Jonathan Schoop has started his rehab games, close to return

Good news about Jonathan Schoop. The 23-year old infielder has started his rehab games. He has been appointed to the Bowie Baysox, where his older brother Sharlon played before he was promoted (again) to AAA Norfolk on June 17.

Since his first rehab game at AA level, Jonathan wasn’t hitting very well. In his first three games he only got one hit out of eleven at bats. But in his last game he caught fire all of a sudden. In four at bats he collected three hits, raising his average from 0,090 to .267.
So far he has played four straight games at second base even though Orioles manager Buck Showalter said that Schoop should have a few days rest.

The Orioles are very careful with the infielder from Curacao as they didn’t put a timeframe on his rehab. But it remains to be seen if Schoop will need the remaining sixteen days of his rehab game session.

Even though Ryan Flaherty has done a very good job with the O’s, replacing Jonathan Schoop, but the latter’s power bat may give him an advantage over Flaherty.

A big thanks goes out to Gerk Oberman, who made me aware of this news.