Robbie Widlansky entered Friday hitting .295 since his promotion to Class AAA Norfolk. (Photo courtesy Crystal Spick)
Tide rising
Former Owl Friday: Robbie Widlansky has been swinging a hot bat since his promotion to the Class AAA Norfolk Tides.
Originally published on
8/12/2011
by
Chuck King
At the start of the season, when Robbie Widlansky wanted to talk about his college days at FAU there were plenty of people on the Bowie Baysox who could relate.
That's what happens when two of your former college teammates are also on your professional team.
In recent years Widlansky had been moving through the Baltimore organization with Brandon Cooney. During the off-season the Orioles signed former Owl Jeff Fiorentino and assigned him to the Class AA Baysox.
“It was pretty cool - the other guys would would make fun of us,” Widlansky said. “We talked about it and saw how (the FAU baseball team) was doing. We tried to keep up as much as we can. We would send coach Mac a text every once in while to see how he's doing.”
Fiorentino, who has major league experience, was the first of the trio to leave. Baltimore traded him to Atlanta around mid-season.
Widlansky expected to be promoted to Class AAA Norfolk quickly this season, but a sluggish start kept that from happening.
“I was actually hitting the ball well, things just really weren't going my way,” Widlansky said.
By the middle of summer things had turned around and in July the Orioles promoted Widlansky to the Class AAA Norfolk Tides. In his first game there he faced the Gwinnett Braves – Fiorentino's new team.
So far Widlansky is showing he can play at that level, hitting .295 with two home runs and nine RBI in 23 games.
“I got off to a good start,” Widlansky said. “I'm hitting balls hard and when they find the grass, the batting average will go up.
Widlansky's fast start hit a bit of a speed bump on Wednesday. Actually, the speed bump hit him. After squaring to bunt, Widlansky fouled the ball off his face, leaving him with a black eye.
He left that game, didn't play on Thursday and is listed as day-to-day.
Aside from a little good-natured ribbing from his teammates, Widlansky is not expected to suffer from any lingering effects.
“You always want to keep moving up the ladder,” Widlansky said prior to the injury. “Here I am at Triple A . You want to keep moving and make something happen”