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Penn's Debut
by Steven Smith

BALTIMORE-- Highly touted prospect Hayden Penn made his major league debut Saturday. Penn was called up on Thursday from AA Bowie to replace Orioles starter Erik Bedard, who went on the 15-day DL because he sprained his MCL in his left knee. Penn is only 20 years old, and has had undeniable success on the mound in the minor leagues. At AA Bowie in 2005, Penn has thrown 49 innings, allowing 45 hits and 15 walks while striking out 58 batters and allowing only 3.12 runs per 9 innings. He has sharp stuff and great command of 3 pitches, but anybody who has seen him pitch in person would tell you he has the smarts, the control and the poise of a savvy veteran. Saturday, there were flashes when Penn looked like that savvy veteran, and it was quite obvious at times that Penn was making his major league debut.

The first inning went relatively smoothly for Penn as he allowed a 2-out single to Dmitri Young but nothing more. Despite a poor changeup from Penn that Craig Monroe hit into the Orioles bullpen in the 2nd inning, Hayden put it behind him and proceeded to get out of the inning. His 3rd inning was his only 1-2-3 inning, as he got Nook Logan to fly out and then struck out Brandon Inge and Carlos Guillen back to back. However, in the 4th inning he began to come unraveled. He walked back to back batters to load the bases after Rondell White led off the 4th with a single, but then that poise and veteran mindset appeared as has Penn had the presence to get over and cover first on a ground ball to get him out of the inning. No runs scored that inning, and through 4 innings of play, the Orioles had a 2-1 lead. If Penn could've gotten through the 5th scoreless, barring a bullpen collapse Penn was in line to win his Major League debut. After the bases were loaded with 1 out in the 5th, Penn buckled down, again showing his baseball smarts as he threw a great pitch that was diving down and away from Rondell White. White hit the top of it and hard right to Brian Roberts. Roberts flipped on to Miguel Tejada for the out at second and the return throw was in plenty of time, however Rafael Palmeiro just dropped it. Nook Logan scored to tie the game at 2-2. Palmeiro got an error on the play but Penn was dejected after that. Pudge Rodriguez hit a ground rule double sharply down the line and the Tigers took a 3-2 lead at that point. Lee Mazzilli had seen enough and decided to go to the bullpen after just 4.2 IP. However, the Camden crowd gave Penn a standing ovation as they realize it was Palmeiro, not Penn who was responsible for those runs to score. Penn's final line was 4.2 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 4 walks, (1 intentional) and 4 strikeouts.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Penn had the stuff. It was apparent in the 4 batters he struck out and 6 ground ball outs he got that he belongs at the Major League level. And while it seems on paper like he had a pretty decent day even today, his immaturity stuck out like a sore thumb. He walked 4 batters, went to 6 full counts in 22 batters. To throw gas on the fire, he threw 101 pitches in not even 5 innings, and no inning was shorter than 17 pitches. There were times when he walked around the mound and that poise was nowhere to be found. In time, he will be a very effective Orioles starter. However in his debut, he certainly looked like a 20 year old rookie.