Projectable
The good news for Orioles prospect Adam Loewen is that his arm seems OK. He had a torn labrum last year, but thankfully surgery was avoided, and he healed the injury through rest and rehab. He also has a 3.38 ERA through four starts for Class A Frederick in the Carolina League.
The bad news is that his command has been quite poor. In 18.2 innings, he's given up 19 walks. He's kept his ERA decent because he's fanned 17 and allowed just 13 hits, but I would be very wary of becoming too optimistic at this stage. With a walk ratio like that, his ERA is bound to rise.
This is a development season for him, and the Orioles would be best served by leaving him at Frederick for the entire year. Loewen is still putting his mechanics together, and needs to show he can hold up under a pro workload. While Loewen retains a lot of long-term potential, the Major League contract he signed could come back to haunt him. . .he could run out of options before being ready for the big time. In any event, we need to see better command before Loewen moves back up the top prospect lists. Grade C+ prospect.
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