Non-drafted JD Mundy swung a potent bat in 2021 season

During my series of interviews with the four full-season Orioles minor league managers, I talked with 2021 high Single-A Aberdeen manager Kyle Moore and we discussed a few of his players from last season.

Today we'll take a closer look at first baseman JD Mundy. In this recent entry, we discussed pitchers Garrett Stallings and Jake Prizina.

Among the 28 Orioles on the farm last season who had 300 or more plate appearance, Mundy was an impressive first in OPS at .926. Adley Rutschman was second (.899) and Kyle Stowers was third (.897). In 72 games between low Single-A Delmarva and Aberdeen, Mundy batted .291/.390/.536 with 20 doubles, 15 homers and 57 RBIs. Even though he played about half a season, he ranked tied for 11th in the organization in homers.

Mundy was limited to 72 games due to a broken finger that is now healed. His last game turned out to be with Aberdeen on Aug. 15. He got promoted Aug. 17 to Double-A Bowie, which would have been his third level of the season, but he never played a game for the Baysox.

"I liked his ability to do damage," said Moore, who will manage at Double-A Bowie this coming season. "A left-handed hitter. Just seemed to handle all the best arms very well. That is something I always look at - is he beating up bad relievers or good starters? Mundy can really get to high velocity and quality stuff. I love his ability to do damage to all fields. He had homers to left and left-center. Just super hands and just a lot of bat-whipping out in front of the plate that you like to see from a hitter's perspective.

"He didn't strike out a lot. His swing decisions were really good - he doesn't chase. He does hit for power and can be profiled like that as a first baseman. But he had a lot of big hits and did not strike out a lot with us based on those good swing decisions. He can be a real hitter, for sure."

Mundy had an OPS of 1.038 in May with Delmarva and .882 in 52 Aberdeen games. For the year, his strikeout rate was 23.4 and he ranked sixth among the 28 O's farmhands with those 300 plate appearances with a solid 12.7 walk rate. He rated just 23rd of 28 in fly ball rate but third in homers per fly ball rate, so he could improve on getting the ball in the air more.

Mundy was signed by the Orioles as a non-drafted free agent after the shortened 2020 five-round draft. The Roanoke, Va., native played his first two college seasons at Virginia Tech and then transferred for two more seasons with Radford. Players could sign for just $20,000 after the 2020 draft as free agents and Mundy elected to sign. He told me for this article in June that the Yankees, Mariners and Orioles pursued him the most.

"I just ultimately ended up choosing the Orioles," Mundy said at Ripken Stadium. "Felt like it was the best fit for me. I talked to all the hitting coaches at each level and just talked to the staff in general and just felt this was the best decision for my career. They showed me what the organization had to offer and stuff we would work on in practice and spring training. And stuff I would do during the season. That really sold me on the Orioles."

I asked Moore about Mundy's big league potential. What would it take for him to make it all the way with the Orioles?

"I've told this to him, so I feel comfortable saying this: He's got to take care of his body, so he stays on the field all year, which is everybody," Moore said. "And the other thing for me as a manager, he's got to play average defense and work his tail off to become average at first base. He does that, the hitting will take care of itself. If he takes care of his body, stays on the field every night and can play average defense, then he might have a chance.

"He would (be average on defense at times). He's a good athlete and he throws pretty well. He's got some ability and there would be any times, like with just about any A-ball guy you'd say, 'He has to work on that.' I don't think he played a lot of defense in college, so we have to do some skill building with him."