Minor league notes on Miclat, Mahoney, Davis and Aberdeen's draft picks

Early in the season, Double-A Bowie outfielder Xavier Avery was piling up the stolen bases. He now has 26 to rank second in steals among O's minor leaguers. Now Bowie's Greg Miclat is showing the way with 32 stolen bases. That, by the way, is in 32 attempts. Yes, Miclat is 32-for-32 and has not been caught stealing this year. Miclat stole four bases in April, 13 in May, six in June and he has nine in July. The second baseman, a fifth-round draft pick in 2008 out of the University of Virginia, is also batting .388 in 18 games this month. He is batting .273 in 85 games on the year with two homers, 18 RBIs and an OPS of .697. First baseman Joe Mahoney is now batting .293 with seven homers, 27 RBIs and an .881 OPS in 40 games. In 17 games this month, he is batting .318 with four homers, 16 RBIs and a .946 OPS. That Bowie team is red-hot right now and is 15-4 since June 29, improving to 52-43 on the year, good for second place in their division and the third best record in the Eastern League. Bowie pitcher Tim Bascom is 6-2 and his 2.93 ERA is sixth best in the league. Rick Zagone takes the mound tonight when Bowie begins a homestand against Trenton. He has an ERA of 2.57 over his last four starts. The Single-A Frederick Keys continue to have the best record in the Carolina Leaue at 57-38. Last night's loss at Salem ended a six-game Frederick win streak. Manny Machado is batting .295 in 12 July games with a homer, eight RBIs and an .828 OPS. Lefty Jacob Pettit, a 42nd-round draft pick last year, is 2-0 with an ERA 0.75 in his first two Keys starts since moving up from Single-A Delmarva. Frederick pitcher Nate Moreau leads the league with 10 wins. If he gets to 11, he'll be the first Frederick pitcher with 11 wins since Jim Johnson in 2005. Pitcher Matt Bywater, a seventh-round pick last June, made his South Atlantic League debut last night for Single-A Delmarva, giving up six runs in four innings. Delmarva infielder Garabez Rosa now has a 10-game hitting streak and is hitting .410 (16-for-39) during that streak. Catcher Joe Oliveira hit .333 during an 11-game hitting streak that ended last night. Delmarva's Brenden Webb has 13 outfield assists to lead the league. Short-season Single-A Aberdeen outfielder Glynn Davis has a hot bat right now and an IronBirds' season-best, 11-game hit streak. Over the last seven games of the streak, Davis is batting .441 (15-for-34) with four doubles. Matt Hobgood makes his second start for Aberdeen tonight at Brooklyn. On Saturday, he gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) in four innings. The IronBirds have six pitchers taken in the 2011 draft currently on their roster. Here are their stats: Mike Wright (Round 3): 1-0, 3.27 in three starts, 11 IP, 2BB, 11K. Kyle Simon (Round 4): one game, 1 IP, 0 hits or runs Matt Taylor (Round 5): 1-0, 2.57 in three games, 7 IP, 6H, 2 ER Trent Howard (Round 7): 1-1, 3.86, 16 1/3 IP, 3BB, 17K. Devin Jones (Round 9): 1-0, 6.00, 5 games, 9 IP, 9H, 6 ER. Zach Fowler (Round 34): 0-0, 4.50, 4 games, 4 IP, 9H, 2 ER.