End of another long week...

Hey everyone I hope this finds you in good health!

This has been a long week and my body is starting to shut it down. As this season becomes longer and longer all the aches and pains start to become more and more prevalent. My back has been bothering me for a week or so and I think the only thing it needs is a break! Im starting to miss my family a lot and I am really excited to see my brothers. I havent seen them in a few months and I cant wait to hear all about Ole Miss. Also I am excited for cold weather and getting in a deer stand. Im sorry this is such a short entry but I am not feeling well and ill try to add on later on this week. Here are few more Q and A's God Bless.

I saw that one of your brothers broke a lot of your hitting records at WHS along with Justin Bour, do you see them getting drafted out of college?
I think that all three of those guys have a chance of being drafted. Justin is having a lot of success at George Mason and my brothers are down at Ole Miss. Each of them are big strong guys who put a hurting on the baseball. As long as they mature I don't think there will be any question whether they play pro ball.

Did the guys at Frederick feel any pressure this year as O's fans look to the Keys as having quite a few future O's on the team?
If anything, there was less pressure because we had so much talent on our team. And i think that it showed early but as the season went on and other things started to happen it started to affect the team. It was especially tough to lose our manager Tommy Thompson. He was the heart of our team and when he left he took a lot of us with him.

Are you all mostly friends or are there jealousies that crop up? How about when a guy like Matusz or Wieters joins the team with their huge bonus deals and automatic 40-man roster spots - is there jealousy there? For the most part we are all friends. All that stuff doesn't bother me in the least. I play everyday for what I can do for the team and also what I can do for myself. All that stuff has nothing to do with me and I know i will have my opportunity in due time.

Have the Orioles given you a clear plan as to how they want to progress you through the farm system? Do you know what you need to accomplish in order to get to the next level?
The communication in our organization is not always the best and to be honest I do not know what their plan is for me. I know what I need to do and I believe it has a lot to do with my defense. Out of high school I was one of the top three defensive players in the draft and I don't believe I have lost that. I just need to get more comfortable at the positions im playing and go from there. Everyday I am at the field I work at both first and third to make sure im getting better each day.

Once you get drafted and sign with a team, do you automatically become a fan of the parent club, or is it hard to break from the team you've liked since childhood? I've been an O's fan since I was 7 - I couldn't imagine ever switching my allegiance. I grew up in Virginia and because there was no Nationals i was an Orioles fan. So it was easy for me.

What did you think about the playoffs, and specifically the Rays and Phillies? I live in Philadelphia now and it was cool to see the city celebrate, but there were plenty of grumblings about the rain delay game and umpiring in general. Any thoughts?
I really wanted the Rays to win because I have a few buddies on the team. Also I really liked watching them all year. They had a spark that no other team had. They were young and extremely talented and it would of been a great story. As for the Umpires...They were horrible on BOTH sides. I wont say it lost the series or anything like that but it was unbelievably bad and Major League Baseball has got to figure out a way so that it wont happen like that again.