Delmarva pitching staff is on a roll and Buck Showalter has noticed

Reporters have come to expect it. During his pregame press conferences, Orioles manager Buck Showalter will often drift from the topic of his own team to mention something about the Orioles minor leagues.

It happened again earlier this week.

"They've really had some good pitching in Delmarva lately," Showalter said. "You know who's had a really good year down there? (Jimmy) Yacabonis. He's an interesting guy, leading that league in saves. Dean Albany, who has quite a good track record of good evaluations for the Orioles over the years, drafted him. He's been solid."

The skipper sure was right.

They are the young guns on the shore. And those Shorebirds pitchers have quietly been putting up some very impressive numbers.

Single-A Delmarva's team ERA of 2.92 ranks fourth best in the 14-team South Atlantic League. While Hunter Harvey is the headliner with a record of 2-2 and 1.38 ERA, he is far from the only pitcher putting up good numbers for Delmarva.

In May, Delmarva has a team ERA of 1.69. This is quite a run for a pitching staff that ranked near the bottom of the league in team ERA after the first few weeks of the season.

The Shorebirds bullpen has been particularly outstanding with a 7-4 record, 1.99 ERA and 13 saves in 13 chances. The Shorebirds 'pen has allowed just three homers with 119 strikeouts over 122 1/3 innings.

Five Delmarva bullpen pitchers have current scoreless streaks of nine innings or more:

* Jon Keller, a 21-year-old right-hander, has fanned 20 during a 13-inning scoreless run. He has averaged 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings on the year. Keller is the Orioles' No. 17-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America.

* Dylan Rheault, a 6-foot-9, 21-year-old righty currently on the DL with a hamstring strain, is 5-0 with a 0.98 ERA on the season with a 12 1/3 innings scoreless streak. He's been pitching with velocity around 90 mph and getting a lot of groundball outs.

* David Richardson, a 23-year-old right-hander, has not allowed a run over his last 9 1/3 innings. In 19 innings on the year, Richardson, a 17th-round pick in 2010, has worked to a 1.42 ERA.

* Bennett Parry, a 22-year-old hurler, has pitched 10 1/3 innings on the season over eight games allowing just one unearned run on two hits with 13 strikeouts. He is the only lefty in the Birds 'pen, pitching at around 90 mph with his fastball and showing a decent changeup.

* Yacabonis, drafted by the Orioles in round 13 last June out of St. Joseph's University, is the league saves leader. He is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.00 and nine saves in nine chances. Over 13 scoreless innings, he has given up just six hits with nine walks, 17 strikeouts and a .140 average against. Yacabonis has thrown his fastball at 93 and 94 mph.

Keller is interesting. He fell to the 22nd round of last summer's draft in part due to medical concerns. He had thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in the spring 2012 and also has dealt with an elbow strain in his past. But he was healthy and impressive last September at O's instructional league and has been impressive this year. He has pitched in the mid-90s at times and has touched 97 mph both last season and this year.

When I was in Salisbury recently, I asked Shorebirds pitching coach Alan Mills about Keller.

"I like John. Has a good fastball, good slider. Really good body. Wish I had a body like that when I played. Good kid, easy to coach and always wanting to learn. He'll continue to get better," Mills said.

"We'll work on his changeup some. In the future, they may have in mind for him to be a starter. So the development of his change and his slider, which is already a good pitch, is important."

Mills also talked about Yacabonis, who has given up an average of .214 to lefty batters and .103 to right-handed batters.

"Yac likes to compete," Mills said. "He has a very good fastball. Moreso, as far as the action, it moves, has some sinking action and it also can at times have late hop where it rises through the zone. Good breaking ball, can be inconsistent at times. But it can be good and his changeup has come a long way since last year.

"The main problem he fights is just too much effort. Sometimes it's better for him to back off. But I'd rather it be that way, him have to back off than have to light a fire under him. He likes to get after it and he likes having the ball at the end," Mills added.

Steven Brault has pitched well, going 3-2 with a 2.48 ERA over seven Delmarva starts, while Sebastian Vader has pitched to an ERA of 3.62 and Mitch Horacek at 3.35 in the Shorebirds rotation.

Harvey leads the league in strikeouts with 45 and batting average against at .147. He has not allowed a single earned run in five of his seven starts.

Harvey gets deserved headlines and attention as a first-round draft pick putting up excellent numbers. He's a young gun. But he's not the only one on the shore this season.