Was ever a pitcher so rushed up the chain? Three months after the Orioles made him baseball's No. 1 draft pick, McDonald stood on the mound at Memorial Stadium, the crowd cheering his every warm-up pitch. His minor league resume: 101 pitches thrown at Single-A Frederick. Yet there the 6-foot-7 right-hander stood, summoned in relief of starter Curt Schilling with Cleveland Indians runners at the corners and one out.
McDonald needed one pitch to end the inning - a soft liner that Ripken caught for a double play. The fans went nuts. "It sounded like someone had hit a five-run homer," The Evening Sun reported.
McDonald's line that day: 2 2/3 scoreless innings pitched, one hit, two strikeouts and one balk.
MIKE MUSSINA (Aug. 4, 1991):
"Moose" lost his first start, 1-0, in Chicago, but he mightily impressed his White Sox counterpart that blustery day.
"He [Mussina] will win a lot of games and make a lot of money," predicted Charlie Hough, a 21-year veteran knuckleballer.
Mussina, who had been the Orioles' top draft choice in 1990, threw 128 pitches, only one of which got away - a sixth-inning home run by Frank Thomas.
JEFFREY HAMMONDS (June 25, 1993: )
His start was all the Orioles could have hoped: a perfect (2-for-2) day at bat and an RBI in a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees. On Hammonds' last trip to the plate, the Yankees walked the 22-year-old outfielder intentionally to pitch to David Segui, a .320 hitter. Talk about respect.
One year out of college, Hammonds - the Orioles' No. 1 pick in the 1992 draft - ascended quickly, spending one month at both Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Rochester before his call-up.
NICK MARKAKIS (April 3, 2006):
On Opening Day, he was slipped into the game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement, perhaps to calm the nerves of a 22-year-old outfielder being trumpeted as a star.
Caution be damned. Next game, Markakis poled a 402-foot home run against Tampa Bay for his first big-league hit.
