It's Wieters' 'Time' in Baltimore

The promise of a solid 2011, including cresting the 20 home run mark, a visit to the All-Star Game and a gold glove, has made way for a career-making run in 2012 for Startford grad Matt Wieters.

It doesn't hurt that the Baltimore Orioles are experiencing a renaissance this year, leading the highly-competitive American League East at 21-12 — third among any club in Major League Baseball.

A good portion of that success has to do with the power and leadership coming from Wieters.

ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says Wieters is emerging as one of baseball's best.

Catching is a dirty business, and Wieters is making an impact one foul tip, one blocked ball in the dirt and one relationship at a time.

The guy can also hit. Through Baltimore's first 30 games, Wieters leads big league catchers with a .961 OPS and 58 total bases, and he's tied for first with Texas' Mike Napoli with seven homers.

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Crasnick isn't the only one predicting stardom from Baltimore's backstop. In a Saturday post, the Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly talks about one particularly tough catch Friday at the plate as the Rays' Sean Rodriguez came charging from third.

Wieters was laughing after the game, saying it was "up there" as far as one of the hardest hits he has taken. His dad was here Friday and said he remembers a game Wieters played in high school in which he got hit in the mask and basically was out of it for about five innings.

Yet he still stayed in that game and caught. And he stayed in Friday’s game as well. Yeah, pretty tough guy.