Updates on Mahoney and Hoes

There is news to report today on two players that have been among the best this year in the Orioles farm system: L.J. Hoes and Joe Mahoney. Mahoney has been named the latest Player of the Week in the Eastern League. The 23-year-old lefty hitter went 3 for 3 in his first game at Bowie on July 9 and has been hitting ever since. He has now played 15 games at Double-A, batting .439-6-15 with an OPS of 1.317. He is batting .487 vs. right-handed pitching. Over his last four Baysox games, Mahoney is 11 for 16 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. Hoes will leave Frederick and join Double-A Bowie for the next three games, starting tonight. He temporarily replaces Joel Guzman on the roster. Guzman is in New York continuing to work on getting his U.S citizenship. This will be just a three-game stint for Hoes with Bowie and, for now at least, the O's are not moving him up to Double-A. I'm told no matter how he does in these three games, he will move back to Frederick. Hoes will likely DH for the Baysox and maybe play one game at second base while there. Hoes has gone 8 for 11 over his last three Frederick games and is now batting .289 on the year with the Keys. At the age of just 20, Hoes is having a real solid year in the Carolina League and everyone you talk to seems to rave about his smarts, talent and work ethic. Meanwhile, the O's have had some discussions about promoting some of their top young outfielders later this summer. Trent Mummey could possibly move to Delmarva with a player like Steven Bumbry going to Frederick and perhaps Xavier Avery to Bowie. At this point, it's just in the discussion phase and no final decisions have been made. The position of center field has turned into one of strength right now on the farm with Matt Angle at Norfolk, Danny Figueroa at Bowie, Avery at Frederick, Bumbry at Delmarva and Mummey at Aberdeen. Matt Hobgood pitched just two innings last night because of a rain delay in the Delmarva game. Hobgood's next scheduled start is set for Friday. Brandon Erbe and Kam Mickolio remain with Aberdeen on injury-rehab assignments with Mickolio scheduled to pitch an inning tonight. Erbe's next IronBirds start, where he should throw about 50 pitches, is set for Thursday.