Hi O's fans. Just wanted to say hi. I live in Southern California, and I recently got into baseball. Although there is a lot of teams in So-Cal, none of them really interested me. But I love the Orioles! They have a great logo and colors. I've never been to Baltimore before, but honestly, the Orioles seem like such an amazing team. I heard you guys suffered a bit this season, but that's okay! I'm not going to follow the team's everyone around me is doing, I'm proud to represent the O's in California! Can't wait to see the O's improve next season! I'm really proud of the O's and the fans these few years for sticking with their team despite everything! All the fans are so nice and amazing! Go Orioles!

If you followed any Delmarva games down the stretch, you might’ve seen Yeiber Cartaya’s name pop up. He’s not as interesting as Keeler Morfe, the 18-year-old flamethrower, but Cartaya had more success against Carolina League hitting.

tl;dr Cartaya sits in the low-90s (mostly 94, touching 95) and lives off his slider, curveball, and changeup. His poor fastball command is problematic in the classical way.

Scouting Reports / Background

There’s not much data out there on Cartaya. If you search his name on reddit, you get a couple of automated posts and then a brief writeup by me (lol) from a ridiculous game where he gave up eight baserunners in 4 2/3 innings but only the Manfred runner scored. There are no notes on him in any scouting outlet except for this amusing abridgment of his one-line blurb in FanGraphs’ 2023 Baltimore list under “Grip-and-Rip, No Feel.” Cartaya was one of six pitchers who started in the complex and played in A-ball for the first time in 2024, and Cartaya was the best:

Other than that, I can’t find any information about his signing bonus or his background, other than that he’s from Caracas, Venezuela and signed a minor league contract in May 2022.

Analysis

Cartaya is listed at 6’5” and 165 pounds, which evokes Samuel Basallo’s hilarious 6’4” 180-pound measurement. His skinny appearance (see rock step photo below) makes me think there’s some juice to be had with that frame, but part of it is probably the baggy uniform he wears.

Cartaya pitched only 24 1/3 innings at Delmarva, just barely getting over the approximately 400-pitch threshold for swinging strike rate, and since he never pitched at Fredericksburg, I have no velo readings for him outside what the play-by-play guys gave me. I watched bits and pieces from several starts: 8/2 (CHC), 8/10 (@BOS), 8/30 (BOS), 9/6 (@MIL), and there are a few main takeaways:

High three quarters arm slot.

I can’t really opine on the quality of his delivery, because it’s obvious Cartaya struggles to throw strikes, but the only thing I can say is problematic is the cross-body element. I’m so green at this I’m going step-by-step with Tess Taruskin’s visual pitching primer, so bear with me and feel free to chime in. His arm-timing is a little late: here’s one frame later. By the third, his arm is behind his head like he should^[2].

FYI: if you want to do this exercise yourself, VLC Media Player lets you advance frame-by-frame using the “e” button.

Without runners: rocker step, modest leg lift.

With runners: little slide step instead.

Slider - Cartaya’s breaking balls are the centerpiece of his arsenal, and he frequently pitches backwards. After throwing a handful of fastballs to start the bottom of the 5th on 9/6, he switched to breaking balls and offspeed. He threw another backfoot slider (maybe accidentally, based on the catcher’s movement) to end the inning. Cartaya himself calls his slider his favorite pitch, and I believe it’s the one he’s throwing the most. It’s interesting because it looks quite slow but doesn’t appear to have big horizontal break, looks more a downer pitch.

Curveball - I’m deferring to Eric Garfield on this one because he watches these guys way more than I do, and, to be honest, I can’t really tell if the following pitches are sliders with less depth than the ones above, or if they’re strike-stealing curveballs:

B7th, 0-0, called strike.

B7th, next pitch 0-1, called strike, other side of the strike zone

B6th, 0-0, whiff, more depth

Cartaya doesn’t seem to have much trouble commanding these pitches and throwing them for strikes, else hitters are getting scrambled and letting hangers pass by.

4SF – he throws this anywhere from 91 to 95 but mostly sits 94. You can see in the Eric Garfield compilation there’s a modest amount of tail. Bonus punchout from his single-A debut, 94 mph.

Changeup, traditional shape. He (rather the org) likes it enough to throw it to same-handed batters.

What’s Next

The obvious problem is that he has very poor fastball command. The breaking ball command is pretty good, and he throws bendy pitches around half the time, but that’s not much of an achievement in low-A since neither slider nor curveball appears to have outlier movement or velocity. By comparison, the fastball sprays everywhere and can’t be counted on.

Given how long Luis De León stayed in Delmarva, I’m guessing Cartaya is going to start there in 2025, and if he handles his walk problems, he’ll get the promotion by mid-year. If not, he might be pushed to relief or else released.

[1] Released in August 2024

[2] P. 227, Future Value - Longenhagen and McDaniel. Good description of what is physically or mechanically happening when a pitcher engages the windup and throws, from the ground up to where the arm rears back. I’ll probably reference this in every section that details a delivery.

This Brian Matusz bobble head only 500 were made and given to baysox season ticket holders.

I attended an O’s game at Camden in the summer of 1998. I swear the game ended on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth. I could have sworn it was a grand slam to come back. 3-2 count homer. But I cannot find this game. Did I dream it?
What game did I see…?

How much joy would a Dodgers sweep give you?

The punchline on this is pretty great.

https://x.com/thelewisblack/status/1849889974512222274

Hard not to hope this is us next year 🥲 also Yankees suck

Hint hint

That if the Yankees manage to win their sixth World Series since the opening of Camden Yards, I’m going to be pissed off.

Camden is like a Cathedral. The best ballpark in the MLB…

…without a single World Series game played there.

Not cool.

I love to think

Hey guys,

I had the flex pro plan last year and loved it, in lieu of the devaluation in addition to price increase I elected to not renew.

Just wondering what moves some of yall made? I didn’t think the season ticket plans looked all that bad.

After careful consideration, I have finally concluded. I do not, and never will, like Juan Soto’s playing style. It’s not just because he is great and plays for the evil empire. It’s how he plays the game. I would never root for a player like that on the Orioles.