The Twelve Days of Shoremas, Part II: Birdy Boogaloo

Last week we introduced the Shorebirds' take on a beloved Christmas classic, and a sensation was born. "The Twelve Days of Shoremas" shot to the top of the (totally not-made-up) Billboard MiLB Holiday Standards chart, becoming the envy of minor league markets coast-to-coast and warming the hearts of literally dozens. Several teams tried emulating the Shorebirds with their own holiday rewrites, resulting in hundreds of hours in lost productivity and even two arrests. The less said about "Rockin' Around the Sod Poodle Tree," the better.
Now, after collecting our royalty checks and freshening up our voices with Sherman's Special Singing Elixir and Egg Nog Substitute (patent pending), it's time to present the second half of our 2019 Shorebirds Christmas homage.
On the 6^th Day of Shoremas, the Shorebirds gave to me…
Six straight G-Rod dubs
From the first time he stepped on the mound at Lexington's Whitaker Bank Ballpark on April 5, Shorebirds fans knew they had a bonafide ace in 19-year-old Grayson Rodriguez. He won his team debut in convincing fashion, fanning 10 Legends over five scoreless innings, the first of four scoreless 10-strikeout starts during a magical summer. Rodriguez, the Orioles' first-round pick in 2018, won his first six decisions from April 5 through May 27, notching a 1.47 ERA and striking out 12.78 batters per nine innings. G-Rod became a sensation, starting the South Atlantic League All-Star Game in June and becoming the first Shorebird to make the MLB Futures Game since Hunter Harvey in 2014. At one point the big Texan became the top prospect in the Baltimore system (currently No. 2 behind Adley Rutschman) and finished the year as the SAL's Top MLB Prospect and the Orioles' Jim Palmer Co-Pitcher of the Year. There's a freight train coming to Charm City, and his first depot was Perdue Stadium.
Video: Rodriguez dazzles with 10 Ks again
Five Hundred-Ks!
Grayson Rodriguez may have grabbed the headlines, but the Shorebirds had plenty of power pitching to go around. Five Delmarva pitchers hit 100 strikeouts for the season: Rodriguez (129), Gray Fenter (123), Drew Rom (122), Ryan Wilson (105), and Nick Vespi (100). Fenter saved his best stuff for last, punching out a career-high 13 over 6.1 scoreless innings in Game 2 of the NDCS against Hickory. Most impressive of all might have been Wilson, who didn't even join the team until May 18 but struck out at least seven in half his starts. On the backs of these five aces, plus four others who fanned at least 70, the Shorebirds annihilated the South Atlantic League team record with 1,389 strikeouts.
Video: Fenter punches out 13th batter
Four Winning Streaks
The Shorebirds went on a white-hot 24-4 start on the back of several impressive winning streaks. Delmarva strung together its longest run in eight years with a 10-game streak from April 9-18, including sweeps of Lakewood and Kannapolis for a perfect seven-game homestand. That streak came to an end on the 19^th, but the Shorebirds bounced back and immediately won five more in a row from the 20^th through 27^th. The next month the team took its winning ways on the road, besting Columbia and Asheville in seven straight to get to 24-4. A six-gamer came shortly after the All-Star Break from June 23-28, giving the Shorebirds four separate winning streaks of five or more in 2019.
Three Shore-to-Shows
In its 24 seasons in Salisbury, Delmarva has seen over 100 prospects make it to the major leagues, including 2019 all-stars John Means and Josh Hader. Three more members of the Shorebirds flock made it to The Show in 2019. Frederick native Branden Kline (2013) made his debut with the Orioles on April 20 against Minnesota, eventually pitching in 34 games and picking up his first major league win on May 1 at the Chicago White Sox. Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (2014) fulfilled his familial destiny when he took his first at-bats with the Giants on May 25; he batted .272 with 21 home runs and an impressive .852 in 107 games for San Francisco. Finally, in a long-awaited outing several Shorebirds watched on their phones on the bus in Lakewood on August 17, Hunter Harvey (2014, 2017) struck out two in a scoreless inning at Fenway Park. A former first-round pick, Harvey posted a 1.42 ERA with 11 whiffs across 6.1 innings, setting himself up as perhaps the Orioles' shutdown reliever of the future.
Two Gate-Crashing Nights
The Big Chicken Wing was rocking all summer, but on two nights especially the Delmarva faithful gave it their all. Twice the Shorebirds drew over 6,000 fans at Perdue Stadium, winning on both occasions. In front of a Fourth of July crowd of 7,576, Robert Neustrom doubled home a pair of runs in the second inning that proved to be the difference in a 3-2 win over in-state rival Hagerstown, celebrated at the end with patriotic fireworks galore. Then on August 10 - Mountaire Farms Family Night - 6,987 fans to got to witness the latest and greatest episode of The G-Rod Show. Grayson Rodriguez punched out 10 batters over five scoreless (stop us if you've heard that one before), and Seamus Curran and Adam Hall backed him with home runs as the Shorebirds bounced Kannapolis 5-1. The two big-ticket nights were the high-water mark of a slate that saw Delmarva go 46-24 at home.
And the Minor League Team of the Year!
The best record in the minors (90-48). The most wins in the Sally League since 2006, and the major-league equivalent of winning 106 games. Eight midseason All-Stars, two postseason All-Stars. The SAL's top manager (Kyle Moore), coach (Justin Ramsey), and major-league prospect (Grayson Rodriguez). A comeback for the ages, an emotional family reunion, the highest-profile prospect in a generation, and the end of a 14-year playoff drought. Need we say more?
And there you have it, a Christmas classic five months in the making, a song and season that will live on in Delmarva lure for years to come. Next year we'll adapt it as a Hallmark Christmas movie - anybody have Kristen Chenoweth on speed dial? - but for now, we bid all Shorebirds fans a safe and happy holiday season. Here's to flying together in 2020!