Aaron Rakers

Organization Prospect Rankings

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  Ranked Baltimore Orioles #22 prospect in 2006
  Rakers may run for mayor of Ottawa at this rate. After spending about half the 2003 season there, he pitched effectively and led the Lynx in appearances in 2004 and made his big league debut that September. He returned to Ottawa last year and again led the team in appearances. He's the third Southern Illinois-Edwardsville player to reach the majors, joining Champ Summers and Dennis Werth. Rakers has an average fastball, sitting at 90 mph and occasionally touching 92, and uses a splitter as his out pitch. He has good command and is effective as long as he keeps the ball down. He'll open the season at 29, so there's no reason for him to continue taking up a spot on the 40-man if he's not in the majors. The Orioles gave him a 14-inning look in 2005, and with nothing left to prove in the minors, Rakers should break camp with the big league club this spring.
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  Ranked Baltimore Orioles #19 prospect in 2005
  Rakers (pronounced "rockers") finally earned his first big league callup in September, getting promoted after leading Ottawa in appearances in 2004. It continued a slow but steady progression he has made through the organization, though it seems he might have reached the big leagues sooner based on his performance. As a 23rd-round pick out of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (where he was a teammate of former Orioles pitcher Dave Crouthers), however, Rakers has had to prove himself every step of the way. He has done that in spite of a fastball that's average at best, usually coming in around 90 mph. His out pitch is his split-finger, however, which has made him effective against both lefthanders (.245) and rightanders (.220). Rakers has proven all he's going to prove in the minor leagues, so he'll compete for a big league bullpen spot in spring training.
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  Ranked Baltimore Orioles #29 prospect in 2004
  A teammate of Dave Crouthers at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Rakers continues to inch toward a possible big league bullpen job. After spending parts of four seasons in Double-A, he finally moved up to Triple-A and has put elbow problems behind him. Though he sometimes struggled with Ottawa because of command problems, he made up for that performance with a strong Arizona Fall League, going 5-0, 1.96 with a 24-4 strikeout-walk ratio in 18 innings. Rakers' out pitch is his splitter, but there's concern that big league hitters will lay off it and sit on his fastball, which is 90 mph and tends to straighten out. Rakers has become more effective against lefthanders, so now he just needs to show the same command that he did in the AFL. He'll be a darkhorse candidate for the big league bullpen in spring training but more likely will return to Triple-A to start the season.
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  Ranked Baltimore Orioles #17 prospect in 2003
  Rakers (pronounced ROCK-ers) played at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville with Dave Crouthers, and he has been a successful reliever as a pro despite a fastball that's fringe average. Some in the organization compare him to Greg McMichael. After sharing closing duties at Bowie in 2001, Rakers missed the first seven weeks of the 2002 season recovering from surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. He returned to Double-A in June and put together an impressive season, then made up for some lost innings in the Arizona Fall League. Rakers' fastball is straight and tops out at 90 mph, but he has an out pitch in his splitter. He does lose consistency with his splitter at times, however. Rakers has added a slider as he tries to find a weapon to make him more effective against lefthanders, who hit .274 against him last year. He also needs to refine his command. Pitchers with Rakers' stuff have to prove themselves every step of the way. He'll get his next opportunity in the Triple- A bullpen.