Hunter Harvey: "I couldn't wait to get back to a ballfield"

Hunter Harvey: "I couldn't wait to get back to a ballfield"
Hunter Harvey was craving the chance to work a complete season out of the Orioles bullpen. A schedule consisting of 162 games. With the removal of signs suggesting that the team proceed with caution. Just as past injuries have been out of Harvey's control, so too is a pandemic that leaves teams with only 60 games and a slew of adjustments to the roster and rules. What hasn't changed is Harvey's mullet, unless the top of the grading scale has gone from spectacular to ultra-spectacular. He...
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Orioles' first intrasquad game features home runs by Núñez and Hays

Orioles' first intrasquad game features home runs by Núñez and Hays
Austin Hays led off the top of the first inning tonight with a fly ball to the right field warning track. It bounced. It rolled. No one was around to retrieve it. Mark it down as F-9. Stevie Wilkerson was the only outfielder for the "home" team in the intrasquad game at Camden Yards. He played center field. Flanked by two ghost defenders. DJ Stewart played left field and Hays was in center for the "visiting" team, which settled for a 3-3 tie as the last few innings dissolved into live...
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Iglesias sitting out tonight's intrasquad game (and other notes)

Iglesias sitting out tonight's intrasquad game (and other notes)
Orioles shortstop José Iglesias won't play in tonight's intrasquad game at Camden Yards due to soreness in his back that kept him out of yesterday's workout. Manager Brandon Hyde said it's a precautionary move and is hoping that Iglesias will be available on Thursday. Tonight's game is going to be relaxed, which is typical of intrasquad settings. Hyde said he'll use some "ghost defenders" rather than filling every position. "You'll see a not full field out there," Hyde said during...
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Intrasquad games move Orioles to next phase of evaluations

Intrasquad games move Orioles to next phase of evaluations
The summer training camp is moving into its next phase for the Orioles. Past the routine workouts that define the spring version. Bring on the intrasquad games and some semblance of competition while manager Brandon Hyde turns up the heat on the evaluation process that's going to pare the roster to 30 players on opening day. Orioles versus Orioles is happening at Camden Yards for at least the next four nights. All of them 7 p.m. starts with two-hour media access. "These guys are itching to...
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Elias explains policy on testing (plus workout notes, draft signings)

Elias explains policy on testing (plus workout notes, draft signings)
Orioles outfielders Dwight Smith Jr. and Anthony Santander remained absent for a fifth consecutive day of workouts. Explanations are going to be withheld for now based on a club policy that executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias shared this afternoon. While other teams have confirmed the numbers of positive tests for COVID-19, making names public if given permission, the Orioles are giving the silent treatment. "We have a really elaborate testing setup that has been issued by the...
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More on players adapting to changes, Hyde on Hays and Davis

More on players adapting to changes, Hyde on Hays and Davis
The 2020 schedule is official, with the Orioles on the road for their first two series prior to the July 29 home opener against the Marlins. More weirdness in an unprecedented season. Never before has Major League Baseball held opening day at such a late date, with two games on July 23 and the rest July 24. The Orioles haven't opened in Boston since 1966. And the Marlins as their first opponent at Camden Yards? If you seek normalcy, set the alarm clock for 2021 and say a few prayers. Players...
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Orioles hold their fourth workout as other teams cancel

Orioles hold their fourth workout as other teams cancel
Multiple teams canceled their morning workouts today, including the Nationals and Astros, due to the delays in receiving results of the COVID-19 testing over the weekend that's done on a regular basis as camps opened across the country. Other teams have pushed back their workouts. The Orioles gathered at Camden Yards for their fourth workout, pitchers and position players subjected to a stifling heat that's never going to be the most pronounced health risk in 2020. No one on the team is known...
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Orioles opening in Boston as part of shortened season

Orioles opening in Boston as part of shortened season
A baseball season cut down to 60 games will start for the Orioles later this month in Boston. Major League Baseball released the schedules tonight and the Orioles are going to play the Red Sox in a three-game series that begins July 24. First pitch for the opener is 7:30 p.m. They won't return to Camden Yards until completing a two-game series against the Marlins in Miami. The first home game is July 29 against the Marlins, with the starting time set at 7:05 p.m. The coronavirus pandemic has...
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Orioles working to stay together while pushed apart

Orioles working to stay together while pushed apart
As the Orioles transformed yesterday's summer training camp workout from batting practice in the cage to live BP sessions for a group of relievers, projected starter Asher Wojciechowski emerged from the home dugout and headed over to the visiting side. Long hair tied back and a smile on his face as he joined a couple of his teammates. Maybe a chance to feel normal again if only for a few minutes. There isn't much mingling for the Orioles and other clubs during the pandemic. Pitchers dress in...
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Hyde on pitching updates, roster flexibility and more

