For two years, scouts, writers and front office types have gushed about Orioles catching prospect Matt Wieters, who will make his major league debut Friday against Dontrelle Willis and the Detroit Tigers.
The fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft is big and strong, can hit for average and power, has advanced defensive skills and the demeanor to handle a pitching staff.
Wieters is batting .305 with five home runs and 30 RBIs at Triple-A Norfolk. He has heated up lately, with 18 hits, including four homers and 18 RBIs, in his past 46 at-bats (.391 batting average).
"He is really starting to hit the ball; he has been on quite a streak over the last 10 days," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said Tuesday night. "He has made the progress, the power is starting to come. He is (hitting) over .300 as we speak. ... It's time. He has done what he has needed to do at that level."
Starting Friday, he'll become the club's primary starter behind the plate.
"The lineup is up to the manager, but we didn't bring him up here to sit," MacPhail said. "Just like [rookie outfielder] Nolan Reimold. Nolan didn't come up here to sit. Matt Wieters isn't going to do a lot of sitting."
That's one thing Wieters, who turned 23 last Thursday, doesn't do well - ride the bench. In the fifth game of Norfolk's season, Wieters injured his hamstring and was shelved for a week. While it healed, he went stir-crazy.
He can't remember missing two consecutive games in his entire playing career, not in high school, not in college, not in his only other year as a pro.
Unsure of what to do with the extra time, he created his own dugout games.
"Anything involving sunflower seeds," Wieters said, laughing. "Shooting hoops with them into a cup, spitting them for distance, whatever. ... There's a lot of trying to kill downtime when you are used to being on the field. It's not something I hope to experience often."
Wieters' bat seemed big-league ready after he bashed Single-A and Double-A pitching last year for a combined 27 homers, 91 RBIs and a .355 average, earning Baseball America's Player of the Year honors.
"Right when he came up [to Bowie] and I saw him play for a while, I was like 'Wow,' " said Orioles left fielder Nolan Reimold, who played with Wieters for parts of two seasons. "He can really hit and he can really play."
