For the final series of the 2023 season, the Delmarva Shorebirds faced off once more with the Fredricksburg Nationals.
In similar fashion to the rest of their season, the Shorebirds were no match for their opponent. Weather limited this series to five games, in which the Shorebirds won just one game. They also played a make-up game that was postponed back in July, which the Shorebirds did win.
Here are the final scores from this week:
Game one: DEL 4, FBG 0
Game two: DEL 4, FBG 5
Make-up from 7/9: DEL 9, FBG 3
Game three: DEL 5, FBG 6
Game four: DEL 10, FBG 15
Game five: DEL 1, FBG 3
Angel Tejada isn’t a prospect that has been talked about very much. However, he must feel really good about how he finished off the season. In five games played, the 19-year-old shortstop netted eight hits, with three multi-hit games.
Luis Valdez is another youngster who didn’t seem to create as much noise as last season. Even with that, he still finished the year with an astounding 47 stolen bases. His last series wasn’t as insane as 47 steals, but it was still really good. He also finished with eight base hits and three multi-hit games.
Adam Crampton, another young infielder, added a good bit of offense during this week. He tallied four hits, with hits in three straight games, as well as four RBIs across three consecutive games.
Overall, in 2023, the Shorebirds offense saw a great deal of ups and downs. When the lineup began with bats like Jackson Holliday, Samuel Basallo and Creed Willems, it looked like a powerhouse club. But as the way with the minor leagues, the better players come and go quicker.
We saw that with many quick stops from the organizations’ finest, like the three above, as well as players like Carter Young, Enrique Bradfield Jr., Mac Horvath and Matthew Etzel.
The pitching wasn’t much different from the offense, except the staff saw fewer big-name guys. However, a few of the guys you all should know by now shined in this last week.
Teddy Sharkey had a phenomenal final week. The 2023 draft pick added four more innings between two separate two-inning outings. He allowed just one hit in these two appearances. This means Sharkey finished his first professional season with 10 innings pitched and an ERA of zero.
Deivy Cruz stamped a great season to a close with 5.2 great innings across two appearances. He allowed just two hits and one run in his time on the mound this week. This put Cruz at a 3.62 ERA over 97 innings this year, and in those 97 innings, Cruz struck out 103 batters with a WHIP of 1.28.
Although he had been promoted prior to the start of this series, Edgar Portes is the other arm that really made a name for himself at Delmarva this year. If you have kept up with these Shorebirds recaps, you have seen that Portes was a rock in the middle of a turbulent staff.
Portes finished off his Delmarva season with 84.1 innings pitched that saw 110 strikeouts. His ERA at Low-A ended at 4.27, and that is definitely inflated from a rough beginning.
As this season comes to a close for the Shorebirds, there are many players we hope you all now know more about. We are very excited to see a lot of that good young talent we saw in Delmarva begin their 2024 season with High-A on their radar.
Your Delmarva Shorebirds finished the 2023 season with an overall record of 56-74, good for last in the North Division of the Carolina League.
Who stood out to you for the Shorebirds this season? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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