Hyde on pitching updates, roster flexibility and more
Orioles pitchers Alex Cobb and Mychal Givens will throw live batting practice on Monday after doing side work earlier in summer training camp. They, too, are marked as present and active. "Really good. They threw the ball well," manager Brandon Hyde said in today's Zoom conference call when asked how the two right-handers have looked after three days. Cobb threw to hitters on a back field at the Ed Smith Stadium complex on the day that baseball shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. He...
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John Means: "I was ready to feel like I was worth something again"

John Means: "I was ready to feel like I was worth something again"
The Orioles haven't named their opening day starter for July 24, an announcement shelved due to baseball's shutdown. John Means was lined up for the assignment and nothing has happened to change the narrative. Means worked four "innings" yesterday while throwing live batting practice, which actually meant dialing down from his home activity. "I think I'm very close," he said today in a Zoom conference call. "Over the quarantine, I had built up to five innings, 75 pitches, but since the...
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Contending vs. evaluating remains a popular storyline

Contending vs. evaluating remains a popular storyline
The ability of a 60-game season to thrust teams with normally low expectations into contender status has become a fascination of sorts in Baltimore. Fans wonder if the Orioles can make the playoffs, or at least flirt with the possibility from their lowered bar until closing time, due to the unusual dynamics brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Media is, at the least, curious about the possibility. The playoff field isn't expanded, since Major League Baseball had to implement its own vision of...
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Recapping Day 2 of summer training camp

Recapping Day 2 of summer training camp
The Orioles still don't have a full turnout for their summer training camp, with manager Brandon Hyde saying again this afternoon that a couple of Dominican players remain in the intake process for COVID-19 testing. "We're still waiting on that," Hyde said today in a Zoom conference call. While some teams are confirming positive tests, whether or not they receive permission from players to reveal the names, the Orioles are keeping the process under wraps. Major League Baseball announced...
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More from the first day of summer training camp

More from the first day of summer training camp
The Sarasota portion of camp ended for the Orioles on March 12, almost four months passing before they could reconvene at Camden Yards for unprecedented summer sessions. The roster has undergone some changes, with 45 players plunging into a pool and 15 others expected at the alternate site in Bowie. Manager Brandon Hyde won't block out everything he saw at the Ed Smith Stadium complex and during Grapefruit League games. It still counts. "Yeah, I think so," he said yesterday after leaving his...
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Davis on the "most odd, just random, weirdest" day of his baseball life

Davis on the "most odd, just random, weirdest" day of his baseball life
Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has played a game with no fans inside the ballpark. He's eclipsed 50 home runs, earned a win on the mound, received the richest contract in franchise history and endured the longest hitless streak for a position player to start a season. Nothing, however, can compare to what he experienced today at Camden Yards. So many changes implemented to keep everyone safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The social distancing, the masks, the hand sanitizer stations on...
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Hearing from Hyde and LeBlanc on first day of summer training camp

Hearing from Hyde and LeBlanc on first day of summer training camp
The oddity of holding a summer training camp in July at Camden Yards showed itself this afternoon in a variety of ways. More than just the month and location. Starting up again after the coronavirus pandemic shut down baseball in March, the Orioles held their first workout today with Tommy Milone and Thomas Eshelman facing hitters while executive vice president Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde watched from the stands behind home plate. Separated by the tunnel that leads onto the...
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Dwight Smith Jr. on baseball's return and his fundraiser

Dwight Smith Jr. on baseball's return and his fundraiser
The temperature in Baltimore today is supposed to reach 98 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. But there will be Orioles on the Camden Yards field. Sweating for a shortened season. The summer camp begins this morning with staggered workouts. The facility and social distancing don't allow 44 players to perform drills simultaneously. Pitchers will do their throwing in shifts with an obvious shortage of mounds, compared to the Sarasota complex. Hitters will take their hacks in cages and drills will...
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Leftovers for breakfast

Leftovers for breakfast
The obsession with how the 2020 season impacts the Orioles' rebuild is understandable. The process already is challenging on many levels. Reducing the schedule to 60 games and eliminating the minor league side is downright cruel. No one said life is fair, and that's certainly the case in a pandemic, where perspective is needed on a daily basis within the sports community. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is moving forward with his vision for the organization. Improving the...
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Orioles still deciding next step for Kjerstad after signing him

Orioles still deciding next step for Kjerstad after signing him
Now that the Orioles have signed outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second overall selection in the First-Year Player Draft, they must decide what to do with him. It's a little more complicated than in past summers. The minor league season has been canceled, with the official announcement coming yesterday afternoon. The hammer was going to fall. The only question was how long it would take for everyone to hear it. The Orioles can't assign Kjerstad to one of their lower affiliates. They also...
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Minor league season canceled in 2020

Minor league season canceled in 2020
The Orioles are making plans to keep their prospects and signed draft picks active and in developmental phase as Major League Baseball attempts to play a truncated season. There are no affiliates to aid the cause. The minor league season officially has been canceled due to COVID-19, with a press released sent out today to confirm what's been known for a while. What's never happened until this summer. "These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first...
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