orioles drafted Dosch in round seven of the 2013 draft out of Youngstown State. They drafted Dosch knowing just weeks earlier he suffered a torn ACL and that he could not play until this year.

But the Orioles felt certain Dosch would fully recover and executive vice president Dan Duquette himself saw him play in the Cape Cod League, where he hit .333 in the summer of 2012 and pushed for the club to select the left-handed batter.

A native of Ohio, the 22-year-old Dosch has played 120 games for the Shorebirds. He is batting .322 with 21 doubles, three triples, five homers and 49 RBIs. He has walked 44 times and struck out 92 times with an OBP of .386, a .411 slugging percentage and .797 OPS.

To say the least, Graham has been very impressed by Dosch.

"Very solid approach to hitting, possibly the best approach to hitting in the organization," Graham said. "In terms of getting a good pitch to hit, using the whole field, staying on balls, driving balls, understanding the strike zone.

"He's made some pretty good adjustments since he's gotten into pro ball. The mechanics of his swing has improved. When you put a wooden bat in a guys hand, you really have to use your hands."

Graham said Dosch's defense has been solid at the hot corner.

"Dosch is athletic with good hands, an average arm and good reactions to the ball off the bat. He has average range and just needs to become more consistent," Graham said.

But as for that bat, over the first four months of the season, Dosch's average increased. From .290 in April to .324 in May, .340 in June and .364 in July.

"This is an extremely bright player," Graham said. "A really intelligent player and he's made some good adjustments. For as good as he was, he didn't have a real vast knowledge of baseball at this level. He missed the rookie league introduction year because of the knee surgery. So this is his first experience in pro ball.

"You know what? (Manager) Ryan Minor and (coach) Paco Figueroa deserve a lot of credit for the direction and improvement of Dosch and Sisco."

So when you talk about the best hitters on the O's farm this, year don't forget that Sisco kid and his friend with Delmarva.