Who is he?

The Norfolk Tides’ bullpen catcher, who gets added to the active roster on occasions when the Tides will be shorthanded for a couple of days and it’s not worth having someone else travel to the team. He’s been in the Orioles’ organization since 2009, and has had a total of 17 plate appearances. He’s played two games in the field.

This has nothing to do with Zach Booker, but in 2007 the Tides’ bullpen catcher/emergency roster filler role was filled by a young man named Morgan Clendenin (who was in every way a more substantial player than Zach Booker.) On June 17, 2007, Clendenin was in the lineup against the Buffalo Bisons.

In the press box, while we watch the games, we’ll occasionally call “Yahtzee!” when we think a player will hit a home run. When Morgan Clendenin led off the bottom of the third inning against Sean Smith, the Tides’ Media Relations Director Ian Locke half-jokingly called “Yahtzee!”. Sure enough, Clendenin drove Smith’s second pitch over the right-center-field fence. Ever since then, our “Yahtzee!” calls have felt a little anti-climatic, because no triumph will ever top Ian’s prediction that the bullpen catcher would hit a home run at that precise time.