Mummey taken from field in Frederick; Beal has surgery

Some of the news coming out of the Orioles minor leagues today is not good. Single-A Frederick is playing Winston-Salem at home right now in a day game and center fielder Trent Mummey has left that game in the second inning after crashing into the center-field wall. He was taken by ambulance from Harry Grove Stadium. If there is further word later, I will pass it along. Meanwhile, Jesse Beal, a promising young right-handed pitcher that was at Single-A Delmarva last summer, had surgery yesterday for labrum repair. It's a major setback for Beal and it can take well over a year for some to come back fully from that procedure. In 2010, the 20-year-old Beal went 7-6 with an ERA of 3.86 over 19 starts and 114 1/3 innings for the Shorebirds. He was expected to be a part of Frederick's rotation this season. He was drafted in round 14 in 2008 out of Virginia's South County High School. Beal was 12-12 with an ERA of 4.05 over three seasons in the organization. Club officials indicate they never saw the velocity from Beal they had expected. He exited last year with good medical reports, but he didn't make it through his throwing program over the winter due to a shoulder impingement and now comes today's news. Meanwhile, Matt Hobgood, the Orioles' first-round pick in 2009, continues on his throwing program as he rehabs a strained rotator cuff. The hope is that Hobgood could be back pitching by mid-June or July and he would likely start out in the Gulf Coast League and then possibly move to another affiliate. Right now, in the bigger picture, the Orioles want to get Hobgood healthy to have a full season on the mound in 2012. Meanwhile, right-hander Ryan Berry, who went 2-5 with an ERA of 3.22 last year between Frederick and Double-A Bowie, is in the very early stages of a throwing program as he rehabs from shoulder tendinitis. Berry has been playing catch from 60 feet so far. He could be back, if all goes well, in June or July, but that seems to be a best-case scenario. Berry had some shoulder issues while in college at Rice. The Orioles today traded Jeff Fiorentino to the Atlanta Braves, as Roch Kubatko posted earlier. They have also traded Paco Figueroa to Philadelphia. They got little in return and essentially just moved players that didn't have much of a future here anymore to open spots for others. This gives the players a chance to get more playing time elsewhere. Fiorentino had been with Bowie while Figueroa was not on a roster at any point yet this season. Finally, Alfredo Simon is expected to throw about 75 pitches when he takes the mound for Bowie in an 11 a.m game tomorrow. If there are any flight delays today as Simon heads north from Sarasota, there is a chance he would make that start tomorrow night for Frederick. Simon's next outing in the minors after tomorrow would come on May 10 or 11.