Michael Baumann was handed the ball for the season opener last month at Low-A Delmarva, the headliner in a rotation that has lived up to its billing as one of the best an Orioles affiliate has had in years.
To top a group that, one that features so many highly rated prospects and top picks that even a six-man rotation couldn't fit them all, means a pitcher must fit the same top-of-the-rotation profile as a big leaguer in that position: dependability, mettle and a steadiness that seeps to all the rest of his rotation mates.
On Tuesday at Perdue Stadium, Baumann showed himself capable of all that and then some with six innings of efficient two-hit ball in a 7-1 win over Greenville that meant, at least for a day, the April dominance of the Shorebirds rotation continued into May.